The Two Extremes - the Pre-Raphaelite

Name: HENRY NELSON O'NEIL, A.R.A. (BRITISH, 1817-1880)
Brand: The Two Extremes - the Pre-Raphaelite
Price: 17000.00 GBP
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised GBP 21,250

Estimate

GBP 10,000 - GBP 15,000

Closed: 16 Dec 2021

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HENRY NELSON O'NEIL, A.R.A. (BRITISH, 1817-1880)

The Two Extremes - the Pre-Raphaelite

Price Realised GBP 21,250

Closed: 16 Dec 2021

Price Realised GBP 21,250

Closed: 16 Dec 2021

Details Lot Essay Related Articles More from

HENRY NELSON O'NEIL, A.R.A. (BRITISH, 1817-1880)
The Two Extremes - the Pre-Raphaelite
signed and dated 'H.O'Neil. 1856' (lower left) and further signed and inscribed 'No 1. The two Extremes - The Pre-Raphaelite/Henry O'Neil' (on an old label attached to the reverse)
oil on board
18¹⁄₂ x 15¹⁄₂ in. (47 x 39.3 cm.)

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 25 November 2003, lot 184, where purchased by the present owner.

Art Journal, 1857, p. 72.

London, British Institution, 1857, no. 485.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.

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Lot Essay

Henry Nelson O'Neil was an active member of The Clique, a group of artists in the 1840s who held meetings to discuss one another's work, as well as facilitating a forum for broader discussions on art. The Clique’s members were Augustus Egg, Alfred Elmore, Richard Dadd, William Powell Frith, John Phillip and Edward Matthew Ward. One of the key commonalities amongst the members was their opposition to the art of the Pre-Raphaelites.

O’Neil’s views on the subject are articulated in this satirical painting. The young artist in the painting is depicting one of Tennyson’s poems, . The Pre-Raphaelites were ardent supporters of Tennyson’s poetry, and often depicted poems with themes of anguished lovers, similar to the one in O’Neil’s painting.

The painting formed an entertaining pendant to , exhibited at the British Institution of 1857, no. 483, under the joint heading, . , commenting on , explained that, 'This and The Pre-Raphaelite by the same artist, illustrate these opponent Art-theories, with some causticity of allusion to the latter'.

In the painting O’Neil also presents his artistic mastery as he appropriates with ease the style of the Pre-Raphaelites within the painting on the easel, and contrasts it by painting with a mimetic precision in the 'real' scene of the two sitters.