A Scot in Victorian Ireland

Figures

Figure 1. Erskine Nicol, black and white photograph, c. 1854. Credit: Royal Scottish Academy of Arts & Architecture.

Figure 2. Erskine Nicol, Paddy’s Pig, 1855. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams.

Figure 3. Erskine Nicol, Paddy at Versailles, 1856. Reproduced with the permission of Suzanne Vaughan.

Figure 4. Erskine Nicol, Puzzled, 1882. Image in the public domain.

Figure 5. Erskine Nicol, The Knotty Point, 1853. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams (2013).

Figure 6. Erskine Nicol, An Irish Faction Fighter, 1854. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2020).

Figure 7. Erskine Nicol, O I’ll get ya walking out with me Daughter are ye, 1852. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1980).

Figure 8. Details of three paintings by Nicol: Paddy’s Pig; Beggar my Neighbour and The Chimney Sweep. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 9. Charles Bell, Laughter, 1806. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 10. Erskine Nicol, Beggar my Neighbour, 1855. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 11. Erskine Nicol, The Jig (Playing the Flute), c. 1855. Credit: Courtesy of Whytes.com (2011).

Figure 12. Erskine Nicol, The Chimney Sweep, c. 1850. Credit: Sotheby’s (2005).

Figure 13. Listenin’ to Raison, coloured illustration after Nicol’s Molly Brierly, undated. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 14. Erskine Nicol, Praties and Point, coloured illustration, undated. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 15. Erskine Nicol, The Appeal, unknown date. Credit: Angus Council Collections (ANGUS alive Museums & Galleries), Scotland.

Figure 16. Erskine Nicol, Steady Does It (The Onconvenience of Single Life), c. 1851. Credit: Suzanne Vaughan.

Figure 17. Erskine Nicol, A Raal Convenience, 1855. Credit: Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation.

Figure 18. Erskine Nicol, The House on the Left in the Mid-Distance is my Studio, 1862. Credit: Courtesy of Whytes.com (2009).

Figure 19. Erskine Nicol, Donnybrook Fair, 1859. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 20. Giorgione and Titian, Sleeping Venus, c. 1510. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 21. Erskine Nicol, The Noon Day Rest, 1853. Credit: Courtesy of Mellors & Kirk Fine Art Auctioneers.

Figure 22. Erskine Nicol, Portrait of a Young Peasant Girl, undated. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2012).

Figure 23. Erskine Nicol, The Emigrant, 1849. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2003).

Figure 24. Erskine Nicol, The Missing Boat, 1876. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 25. Erskine Nicol, Self Portrait with a Rustic Companion, 1855. Credit: Suzanne Vaughan.

Figure 26. John Ballantyne, Erskine Nicol in his Studio, 1865. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1996).

Figure 27. Erskine Nicol, Out for the Day, The Fly Fishers, 1857. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2009).

Figure 28. Erskine Nicol, Boat in a Backwater, 1855. Public Domain.

Figure 29. Anonymous, Fortune Telling at Ballymaclinton, postcard, 1908. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons.

Figure 30. Erskine Nicol, Prayers at the High Cross (Irish Pilgrims), 1851. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2019).

Figure 31. Erskine Nicol, ‘I did not mind any of them’, illustration, 1867. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 32. Erskine Nicol, Jim Blake in Liverpool, 1871. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 33. Erskine Nicol, Paying the Rent, 1852. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2002).

Figure 34. Erskine Nicol, An Irish Deputation, 1865. Credit: ©Gorry Gallery (2022).

Figure 35. Erskine Nicol, Interviewing their Member, 1879. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 36. Letter of Erskine Nicol to N. G. Herbert. 13 Nov. 1852. Credit: Seamus O’Brien.

Figure 37. David Wilkie, The Village Politicians, 1806. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 38. Erskine Nicol, The Ryans and Dwyers, Calumniated Men, 1856. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1992).

Figure 39. Erskine Nicol, Reading the News, c. 1855–1860. Credit: Amber Tree; The ’Merican Difficulty, 1862. Credit: ©Abbott & Holder (1977).

