“IRISH TRAVELERS”: BEAUTIFUL ORIGINAL PAINTING BY ACCLAIMED 19TH-CENTURY BRITISH ARTIST SEPTIMUS DAWSON DEPICTING IRISH TRAVELERS PRESUMABLY ON THEIR WAY TO AMERICA, HANDSOMELY FRAMED
DAWSON, Septimus. Irish Travelers. [Sunderland, Durham, England]: circa 1880. Oil painting, measuring 19 by 23 inches; framed, entire piece measures 25-1/2 by 29-1/2 inches. $5500.
Beautiful original oil painting of two Irish travelers by late 19th-century British artist and Irish Nationalism supporter Septimus Dawson, handsomely framed.
Painter Septimus Dawson was born in Sunderland, Durham, England in 1851. Though little is known of his life, he showed a particular interest in painting genre scenes in oil. Several of his works depict working class Irishmen or Irish peasants and he seems to have been sympathetic to Irish Nationalism, suggesting that he may have visited Ireland at some point. This work—“Irish Travelers”—contains many of Dawson’s characteristic elements. Here, he presents two happy, pink-cheeked Irishmen in artfully tattered clothes standing at a port and discussing an advertisement for a mail steamer headed to New York (as well as, curiously, Wyoming, Nevada, “Wiscosin,” and Abyssinia). The men are accompanied by their luggage and appear excited to leave on their transatlantic voyage, although Dawson’s Irish port has a certain pastoral appeal rarely seen outside of scenes depicting country life. This, too—conferred by rich natural textures and warm light—is one of Dawson’s trademarks.
Slight wear to frame. Fine condition.