Percy French, Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland – Early 20th-century watercolour painting
Percy French, Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland – Early 20th-century watercolour painting
Percy French, Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland – Early 20th-century watercolour painting
Percy French, Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland – Early 20th-century watercolour painting

Percy French Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland

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An original early 20th-century watercolour painting – Percy French, Bogs & Mountains of Connemara, Galway, Ireland.

A beautifully evocative watercolour by Percy French (1854–1920), depicting the bog landscape at Connemara in western County Galway. The ancient peat bogs are a unique watery landscape formed over thousands of years by heavy rainfall on the Atlantic coast; the peat bogs have heated Irish homes for centuries and have provided essential carbon storage for millennia.

Percy French, one of Ireland’s foremost songwriters and entertainers in his day, found his true vocation in painting, his name becoming synonymous with watercolours capturing the rural landscapes of Ireland. He would repeatedly paint the boglands, a landscape allowing for watery horizons and dramatically shifting weather conditions. Here he includes a traditional single-story thatched cottage, and scattered peat stacks, where the peat is extracted in slabs and piled up to dry in the wind.

In watercolour with white bodycolour highlights.

There are some small graphite sketches on the verso of the paper, including a profile portrait and a building.

Provenance: historical framing label from V. Waddington Picture Framers & Art Dealers, 28 South Anne St, Dublin, around the 1930s. [Victor Waddington (1907–1981) was a British art dealer who started the Victor Waddington Galleries at 8 South Anne Street, Dublin in 1927. The gallery exhibited modernist and avant-garde work from Irish, British, and European artists. Waddington was an early advocate for the work of Jack Yeats and Henri Hayden. He expanded to 28 South Anne Street in 1928, for framing and print selling.]

+ Read the Artist Research

Percy French (1854–1920)

(William) Percy French (1854–1920) was born in Co. Roscommon, Ireland. He was one of Ireland's foremost songwriters and entertainers in his day, and in later life became renowned for his painting. He was a prolific painter of landscape watercolours and considered art to be his true vocation. French studied civil engineering at Trinity College Dublin, graduating in 1881, but was already writing songs and painting during this period. Around 1887 he turned to journalism as the editor of The Jarvey, a weekly comic paper, but when the paper failed, his career as a comic songwriter and entertainer began. Percy French submitted paintings to the Watercolour Society of Ireland and, in 1908, he exhibited works in London and was commissioned by the Royal Family to paint two works for the Queen of Spain. Shortly after his death in 1920, the Irish Times wrote, 'he was a painter of great charm who preferred painting to writing as a means of expression.'

COA
+ Artwork Details

Dimensions: Height: 21.3cm (8.39") Width: 28.9cm (11.38")

Presented: Unframed.

Medium: Watercolour

Age: Early 20th-century

Signed: No.

Inscribed: Indistinct inscriptions verso.

Dated: --

Condition: Some minor age toning, with mount burn line towards the periphery. Also some tiny patches of surface abrasion, more significant to the margin where a historical mat has been removed. Adhesive toning to the verso and some verso abrasion. The heavy paper is slightly buckled. These issues could largely be concealed by mounting and framing. Please see photos for detail.

Stock number: KD-150