Figure 40. Erskine Nicol, The Shebeen, 1859. Credit: Courtesy of Whytes.com (2008).

Figure 41. David Teniers, Two Men Playing Cards in the Kitchen of an Inn, c. 1635. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 42. Erskine Nicol, The Whist Party, 1854. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Limited (2022).

Figure 43. Erskine Nicol, The 16th, 17th (Saint Patrick’s Day) and 18th March, 1856. Credit: National Gallery of Ireland.

Figure 44. Erskine Nicol, An Irish Merrymaking (A Pattern), coloured illustration, undated. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 45. Erskine Nicol, A Shebeen at Donnybrook, 1851. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2013).

Figure 46. Erskine Nicol, A Raal Refresher, c. 1850. Credit: ©Adam’s Blackrock & Ross’s (2008).

Figure 47. Erskine Nicol, Peeling the Potatoes, 1849. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2004).

Figure 48. Erskine Nicol, Perfect Content, A Man Smoking, 1856. Credit: Amber Tree; Attributed to Adriaen Brouwer, Sleeping Peasant, c. 1630. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 49. From left to right: Rembrandt van Rijn, An Old Man with a Beard, c. 1630. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Head of a Man Yawning, c. 1558. Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Head of an Old Peasant Woman, c. 1568. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 50. Erskine Nicol, Tim O’Kelly, c. 1860. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 51. Erskine Nicol, Bliss, 1863. Credit: ©Gorry Gallery.

Figure 52. Erskine Nicol, Glendalough, 1858. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2013).

Figure 53. Erskine Nicol, Portrait of a Man in Highland Dress, 1849. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1988).

Figure 54. Erskine Nicol, Grandmother and Grandson or Always Tell the Truth, 1874. Credit: ©Gorry Gallery.

Figure 55. Erskine Nicol, Notice to Quit, 1862. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1985).

Figure 56. Erskine Nicol, An Ejected Family, 1853. Credit: National Gallery of Ireland.

Figure 57. Erskine Nicol, The Lease Refused, engraving, 1868. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 58. Erskine Nicol, The Basket Mender, 1859. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2000).

Figure 59. Erskine Nicol, The Empty Frock, 1862. Credit: ©Gorry Gallery (1999).

Figure 60. Erskine Nicol, Elderly Woman with Headdress, 1855. Credit: Courtesy of Whytes.com (2010); An Old Woman from the Claddagh, 1855. Credit: ©Ross’s (2007).

Figure 61. Erskine Nicol, A Dejected Young Midshipman, 1855. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2011).

Figure 62. Erskine Nicol, Interior with Stairs, c. 1863. Reproduced with the permission of Claudia Kinmonth; Erskine Nicol, Two Figures in an Interior, 1863. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams (2010).

Figure 63. Erskine Nicol, The Price of the Pig, 1864. Credit: J. R. Glembin & Milwaukee Art Museum.

Figure 64. Erskine Nicol, Pressed into Service, engraving, 1923. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 65. Erskine Nicol, Outward Bound, coloured lithograph, 1854/6. Credit: Suzanne Vaughan.

Figure 66. Erskine Nicol, Wayside Prayer, 1852. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 67. Erskine Nicol, Paddy’s Mark or Signing the New Lease, 1868. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 68. Erskine Nicol, Gregory or Taking his Medicine, undated. Credit: ©McEwan Gallery.

Figure 69. Details of four illustrations by Nicol from Tales of Irish Life: Don’t Provoke Me; Buying China; Bright Prospects; Molly Carew. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 70. Erskine Nicol, The Midday Rest, 1868. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (1985).

Figure 71. Erskine Nicol, The Pursuit of Knowledge under some Difficulty, 1885. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2011).

Figure 72. Erskine Nicol, Missed It! 1866. Credit: ©Christie’s Images Ltd (2001).

Figure 73. Erskine Nicol, Kiss and Make it up, 1867. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 74. Erskine Nicol, Would it Pout with its Biddy? coloured illustration, c. 1850s. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 75. Thomas Faed, Faults on Both Sides, 1861. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 76. Erskine Nicol, The Approach of the Enemy, 1859. Credit: Amber Tree.

