Erskine Nicol
, Scottish, 1825-1904
Title
An Ejected FamilyDate1853
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
50 x 82 cm
Signedlower right: ENicol 1853
Credit LinePresented, Mr Michael Shine, 1992
Object numberNGI.4577
DescriptionThe Scottish artist Erskine Nicol painted numerous Irish everyday scenes, of which this is a fine example. A young labourer, surrounded by his family, stares at the thatched cottage from which the family has just been evicted. His wife, holding a baby in her arms, looks up imploringly at her husband as if for guidance, but he appears to offer none. The elderly grandfather rests his hand on the man's shoulder in a gesture of support, while his granddaughter looks on in bewilderment. Two more children lie on a grassy bank watching their cattle being taken by the bailiff. The reason for the eviction and the seizing of assets is non-payment of rent.The scene is well composed, the figures carefully observed, and the landscape precisely rendered. The heavy downcast sky echoes the mood of the scene. Nicol spent four years in Ireland, from 1846, and thereafter returned each summer for many years. Most of his Irish scenes are amusing, if sometimes cruel, vignettes of Irish life. This picture is unusual for its sympathetic portrayal.
(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide. 2008)
ProvenanceCollection W. Leigh Clare, Liverpool, by 1854; Sotheby's, 20 November 1978, lot 364; presented, Mr Michael Shine, 1992Exhibition HistoryRoyal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh, 1854
Lines of Vision. Irish Writers at the National Gallery of Ireland, 8 October 2014 —12 April 2015