Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Cattle on a Road, Oil on board, 4...
Hammer
€46,000
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Cattle on a Road, Oil on board, 44.5 x 59.5cm (17½ x 23½) Signed
Provenance: The Artist's Family
Three inquisitive black calves approach a farm gate. Their attention possibly caught by an arriving figure, as one peers over the top of the gate, ears pricked, the seconds' gaze partially blocked by the post and a third ambles across the field to join them. Each have a distinctive white spot on their foreheads, a patch of colour within their otherwise black hide. They are possibly the rare Irish breed of Kerry cows, known for their all black coat. Naturally curious animals, Dillon captures their playful and friendly demeanour. He often included animals in his landscape works, depicting the liveliness of a farmyard, with cattle, chickens, and geese (The Fisherman's Cottage; Cows and Crows, both c.1951). On occasion they are tended by a farmer busy at work, but in this instance, he focuses on the animals, their responses to something out of sight and at the same time their attention engaging us as viewers looking in at them.
In this work Dillon delights in the patchwork of colours, the vibrant blue sky rises over fields of green grass borders by the yellow crops. Great attention is paid to the distinctive pattern of the stone wall and path in front of the gate, each individual stone outlined, fitting together into a distinct pattern and is reminiscent of his birdseye views of the Connemara fields such as The Little Green Fields (National Gallery of Ireland), in which the perspective is flattened and each distinct area drawn out, occupied by either crops or livestock. A well-worn dirt road leads off into the distance, drawing us into the composition to the neat arrangement of cottages and farm buildings stacked in the background. It does not appear to be a west of Ireland landscape, which Dillon painted often after his time spent there in the mid-1940s and 50s, it could instead possibly be a rural farmstead in his native Northern Ireland. The late 1950s was a period of change in Dillon's style as he moved into a more abstract form, as represented by other works in this sale, but in Cattle on a Road we are reminded of his deep connection with the landscape and the joy he found in painting it.
Niamh Corcoran, August 2026
Hammer
€46,000
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) Cattle on a Road, Oil on board, 44.5 x 59.5cm (17½ x 23½) Signed
Provenance: The Artist's Family
Three inquisitive black calves approach a farm gate. Their attention possibly caught by an arriving figure, as one peers over the top of the gate, ears pricked, the seconds' gaze partially blocked by the post and a third ambles across the field to join them. Each have a distinctive white spot on their foreheads, a patch of colour within their otherwise black hide. They are possibly the rare Irish breed of Kerry cows, known for their all black coat. Naturally curious animals, Dillon captures their playful and friendly demeanour. He often included animals in his landscape works, depicting the liveliness of a farmyard, with cattle, chickens, and geese (The Fisherman's Cottage; Cows and Crows, both c.1951). On occasion they are tended by a farmer busy at work, but in this instance, he focuses on the animals, their responses to something out of sight and at the same time their attention engaging us as viewers looking in at them.
In this work Dillon delights in the patchwork of colours, the vibrant blue sky rises over fields of green grass borders by the yellow crops. Great attention is paid to the distinctive pattern of the stone wall and path in front of the gate, each individual stone outlined, fitting together into a distinct pattern and is reminiscent of his birdseye views of the Connemara fields such as The Little Green Fields (National Gallery of Ireland), in which the perspective is flattened and each distinct area drawn out, occupied by either crops or livestock. A well-worn dirt road leads off into the distance, drawing us into the composition to the neat arrangement of cottages and farm buildings stacked in the background. It does not appear to be a west of Ireland landscape, which Dillon painted often after his time spent there in the mid-1940s and 50s, it could instead possibly be a rural farmstead in his native Northern Ireland. The late 1950s was a period of change in Dillon's style as he moved into a more abstract form, as represented by other works in this sale, but in Cattle on a Road we are reminded of his deep connection with the landscape and the joy he found in painting it.
Niamh Corcoran, August 2026
