£500k expected for OsborneFeeding the Chickens work
A painting by Walter Osborne, unseen on the open market since 1913, is to be sold at Bonhams this summer. Feeding the Chickens (1884-85) will be on display at the official opening of Bonhams new offices at 31 Molesworth St., Dublin next Friday. Estimated at £500,000-£700,000, it is from a private collection in Ireland. Walter Frederick Osborne RHA, ROI (1859-1903), regarded as the most important Irish artist of his generation, was at the height of his short career when he painted this work. Charles O’Brien, head of Bonhams 19th Century Paintings Department, said: “It is a remarkable example of the dramatic change that Irish painting underwent towards the end of the 19th century, with artists increasingly being influenced by movements in continental Europe.”
From the mid-1880s to 1890 Osborne regularly visited many small towns, villages and harbours in England. He frequently painted local people at work tending livestock, feeding chickens and ploughing fields. Feeding the chickens is mentioned in a letter to his father while the artist was working at in Warwickshire. It will be sold in London on July 11 as part of the 19th century paintings sale.
