A Blind Girl at a Holy Well: A Scene in the West of Ireland

Frederic William Burton , Irish, 1816-1900

Title

Date1840

MediumGraphite and watercolour on paper

Dimensions

88.9 × 71.8 cm

Signedlower right (indistinctly): Burton

Credit LinePresented, 2020

Object numberNGI.2020.62

DescriptionThis meticulously finished watercolour made Burton’s reputation as an artist. Completed in 1840 when he was 24, and exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, it was published as an engraving by the Irish Art Union the following year, becoming an icon of Irish art. Set in a wild mountainous landscape, the painting depicts a woman praying with rosary beads. She looks anxiously (or hopefully) at the blind girl who kneels behind her. A younger child, standing in the stream, guides the blind girl’s fingers to dip them in a shallow bowl of water taken from the holy well. The romantic setting and emotive subject appealed to its Victorian audience. Through his sketching trips with Petrie and others, Burton was familiar with both the landscape and the customs and way of life of the inhabitants of the rural West. In 1840, during a visit to north Connemara, he wrote to Robert Callwell describing "the amethystine glow that filled the atmosphere and tinged the silvery rocks of Maam Turk with ineffable loveliness." In his sketches Burton captured the distinctive effects of light on the Connemara landscape and this knowledge is reflected in the setting of this painting.
Inscriptionon verso (on backing board): The Blind Girl at the Holy Well/by Sir Frederick Burton/Director National Gallery/Painted for Sir George D'Aguilar K.C.B./& exhibited by request in London
ProvenanceLt. Gen. Sir George D'Aguilar; Miss Cleland, Green Field, Hawkhurst, Kent; Cynthia O'Connor and Company Ltd., Dublin, 1986; Private Collection, Ireland; Christies London, 10 May 2007, Property from an Irish Collection, lot 11; Private Collection; Presented, 2020; Presented, 2020Exhibition HistoryRoyal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1840

Frederic William Burton: For the Love of Art’; National Gallery of Ireland, 25 October 2017 - 14 January 2018

New Perspectives. Acquisitions 2011 - 2020, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 11 May - 2 August 2021