Harry Jones Thaddeus R.H.A. 1860-1929
Des Amis à Plume
Oil on canvas, 49.9 x 44.2 cm.
Signed and dated 1881, lower-right; inscribed ‘à Plume, Jone…, The Grand Hotel Concarneau Finistère’ on original label, verso
Provenance: Private collection, France
Having studied in Dublin, London and Paris, Harry Jones Thaddeus followed the example of countless artists before him in travelling to provincial France in search of novel subjects, new experiences and the opportunity to live and work among his artist peers. He arrived in the early summer of 1881 in the Breton port and artists’ colony of Concarneau, where his almost year-long stay would prove hugely formative.
The inscription on a damaged, contemporaneous paper label on the stretcher of this diminutive picture indicates that Thaddeus painted Des amis à plume (Feathered friends) while residing at the ‘Grand Hôtel, Concarneau’.1 Le Grand Hôtel des Voyageurs, to give it its full title, was popular among visiting artists over several decades. Slightly more modern and expensive than equivalent accommodation in the nearby artists’ colony of Pont-Aven, where Thaddeus himself had recently spent a couple of weeks, the ‘Grand’ provided comfortable lodgings, access to a billiard table and, according to Thaddeus himself, ‘wine ad libitum’.2 Such attractions contributed significantly to the appeal of these provincial towns as points of congregation for artists. ‘The hotel,’ Thaddeus explained, ‘was crammed with a crowd of cosmopolitan painters similar to that at Pont-Aven. During the day every man was away making studies or painting a picture; but during the evening the spirit of mischief was let loose, and all kinds of pranks were indulged in’.3 The hotel was situated on Concarneau’s main square, overlooking the harbour and the Ville Close, a medieval island of narrow streets and fortifications that was connected by a bridge to the mainland.
Concarneau afforded its visiting artistic community a wide and reliable supply of subject matter. During the sardine season, which opened in April, the town’s large fleet of brown-sailed fishing boats would make its way twice a day from the port towards the open sea. Onshore, crowds would excitedly attend the return of the sailors, and remove the catch to nearby factories for processing and smoking. Religious pardons and regular markets also contributed to the distinctive rhythms of life in the town, and captured the imagination of generations of artists, among them Alfred Guillou, Peter Krøyer, and, later, Thaddeus’s compatriot William Leech.
Like many of his peers, Thaddeus would routinely produce drawings and oil sketches outdoors with a view to incorporating them into finished canvases in his studio. His large and detailed painting, Les amies du modèle (National Gallery of Ireland), which hung at the Paris Salon of 1882, is a testament to the confidence artists derived from their communal activity in Concarneau. In the painting, set in his studio, the repurposed Chapelle de la Trinité on the Ville Close, an improbably dapper Thaddeus works at his easel under the admiring gaze of a fellow artist and a number of locals.
Des amis à plume is a more understated work than Les amies du modèle and Thaddeus’s other grand essays for the Paris Salon but, inspired by local customs and costume, shares their origins. The clothing worn by the woman – heavy blue dress, apron, coiffe and sabots – is typical of the Plougastel region of Brittany, and features in other works by Thaddeus, including, to more dramatic effect, Market Day, Finistère (National Gallery of Ireland). The woman recalls broadly-painted figures by Thaddeus in pictures of Paris, Brittany and Fontainbleau, but her casual air – knitting while she attends a flock of ducks – resembles other Concarneau subjects by him most closely. Notwithstanding the town’s role in the sardine industry and the large workforce it supported, visiting artists were struck by the relaxed pace of life that prevailed there, particularly in comparison to their recent experience as students in urban centres like Paris, Antwerp and London. The presence of similar characters in paintings by Jean-François Millet and Frank O’Meara indicates that knitting outdoors was a popular and effective way of occupying time while tending animals in provincial France.
The picture features a signature – ‘Harry T Jones’, with the H and J conjoined – that was one of several the artist employed in the early years of his career. It recurs in other works of 1881, including a comparable painting of a Breton fisher boy on the beach and an outstanding head-and-shoulders study of a young girl in traditional attire. In 1885, Thaddeus changed his name by deed-poll and signed all works ‘H.J. Thaddeus’ from that point onwards.
The precise setting for the painting is unclear, though the architectural mass in the background and the tall ship at anchor suggest a generalised representation of Concarneau (the town is also located, as here, on the southern edge of the bay). Various picturesque locations and points of interest were within easy reach of the town, Thaddeus’s compatriot Helen Mabel Trevor, who visited in 1883, declaring that ‘the prettiest country’ was to be found on the opposite side of the bay.4
Dr Brendan Rooney
1. Thaddeus provided the same address when exhibiting at the Paris Salon and the Society of British Artists in London. It also features on a label on the back of a Breton interior of the same period
2. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 25
3. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 26
4. Helen Mabel Trevor, The Ramblings of an Artist (London, Gay and Bird, 1901), 71
Des Amis à Plume
Oil on canvas, 49.9 x 44.2 cm.
