Harry Jones Thaddeus
, Irish, 1860-1929
Title
The Wounded PoacherDate1881
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
120 x 85 cm
Signedlower centre: THADDEUS JONES
Credit LinePurchased, 1984
Object numberNGI.4487
DescriptionHarry Jones Thaddeus was among many Irish artists who went to France during the 1880s for further artistic training. He arrived in Paris about 1880 and enrolled at the Académie Julian, where he was taught by Gustave Boulanger and Charles Lefèbvre.Accepted at the Paris Salon in 1881, The Wounded Poacher was designed to show off the young artist's talent.
The poacher is seen foreshortened, slouched on a chair in a dark cottage interior. A young woman tends to his wounds, her calm attention contrasting with the pained expression on his face. Some of the objects are in disarray following the poacher's presumably dramatic entrance. The muted earthy colours suit the subject, and the paint is applied in different ways in various parts of the picture.
Thaddeus travelled throughout Europe during his career, and also worked in the United States, North Africa and Australia. Best known as a portrait painter, Thaddeus was elected a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1901.
Exhibition HistorySalon, Paris, 1881
International Exhibition, Cork, 1902
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
French 19th and 20th Century Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland: Corot to Picasso, Daimaru Museum, Tokyo, 5 September - 17 September 1996; Daimaru Museum, Kyoto, 10 October - 22 October 1996; Kawaguchiko Museum of Art, Yamanashi, 26 October - 2 December 1996; Daimaru Museum, Umeda,Osaka, 22 January - 9 February 1997; Aomori Municpal Gallery of Art, Aomori, 2 April - 20 April 1997
Rural Ireland: The Inside Story, McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 10 February - 3 June 2012
Trove, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 3 December 2014 - 8 March 2015
Label TextThis painting, produced while Thaddeus was still a student at the Académie Julian in Paris, was hung advantageously in 1881 at the prestigious Salon, where the foreshortening of the figure, dramatic subject and rustic setting would have been widely admired. Thaddeus exhibited the picture as an Irish scene, including ‘Irlande’ in the original title and setting it in what could easily be interpreted as the interior of an Irish cottage. However, the figures are deliberately generic, and much of the detail is as likely to be French as Irish.
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