Edward Hayes (1797-1864), Artist

License image

Joseph Samuel Halfpenny , Irish, 1787-1858

Title

Date1812

MediumWatercolour on paper

Dimensions

41 x 29.2 cm

Signedlower left: J. S. Alpenny 1812

Credit LinePurchased, 1883

Object numberNGI.2002

DescriptionThis portrait of a boy sketching in a landscape was painted when the sitter was aged fifteen, studying drawing under Alpenny. It could be A Youth Sketching from Nature, which was exhibited at the fourth and final exhibition of the Society of Artists of the City of Dublin in 1813. The portrait is executed with a naïve charm, the technique being somewhat limited. It is almost like a studio photograph, with the thinly painted landscape acting as a backdrop. The wooded terrain suggests the scene may be in County Wicklow, an area popular with artists and tourists from the mid-eighteenth century onwards. A drawing dated c.1861 by the artist Edward Hayes: Doorway of Athassel Priory is also in the Gallery's collection.

Exhibition HistoryIrish Watercolours and Drawings, McMullen Museum of Art Boston College, Boston, 4 October 1993 – 5 December 1993