Strand, Portmarnock

Artist Nathaniel Hone (1831 - 1917)

Datec.1890

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions55.4 x 73.1 cm

ClassificationsPaintings

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Edward Martyn Bequest, 1924.

Object number573

DescriptionThis is a quintessential painting of beach and sand dunes by Hone, where soft blurred clouds around the edge of the picture, and the play of light and shadow over the sand dunes suggest a fresh, breezy summer's day. Hone found such simple motifs at his doorstep in Malahide and nearby Portmarnock in north County Dublin, where the Jamesons (the family of his wife Magdalen) lived. Initially, the landscape appears almost empty. But the presence of a small figure, that of a woman, and to the left the sail of a boat suggests human presence, providing focus and adding interest to the composition. The horizon line is low, and the point of view of the artist is close to the ground, emphasising the full majestic sky. A thin line of blue sea is just visible beyond the beach, and the billowy red sail appears to float above the grass. Hone painted several such compositions with low horizons, featuring beaches, sand hills or pastures, sometimes with a strip of sea visible,
and with soft clouds floating above, and perhaps with a figure and cattle, at Malahide, Portmarnock and Donabate. (From: The Collection Revealed: Nathaniel Hone, p. 10)

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