This painting satirises young artists who followed the Realist style pioneered by Gustave Courbet. Such artists sought subjects in modern life rather than in historical accounts or in literature. Here, a young painter sketches a pig’s head. He sits on an antique cast, an indication of his disregard for historical art and for Academic conventions. Mundane objects like the cabbage and boot hanging in the background reinforce this idea, while items such as the umbrella and knapsack suggest that he likes to venture outdoors to paint directly from nature. In his book Méthode et Entretiens d’Atelier (1867), Couture described this youthful Realist as ‘fervent’ and ‘a visionary of the new religion’.
March 2016
The Irish Impressionists, Irish Artists in France and Belgium, 1850-1914, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 9 October - 18 November 1984; Ulster Museum, Belfast, 1 February - 10 March 1985
La Peinture francaise du XIXe siècle, Collection Chester Beatty de la Galerie Nationale d'Irlande, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper; Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, 1989
Nathaniel Hone the Younger, 1831-1917, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 19 June - 4 August 1991
Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Von Poussin bis Monet. Die Farben Frankreichs, The Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck, Remagen, 22 March - 6 September 2015; Bucerius Kunst Forum, Hamburg, 10 October 2015 - 17 January 2016