Erskine Nicol, Scottish, 1825-1904
Title: A Seated Old Man
Date: 1885
Medium: Gouache, bodycolour and graphite on paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 25.2 x 20.4 cm
Signed: lower right: Nicol 85
Credit Line: Purchased, 2005
Object Number: NGI.19619
DescriptionAlthough best known for his depictions of the buffoontype Irish peasant that were so popular on the British market, the conditions of the rural poor were often reflected with sympathy in Nicol’s work. The character type shown here is typical of the kind that populates the artist’s genre paintings, which generally depict the poorer inhabitants of the countryside. This keenly observed study, most probably drawn from life, displays a liberal use of gouache on a heavy buff-coloured paper, which is a characteristic of his studies.
ProvenanceGorry Gallery, Dublin; Private Collection, Dublin; purchased, Whyte's, Dublin, 22nd February 2005, lot 109
Exhibition HistoryTaking Stock: Acquisitions 2000 -2010, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 13 March 2010 - 25 of July 2010