William H. Bartlett, British, 1858-1932
Title: His Last Work
Date: 1885
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
115.5 x 153.5 cm
Signed: lower left: WHBARTLETT 1885.
Credit Line: Purchased, 2007
Object Number: NGI.2007.8
DescriptionIn a sculptor’s studio, a widow lays her veil, like a wreath, at the foot of her husband’s last work. She is watched by her daughter and other family members and wears black mourning dress, mandatory for the first year and a day of bereavement. All around are plasters of other sculptures, the majority copies of Renaissance and antique pieces, like The Virgin and Child after Antonio Rossellino, a statue of Ceres and a bust of Clytie.
Amongst figure and portrait studies are the working tools of the studio. Details like the torn matting, cast-iron stove, wilderbeast skin on the floor and palm fronds give a sense of authenticity to this large canvas. A framed print, or photo, of La Source by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, which inspired a number of leading British artists at the time, is clearly the inspiration for this fictitious sculptor’s last work, a statuette of The Birth of Venus.
Bartlett studied in Paris, where one of his teachers was the sculptor and painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1885, when Bartlett painted this work, he was living at Park Lodge, Church Street, Chelsea, a part of London associated with the artistic avant-garde. Today, he is better known for his late-century scenes of life in the west of Ireland.
March 2016
Amongst figure and portrait studies are the working tools of the studio. Details like the torn matting, cast-iron stove, wilderbeast skin on the floor and palm fronds give a sense of authenticity to this large canvas. A framed print, or photo, of La Source by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, which inspired a number of leading British artists at the time, is clearly the inspiration for this fictitious sculptor’s last work, a statuette of The Birth of Venus.
Bartlett studied in Paris, where one of his teachers was the sculptor and painter, Jean-Léon Gérôme. In 1885, when Bartlett painted this work, he was living at Park Lodge, Church Street, Chelsea, a part of London associated with the artistic avant-garde. Today, he is better known for his late-century scenes of life in the west of Ireland.
March 2016
ProvenanceWilliam Wallace, Baltimore; by descent to his granddaughters, Mrs Bralow Van Hess and Mrs Frederick Baron; presented to Towson Presbyterian House, Maryland; sold at an unknown date; Private Collection, USA; purchased by the Gorry Gallery; purchased, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2007
Exhibition HistoryRoyal Academy, London, 1885
An Exhibition of 18th-21st Century Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2007
An Exhibition of 18th-21st Century Paintings, Gorry Gallery, Dublin, 2007