Signed and dated 1881, lower-right; inscribed ‘à Plume, Jone…, The Grand Hotel Concarneau Finistère’ on original label, verso
Provenance: Private collection, France
Having studied in Dublin, London and Paris, Harry Jones Thaddeus followed the example of countless artists before him in travelling to provincial France in search of novel subjects, new experiences and the opportunity to live and work among his artist peers. He arrived in the early summer of 1881 in the Breton port and artists’ colony of Concarneau, where his almost year-long stay would prove hugely formative.
The inscription on a damaged, contemporaneous paper label on the stretcher of this diminutive picture indicates that Thaddeus painted Des amis à plume (Feathered friends) while residing at the ‘Grand Hôtel, Concarneau’.1 Le Grand Hôtel des Voyageurs, to give it its full title, was popular among visiting artists over several decades. Slightly more modern and expensive than equivalent accommodation in the nearby artists’ colony of Pont-Aven, where Thaddeus himself had recently spent a couple of weeks, the ‘Grand’ provided comfortable lodgings, access to a billiard table and, according to Thaddeus himself, ‘wine ad libitum’.2 Such attractions contributed significantly to the appeal of these provincial towns as points of congregation for artists. ‘The hotel,’ Thaddeus explained, ‘was crammed with a crowd of cosmopolitan painters similar to that at Pont-Aven. During the day every man was away making studies or painting a picture; but during the evening the spirit of mischief was let loose, and all kinds of pranks were indulged in’.3 The hotel was situated on Concarneau’s main square, overlooking the harbour and the Ville Close, a medieval island of narrow streets and fortifications that was connected by a bridge to the mainland.
Concarneau afforded its visiting artistic community a wide and reliable supply of subject matter. During the sardine season, which opened in April, the town’s large fleet of brown-sailed fishing boats would make its way twice a day from the port towards the open sea. Onshore, crowds would excitedly attend the return of the sailors, and remove the catch to nearby factories for processing and smoking. Religious pardons and regular markets also contributed to the distinctive rhythms of life in the town, and captured the imagination of generations of artists, among them Alfred Guillou, Peter Krøyer, and, later, Thaddeus’s compatriot William Leech.
Like many of his peers, Thaddeus would routinely produce drawings and oil sketches outdoors with a view to incorporating them into finished canvases in his studio. His large and detailed painting, Les amies du modèle (National Gallery of Ireland), which hung at the Paris Salon of 1882, is a testament to the confidence artists derived from their communal activity in Concarneau. In the painting, set in his studio, the repurposed Chapelle de la Trinité on the Ville Close, an improbably dapper Thaddeus works at his easel under the admiring gaze of a fellow artist and a number of locals.
Des amis à plume is a more understated work than Les amies du modèle and Thaddeus’s other grand essays for the Paris Salon but, inspired by local customs and costume, shares their origins. The clothing worn by the woman – heavy blue dress, apron, coiffe and sabots – is typical of the Plougastel region of Brittany, and features in other works by Thaddeus, including, to more dramatic effect, Market Day, Finistère (National Gallery of Ireland). The woman recalls broadly-painted figures by Thaddeus in pictures of Paris, Brittany and Fontainbleau, but her casual air – knitting while she attends a flock of ducks – resembles other Concarneau subjects by him most closely. Notwithstanding the town’s role in the sardine industry and the large workforce it supported, visiting artists were struck by the relaxed pace of life that prevailed there, particularly in comparison to their recent experience as students in urban centres like Paris, Antwerp and London. The presence of similar characters in paintings by Jean-François Millet and Frank O’Meara indicates that knitting outdoors was a popular and effective way of occupying time while tending animals in provincial France.
The picture features a signature – ‘Harry T Jones’, with the H and J conjoined – that was one of several the artist employed in the early years of his career. It recurs in other works of 1881, including a comparable painting of a Breton fisher boy on the beach and an outstanding head-and-shoulders study of a young girl in traditional attire. In 1885, Thaddeus changed his name by deed-poll and signed all works ‘H.J. Thaddeus’ from that point onwards.
The precise setting for the painting is unclear, though the architectural mass in the background and the tall ship at anchor suggest a generalised representation of Concarneau (the town is also located, as here, on the southern edge of the bay). Various picturesque locations and points of interest were within easy reach of the town, Thaddeus’s compatriot Helen Mabel Trevor, who visited in 1883, declaring that ‘the prettiest country’ was to be found on the opposite side of the bay.4
Dr Brendan Rooney
1. Thaddeus provided the same address when exhibiting at the Paris Salon and the Society of British Artists in London. It also features on a label on the back of a Breton interior of the same period
2. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 25
3. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 26
4. Helen Mabel Trevor, The Ramblings of an Artist (London, Gay and Bird, 1901), 71
Des Amis à Plume
Oil on canvas, 49.9 x 44.2 cm.
