back to works by this artist go to next work

George Bernard O’Neill

1828 – 1917

The Welcome by George Bernard O’Neill
 

The Welcome   1857

  Original etching.
With the artist's name in the plate.
S 366 x 268 mm; P 150 x 121 mm; I 138 x 105 mm
£95
 
Very fine impression, from the only published edition, as issued in Etchings for the Art-Union by the Etching Club, 1857.

Irish by birth, George Bernard O'Neill became immensely popular for his genre subjects which, like The Welcome, often depict animated scenes featuring gleeful young children. There is a characteristic lively humour to this composition of a man cleaning the mud from his shoes as he is greeted upon his arrival. This design is the very essence of a Victorian etching: it is worked in detail across the entire plate; it is a subject depicting everyday life; and it is fundamentally narrative in nature - indeed, The Welcome is the definitive example of G.B.O'Neill's highly accomplished period etched works.

On cream chine collé applied to original warm white wove backing sheet, with full margins, as issued. Minor discolouration at extreme outer edge of sheet, otherwise very good original condition. Image surface excellent.