Figure 77. Erskine Nicol, Good Mornin’ Yer Honour, undated. Credit: Bury Art Museum.

Figure 78. Erskine Nicol, Balance on the Wrong Side (or A Country Solicitor), 1852; Balance on the Right Side, 1868. Credit: ©Gorry Gallery (2006).

Figure 79. Erskine Nicol, His Legal Adviser, 1876/1882. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 80. Erskine Nicol, Notice to Quit, 1862. Credit: Sheffield Art Galleries.

Figure 81. Erskine Nicol, Tables Turned, 1878. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 82. Richard Griffith, Valuation of Tenements, Clonava, 1854. Public Domain.

Figure 83. Newspaper Ad, Temporary Exhibition by Arthur Tooth, 1895. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 84. Erskine Nicol, Paying the Rent, 1866. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams (1980).

Figure 85. J. Mathis, Palace for the International Exposition of 1867, 1867. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 86. Aubrun, Fine Arts: England (Beaux-arts: Angleterre), 1867. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 87. Erskine Nicol, Both Puzzled, 1868. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams (2012).

Figure 88. Erskine Nicol, The Emigrants (or Irish Emigrants Waiting for the Train), 1864. Public Domain (Wikimedia Commons).

Figure 89. Erskine Nicol, A Peasant Uncorking a Bottle, c. 1850–1856. Credit: ©The Hunterian, University of Glasgow.

Figure 90. Erskine Nicol, The Wheedler, 1862. Credit: Courtesy of Bonhams (2021).

Figure 91. Erskine Nicol, The New Boots, 1866. Credit: Christie’s Images Ltd (1997).

Figure 92. Erskine Nicol, Both Puzzled, engraving, 1869. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 93. ‘Advertisement: Flower of Connemara’, The Art Journal Advertiser, 1856. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 94. Erskine Nicol, Caught (after Piscators), engraving, 1865. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 95. Erskine Nicol, The Trio, engraving, 1883. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 96. Erskine Nicol, Awarding Prizes in a Village School, 1848. Credit: James Adam & Sons Ltd. (2018).

Figure 97. Birth Record of Erskine Nicol, 1825. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 98. Peter Cleland, Portrait of Erskine Nicol (19 years old). Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 99. Marriage Record of Erskine Nicol and Janet Watson, 1851. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 100. Erskine Nicol, The Day after the Fair, 1860. Credit: Royal Scottish Academy of Arts & Architecture; Thomas Faed, Erskine Nicol, c. 1860. Credit: National Galleries of Scotland.

Figure 101. Attributed to John Ballantyne, The Auld Lang Syne Sketching Club, 1863. Credit: Piers Watson.

Figure 102. Anonymous, Erskine Nicol, engraving, 1886. Credit: Amélie Dochy.

Figure 103. Erskine Nicol, Self-Portrait, 1892. Credit: Piers Watson & Graham Pratt.

Figure 104. Clonava Studio, County Weastmeath, built by Nicol in 1862. Credit: Matt Blake.

Figure 105. Kirk Lodge, Nicol’s Studio in the 1870s. Published with the kind permission of Elizabeth Pirnie.

Figure 106. Erskine Nicol, Self-Portrait, 1840s. Credit: Piers Watson.

Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologises for any errors or omissions in the above list and would be grateful for notification of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

Acknowledgements

I would first like to express my deepest gratitude to both my Phd supervisors, Professors Christiane Fioupou and Anne Goarzin, because this work could never have been completed without their help. Their advice has paved the way for new perspectives and their support allowed me to persevere in my research. I would like to thank them from the bottom of my heart: this study has largely benefited from their generosity and high academic competencies.

