120

Matthew James Lawless (1837-1864) THE CAVALIER’S E

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,000.00 - 3,000.00 EUR
Matthew James Lawless (1837-1864) THE CAVALIER’S E

Bidding Over

The auction is over for this lot.
The auctioneer wasn't accepting online bids for this lot.

Contact the auctioneer for information on the auction results.

Search for other lots to bid on...
Auction Date:2005 Feb 22 @ 18:00 (UTC)
Location:Ireland
Matthew James Lawless (1837-1864) THE CAVALIER’S ESCAPE signed in monogram and dated [1861] lower right pencil and wash on paper –mounted but unframed 10 by 13cm., 4 by 5.25in. Literature: Engraved by Joseph Swain and reproduced alongside Walter Thornbury’s poem, ‘The Cavalier’s Escape’, published in Once A Week: an Illustrated Miscellany of Literature, Art, Science & Popular Information, Vol. IV, No. CIII, 15 June 1861, pp. 686-687; illustration p. 687; Walter Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists Vol. II, Irish University Press.; Shannon, 1969, engraving listed p. 6 Considered by Strickland to be “one of the most brilliant and promising young artists to whom Ireland has given birth”, Matthew Lawless was a Pre-Raphaelite painter and illustrator who had a tragically brief career, dying of consumption at the age of 27. His work is consequently very rare and little known, although his large oil, The Sick Call, in the National Gallery of Ireland would be familiar to many. Born in Dublin, the son of solicitor Barry Edward Lawless of Harcourt Street, he studied art at the Langham School under Henry O’Neill RA. He began exhibiting at the RA at the age of 21, but was better known for his illustration work which was widely admired. In particular his drawings for Once a Week, such as is seen here, demonstrated according to Strickland “a genius of invention and a sense of beauty and form which ranked him as but little inferior to Millais and Sandys, and speedily obtained for him a wide reputation”. The present work was used as an illustration to Walter Thornbury’s poem of the same title. The wood engraved illustration differs slightly in that the background is more heavily wooded and a small bird was added just above the artist’s monogram. It is accompanied by a letter from Dr Mark L. Evans, Senior Curator of Paintings at the V&A Museum, confirming the title of the work.