Henry Nelson O'Neil, A.R.A.

Sale: Sotheby's, Sussex, May 22, 1997, lot 343, illustrated
Richard Green Fine Paintings, London
Acquired from the above by the present owner

A sunny afternoon spent picnicking was a favorite recreational activity in Victorian England; the growing stresses of urbanity were left behind as baskets filled with carefully prepared lunches dotted parks throughout the country.  In the present work a family has spread their crisp white picnic blanket under the trees of Windsor Park, its namesake castle visible on the horizon, and is about to enjoy a particularly sumptuous feast. While this painting has come to be considered an exceptional example of Victorian art, contemporary critics were less generous in their appraisal.  Upon A Picnic’s exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1857, an Art Journal writer believed that “the subject is not interesting; the point of the composition seems the dissection of a pigeon pie.  The figures are numerous, well drawn, and well painted; but in an assemblage of people sitting down to eat… there is neither story or anecdote” (Art Journal, 1857, p. 171).  Hung among the more traditional Academy submissions, the importance of O’Neil’s work as a representation of “modern” life itself was easily misunderstood.  Removing an immediately recognizable narrative from the composition, O’Neil allows the viewer to observe objectively the various relationships between a boy and girl feeding their pet monkey, an adoring suitor gazing at his love, and a mysterious figure in the shadows perhaps reading the young lady’s palm.  Accompanying these vignettes are a myriad of everyday objects made visually significant by the their intricately painted details.  In its careful description of a common and enjoyable activity, A Picnic illustrates O’Neil’s belief that “one of the chief functions of the Art of painting is to record the spirit of the age in which it is practices, and even of its manners and customs” (Henry Nelson O’Neil, Lectures on Painting delivered at the Royal Academy, London, 1866, p. 48).  A somewhat radical theory at the time, O'Neil's philosophies easily anticipate trends of subsequent decades, thereby relating his belief that "there is a halo about the past which never clings to the present and in this respect the artist shows the highest powers, if he can execute a deep sympathy by subjects which, unlike the stirring events of history, have hither to held no place in mind” (O’Neil, p. 49).