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ERSKINE NICOL RSA ARA (1825-1904)Prayers at the High CrossOil on canvas, 98 x 73cmSigned and dated 1851 lower right The locat

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Lot 142

ERSKINE NICOL RSA ARA (1825-1904)Prayers at the High CrossOil on canvas, 98 x 73cmSigned and dated 1851 lower right The location of Nicol’s painting bares some similarities with the monastery at Clonmacnoise in county Offaly which after many centuries of attacks was finally destroyed by the English garrison in Athlone in 1552 as part of the dissolution of the monasteries. The round tower in the background strongly resembles O’Rourke’s tower, whose cap is missing after the structure was struck by lightning during a storm in 1135. Nicol, a Scotsman by birth, spent many years in Ireland, first visiting in 1846. He established a longstanding relationship with the country and this work may reflect his sympathy towards the Irish people whose religion and de facto culture had been systematically destroyed by English colonisation. The focal point of the painted composition and in turn the attention of its subjects is the high cross. It is most likely a depiction of the Cross of the Scriptures, which is one of the most skilfully executed carving of the surviving high crosses in Ireland. Nicol has positioned it at an angle to give us full view of the detailed carving on the side panels, casting the centre of the cross in shadow. Instead the light falls on the individuals kneeling in devotion around the base. While no dialogue is being spoken, there is an intense expression of the inner communion between the faithful as they offer their prayers up to the cross. One cannot ignore the visual reference to crucifixion paintings in the present example. The figure of young woman to the left of the composition is visually reminiscent of depictions of Mary Magdalene clinging to the foot of the cross. Overcome with emotion, her hat discarded on the ground, she fallen forward, her forehead resting on the stone plinth. The carving on the cross itself depicts scenes from the scriptures, including Christ’s death. The episodic nature of the decoration culminates in the central motif of Christ, with his arms outstretched shielding two figures. Only one figure is standing, set apart in many ways from her genuflecting companions. While they close their eyes and bow their heads in quiet reflection, she stands staring defiantly at the cross. While we are denied the visual drama of the crucified body of Christ, the cross acts a symbolic reminder of that sacrifice. The woman who is standing, similar to the Virgin Mary’s role in crucifixion paintings, bears witness to this suffering, interceding on our behalf and that of the faithful gathered around her. Nicol enlivens the scene with his characteristic eye for detail. The elderly gentleman leaning on his cane for support, his coat worn thin with age, and the faintest glimpse of red handkerchief peeking out from one of the pockets. Or the young woman seated behind him, rosary beads clasped between her hands, still wearing her apron, whose edges are fraying. These are ordinary, working peasants, whose life and customs were the focus of much of Nicol’s artistic output while in Ireland. He exhibited this painting at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1857, showing a version of Irish identity that was not inclined towards caricature of the ‘stage Irishman’ but moving towards the Realist tradition of his European counterparts. The development of the Celtic revival in the 1840s saw a call for more specifically Irish art, as expressed by Thomas Davis, one of the founders of the Young Ireland who claimed that painting ought to be “a pictorial history of our houses, arts, costume and manners”. (Murray, Peter (ed), “Realism versus Romanticism in Framing National Identity”, Whipping the Herring, Survival and Celebration in Nineteenth-Century Irish Art, Murray, Cork: Crawford Art Gallery and Gandon Editions, 2006, p. 11

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