Because no extensive study had been devoted to the work of Erskine Nicol previously, vast research had to be undertaken in order to discover the canvasses painted by the artist. Numerous people got involved in this research and among them, I would like to thank Nadine Aurières, a senior executive librarian with the University of Toulouse II, but also Amber Paranick, from the Library of Congress in Washington, Michelle Gait, from the University Library in Aberdeen, Elizabeth Lindley (Sheffield Museums), Denise Anderson, from the University of Edinburgh, Kerry Eldon, from the Scottish National Gallery, as well as Suz Massen and Elizabeth Lane, from the Frick Library in New York.

For their assistance in this quest for Nicol’s paintings, I would also like to acknowledge with much appreciation the crucial role of the staff working for several auction houses, like Jeff Pilkington, Sarah Reynolds, Rosie Henniker-Major, Alice Murray, Daniel Bourne and Robert Lagneau (Christie’s, London and Glasgow), David Britton (Adam’s, Dublin), Daniel Clarke (John Ross, Belfast), Ian Whyte and Adelle Hugues (Whyte’s, Dublin), Colleen Bowen, Linda Pellet, Andrew Currie, Emily Owen and Janell Snape (Bonham’s, Edinburgh, London and San Francisco). Many thanks go to Simon Toll and Edward Browne (Sotheby’s, London), Graham C. Magee (W. H. Patterson, London), Tom Edwards (Abbot & Holder, London), Theo Albano (Fleming-Wyfold Art Foundation), Mark Stacey (Stacey’s Auction House, Rayleigh, England), Matthew McKenzie (Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh), Rhonda Mealy (Mealy’s Fine Art, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny), Sile Connaughton-Deeny (Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin), Michael Roberts (Canterbury Auction Galleries, England), Matthew Boland (Doyle Auctioneers, New York), Anna-Sarah Schlatt (Van Ham, Köln, Germany), Lynda Macpherson (Waddington’s, Toronto), Martin Hans Borg (Bruun Rasmussen, Copenhagen), Pedro Westerdahl and Isabel Palo (Bukowskis, Sweden and Finland).

This publication would not have been possible without the support of a number of friends and institutions. I am particularly grateful to the CAS, my research team at the University of Toulouse, the Westmeath Archaeological & Historical Society, the Royal Scottish Academy of Arts & Architecture, the Irish Arts Review and the Gorry Gallery, all of whom helped to fund this book. All my gratitude goes to the SOFEIR (the French Society for Irish Studies) as well, because they made a research trip possible thanks to a grant, kindly offered to me in 2013.

In Ireland, my research was supported by James and Therese Gorry, Peter Wallace, Claudia Kinmonth, William and Teresa Nolan, Kevin O’Neill, Ronan Teevan, Eileen Black, Brendan Rooney, Niamh O’Brien, Donal Maguire, Andrew Moore, Antoine Mac Gaoithín, Victoria Browne and Fernando Sanchez. Many thanks to them for their support, expertise and various permissions to use their information or photographs of the paintings.

In Edinburgh, I was greatly helped by Joanna Soden, Sandy Wood, Thom Laycock and Pauline Costigane (Royal Scottish Academy) and also by Stuart Gardiner, James Rattray, Sandy Wilson or Kay Liney. In Scotland, Graham Nisbet, Hugh Stevenson, Anne Dulau Beveridge, Matthew Jarron, Susan Keracher, Griffin Co, Jason Sutcliffe and John Johnston, who are all in charge of different collections hosting artworks by Nicol, have been particularly helpful in offering precious data about the artist’s life or canvasses. Similarly, I am very grateful to the art curators working in English museums who have fostered my interest in Nicol’s artworks, like Sarah Lynch, Grant Scanlan, Alice Swatton, Simon Lake, Nicola Dyke, Hannah Brignell and Anna Testar. A special thanks to Justin Rainford, too, for kindly sharing original documents with me.

Several teams working in museums or galleries around the world have also participated in my research and I would like to show my gratitude to Andrea Lewis (Iziko Museum, Cape Town, South Africa), to Nina Freisfeld (Josef Mensing Gallery, Hamm-Rhynern, Germany), to Laura Wetmore (Arnot Museum, near New York) and to Lisa Strong (Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington).