Signed and dated 1881, lower-right; inscribed ‘à Plume, Jone…, The Grand Hotel Concarneau Finistère’ on original label, verso
Provenance: Private collection, France
Having studied in Dublin, London and Paris, Harry Jones Thaddeus followed the example of countless artists before him in travelling to provincial France in search of novel subjects, new experiences and the opportunity to live and work among his artist peers. He arrived in the early summer of 1881 in the Breton port and artists’ colony of Concarneau, where his almost year-long stay would prove hugely formative.
The inscription on a damaged, contemporaneous paper label on the stretcher of this diminutive picture indicates that Thaddeus painted Des amis à plume (Feathered friends) while residing at the ‘Grand Hôtel, Concarneau’.1 Le Grand Hôtel des Voyageurs, to give it its full title, was popular among visiting artists over several decades. Slightly more modern and expensive than equivalent accommodation in the nearby artists’ colony of Pont-Aven, where Thaddeus himself had recently spent a couple of weeks, the ‘Grand’ provided comfortable lodgings, access to a billiard table and, according to Thaddeus himself, ‘wine ad libitum’.2 Such attractions contributed significantly to the appeal of these provincial towns as points of congregation for artists. ‘The hotel,’ Thaddeus explained, ‘was crammed with a crowd of cosmopolitan painters similar to that at Pont-Aven. During the day every man was away making studies or painting a picture; but during the evening the spirit of mischief was let loose, and all kinds of pranks were indulged in’.3 The hotel was situated on Concarneau’s main square, overlooking the harbour and the Ville Close, a medieval island of narrow streets and fortifications that was connected by a bridge to the mainland.
Concarneau afforded its visiting artistic community a wide and reliable supply of subject matter. During the sardine season, which opened in April, the town’s large fleet of brown-sailed fishing boats would make its way twice a day from the port towards the open sea. Onshore, crowds would excitedly attend the return of the sailors, and remove the catch to nearby factories for processing and smoking. Religious pardons and regular markets also contributed to the distinctive rhythms of life in the town, and captured the imagination of generations of artists, among them Alfred Guillou, Peter Krøyer, and, later, Thaddeus’s compatriot William Leech.
Like many of his peers, Thaddeus would routinely produce drawings and oil sketches outdoors with a view to incorporating them into finished canvases in his studio. His large and detailed painting, Les amies du modèle (National Gallery of Ireland), which hung at the Paris Salon of 1882, is a testament to the confidence artists derived from their communal activity in Concarneau. In the painting, set in his studio, the repurposed Chapelle de la Trinité on the Ville Close, an improbably dapper Thaddeus works at his easel under the admiring gaze of a fellow artist and a number of locals.
Des amis à plume is a more understated work than Les amies du modèle and Thaddeus’s other grand essays for the Paris Salon but, inspired by local customs and costume, shares their origins. The clothing worn by the woman – heavy blue dress, apron, coiffe and sabots – is typical of the Plougastel region of Brittany, and features in other works by Thaddeus, including, to more dramatic effect, Market Day, Finistère (National Gallery of Ireland). The woman recalls broadly-painted figures by Thaddeus in pictures of Paris, Brittany and Fontainbleau, but her casual air – knitting while she attends a flock of ducks – resembles other Concarneau subjects by him most closely. Notwithstanding the town’s role in the sardine industry and the large workforce it supported, visiting artists were struck by the relaxed pace of life that prevailed there, particularly in comparison to their recent experience as students in urban centres like Paris, Antwerp and London. The presence of similar characters in paintings by Jean-François Millet and Frank O’Meara indicates that knitting outdoors was a popular and effective way of occupying time while tending animals in provincial France.
The picture features a signature – ‘Harry T Jones’, with the H and J conjoined – that was one of several the artist employed in the early years of his career. It recurs in other works of 1881, including a comparable painting of a Breton fisher boy on the beach and an outstanding head-and-shoulders study of a young girl in traditional attire. In 1885, Thaddeus changed his name by deed-poll and signed all works ‘H.J. Thaddeus’ from that point onwards.
The precise setting for the painting is unclear, though the architectural mass in the background and the tall ship at anchor suggest a generalised representation of Concarneau (the town is also located, as here, on the southern edge of the bay). Various picturesque locations and points of interest were within easy reach of the town, Thaddeus’s compatriot Helen Mabel Trevor, who visited in 1883, declaring that ‘the prettiest country’ was to be found on the opposite side of the bay.4
Dr Brendan Rooney
1. Thaddeus provided the same address when exhibiting at the Paris Salon and the Society of British Artists in London. It also features on a label on the back of a Breton interior of the same period
2. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 25
3. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter (London, The Bodley Head, 1912), 26
4. Helen Mabel Trevor, The Ramblings of an Artist (London, Gay and Bird, 1901), 71