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Lot 41*
George Henry RA RSA RSW(British, 1858-1943)Springtime
8 October 2025, 14:00 BST
Edinburgh£12,000 - £18,000
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May Matthews
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George Henry RA RSA RSW (British, 1858-1943)
Springtime
signed 'GEORGE HENRY' (lower right)
oil on canvas laid to panel
55 x 40.5cm (21 5/8 x 15 15/16in).
signed 'GEORGE HENRY' (lower right)
oil on canvas laid to panel
55 x 40.5cm (21 5/8 x 15 15/16in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Private collection, Australia (acquired at auction c. 2000); bequeathed to a family member.
Acquired from the above by the present owner.
The Glasgow Boys had arguably the most significant impact on Scottish painting in the latter quarter of the 19th century and, in the process, provided a direct conduit between contemporary European techniques and British Art. Although influenced by the subjects and approach of a more naturalistic style seen primarily in French painting, theirs was an original, pioneering vision which did not resort to imitation or pastiche. Of the group, the Ayrshire born George Henry was perhaps one of the most enigmatic, but also one of the most pioneering.
A friendship with fellow Glasgow Boy E. A. Hornel saw the two artists working together in and around Kirkcudbright in the late 1880s and early 1890s where they were much inspired by both the landscape and Galloway folklore. The present work is from the peak of this period of experimentation and inspiration and displays Henry's mastery of colour and light effects which he uses to create a quilt of dappled light and texture. Although painted before Henry and Hornel's 1893-94 travels in Japan, we can already see the influence of Japanese prints in the flattening of the picture plain. All of these elements when combined with the sentimental and bucolic subject matter of young girls and lambs in a Springtime landscape come together to create a contrast of being both bold and beautifully subtle.