Many friends and parents have been particularly supportive in this extensive research project about Erskine Nicol. I would like to express my profound gratitude to them for their much-appreciated friendship, for having listened to my existential or academic doubts and suggested solutions to a great part of them. A special thanks goes to Seamus O’Brien, who has done wonders in supporting me throughout the writing of this book. I am also very grateful to other friends who regularly offered wise words of advice or help in researching archives, such as Scott Spencer, Kyela Leakey, Piers Watson, Fanny Robles, Rim Khreis, David Vigouroux, Ibrahim Lazeb, Élodie Robert, Suzanne Vaughan, Arnaud Fiasson, Anne-Sophie Sezille, Véronique Dubrecq, Christine Dualé, Thibaut Dochy, Marie Dochy, Michel Dochy and Martine Dochy. Last but not least, many thanks to my husband Mehdy Jacquard, who has always had faith in me.

Abbreviations

A.R.A. Associate of the Royal Academy

A.R.S.A. Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy

BnF Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris

NGI National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

R.A. Royal Academy, London

R.A.P.F.A.S. Royal Association for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Scotland

R.S.A. Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh

UK United Kingdom

V&A Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Introduction

‘Ireland will, unquestionably, supply every means of enjoyment that may be obtained in any of the continental kingdoms, and without calling for the sacrifices of money and comfort that will be inevitably exacted by the leeches of Germany, France, and Italy […]. We shall indeed rejoice, if our statements be the means of inducing English travellers to direct their course westward – knowing well that, for every new visitor, Ireland will obtain a new friend’.¹

In the mid-nineteenth century, British travellers looking for breathtaking landscapes were attracted to Ireland, as its beauty was highlighted in numerous guidebooks, such as John Murray’s Handbook for Travellers in Ireland, published in London in 1864. The picturesque was in fashion, with a focus on rural scenery and ancient buildings. This attracted artists to visit the country, with the further expectation of discovering ‘authentic’ Irishmen and women to inspire their future work. Faster methods of transport, such as the steamboat, meant that the journey from Liverpool to Dublin took only twelve hours.² Thus, Ireland became popular³ for artists, such as David Wilkie (1785–1841), who paid a visit in 1835, or Cork-born painter Daniel Macdonald (1820–1853), who returned from London to his native country in 1847. Others, like English artists Frederick Goodall (1822–1904), Francis Topham (1808–1877) and Alfred Fripp (1822–1895), made the journey in 1844 to paint rustic scenes. Two years after them, a twenty-one-year-old Scottish painter called Erskine Nicol (1825–1904) moved to Dublin. This was a momentous event in his career, as he would subsequently produce hundreds of pictures depicting Ireland – a truly exceptional collection, which helped to define his artistic oeuvre. His work is the motivation for writing this book.

In 1846, Erskine Nicol moved from Scotland to Ireland with the intent to open a drawing school in partnership with his cousin, Peter Cleland (1818–1902).⁴ The friendship between them is reflected in a portrait of Erskine Nicol drawn by Cleland in 1844 (Fig. 98). Both men had studied at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh. For Nicol, admission to the Academy was not straightforward, as his father did not support his artistic ambitions. In an 1879 interview, the painter explained his parents’ reluctance: ‘My father’s means […] would not admit of my adopting art as a profession, nor was it his wish that I should attempt to do so under any circumstances, it being then considered an especially precarious occupation’. This did not put an end to his artistic dreams: ‘I was not to be put off, however; and as next best thing, though against my father’s inclination, I was placed as an apprentice to a decorative painter, but left this uncongenial occupation as soon as I found I could earn something by my pencil.’⁵

Clearly, making a living was a preoccupation for a family with six children, in which Erskine was the eldest, as he was born on 3 July 1825 (Fig. 97). The Nicol family had absolutely no connections in the artistic world. James Main Nicol, the painter’s father, worked in the wine trade as a cooper and wanted his son to receive a commercial education, but his father’s plans did not come to fruition due to his son’s passion for painting. Erskine Nicol’s early aptitude for painting is evident in his first oils, including a self-portrait painted in the 1840s (Fig. 106). The precocious teenager was accepted into the Trustees’ Academy at a surprisingly young age: