James Arthur O'Connor Sold at Auction Prices

Landscape painter, Miniature painter, b. 1792 - d. 1841

James Arthur O'Connor (1792 – 7 January 1841) was an Irish painter. James Arthur O'Connor was born 15 Aston's Quay, Dublin – the son of an engraver and printer, William O'Connor. O'Connor would become a distinguished landscape painter. He was self-taught, receiving just a few lessons from William Sadler. He travelled to London with Francis Danby and George Petrie, exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1822. O'Connor visited France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and the Rhineland. He died poor, in Brompton, London, 7 January 1841. O'Connor was married – his wife's name was Anastatia.

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        • James Arthur O'Connor. Night
          Dec. 11, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor. Night

          Est: -

          Oil on board. Signed in the center right.

          Duran Arte y Subastas
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) The Dargle Oil on canvas, 34.9 x 42.5cm (13¾ x 16¾'') Signed and dated 1831 (lower right) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.
          Dec. 04, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) The Dargle Oil on canvas, 34.9 x 42.5cm (13¾ x 16¾'') Signed and dated 1831 (lower right) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) The Dargle Oil on canvas, 34.9 x 42.5cm (13¾ x 16¾'') Signed and dated 1831 (lower right) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure Oil on panel, 20.3 x 24.8cm (8 x 9¾) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.
          Dec. 04, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure Oil on panel, 20.3 x 24.8cm (8 x 9¾) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.

          Est: €3,000 - €4,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure Oil on panel, 20.3 x 24.8cm (8 x 9¾) Provenance: Collection of the Hon. Francis D. Murnaghan Jr., thence by descent.

          Adam's
        • Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor (Irish 1792-1841),
          Nov. 16, 2024

          Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor (Irish 1792-1841),

          Est: $3,000 - $4,000

          Fishing in Scotland oil on board unsigned, titled in pencil verso 13.5cm x 21cm

          Aalders Auctions
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792 - 1841)
          Sep. 25, 2024

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792 - 1841)

          Est: €800 - €1,200

          Man with a stick. Pen and ink sketch heightened with body colour. Framed. Provenance: on loan to the National Gallery Ireland Nov - Dec 1986 Cat. No. 22. PICTURES AND PRINTS Wednesday 25th September 2024 Approximate Time 16:40:30

          Sheppards
        • James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841)
          Jul. 16, 2024

          James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841)

          Est: €100 - €200

          James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841), landscape with farmer, oil on wooden panel, signed bottom right, framed, 25 x 28 cm

          Deutsch Auktionen
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Scene with Figures Watercolour 17 x 25cm (6¾ x 9¾) Signed
          May. 29, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Scene with Figures Watercolour 17 x 25cm (6¾ x 9¾) Signed

          Est: €600 - €800

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Scene with Figures Watercolour 17 x 25cm (6¾ x 9¾) Signed

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836
          May. 29, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Fisherman Gutting Fish by a River Gully Oil on canvas, 61 x 50.5cm (24 x 20) Signed and dated 1830 Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, label verso, numbered 4566
          May. 29, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Fisherman Gutting Fish by a River Gully Oil on canvas, 61 x 50.5cm (24 x 20) Signed and dated 1830 Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, label verso, numbered 4566

          Est: €10,000 - €15,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Fisherman Gutting Fish by a River Gully Oil on canvas, 61 x 50.5cm (24 x 20) Signed and dated 1830 Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, label verso, numbered 4566

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure in Red, Tower in the Distance Oil on board, 17.5 x 22.5cm (7 x 8¾) Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, November 1982, catalogue no. 9
          May. 29, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure in Red, Tower in the Distance Oil on board, 17.5 x 22.5cm (7 x 8¾) Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, November 1982, catalogue no. 9

          Est: €5,000 - €8,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Landscape with Figure in Red, Tower in the Distance Oil on board, 17.5 x 22.5cm (7 x 8¾) Provenance: With Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin, November 1982, catalogue no. 9

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Mountain Landscape with Figure on a Path Oil on canvas, 50 x 60cm (19½ x 23½)
          Mar. 27, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Mountain Landscape with Figure on a Path Oil on canvas, 50 x 60cm (19½ x 23½)

          Est: €2,000 - €4,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Wooded Mountain Landscape with Figure on a Path Oil on canvas, 50 x 60cm (19½ x 23½)

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Landscape with Figures Oil on canvas, 45 x 61cm (17¾ x 24) Signed and dated 1926
          Mar. 27, 2024

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Landscape with Figures Oil on canvas, 45 x 61cm (17¾ x 24) Signed and dated 1926

          Est: €3,000 - €5,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) River Landscape with Figures Oil on canvas, 45 x 61cm (17¾ x 24) Signed and dated 1926

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841) Mountain River Landscape with Figures: (‘Near Waterford’) Oil on panel, 23 x 39cm (9 x 15¼) Painted in 1823, a key year in O’Connor’s artistic development, this pleasingly composed landscape combine
          Mar. 27, 2024

          James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841) Mountain River Landscape with Figures: (‘Near Waterford’) Oil on panel, 23 x 39cm (9 x 15¼) Painted in 1823, a key year in O’Connor’s artistic development, this pleasingly composed landscape combine

          Est: €6,000 - €8,000

          James Arthur O’Connor (1792-1841) Mountain River Landscape with Figures: (‘Near Waterford’) Oil on panel, 23 x 39cm (9 x 15¼) Painted in 1823, a key year in O’Connor’s artistic development, this pleasingly composed landscape combines the man-made environment – an ancient stone bridge, humble cabin and church spire – with the natural world, a gloriously complex verdure redolent of high summer, with very effective combination of still and moving water. The rocks and torrent in the foreground are treated with noticeably lively freedom, with an almost pointillist use of rich impasto – all the elements which have made O’Connor such a perennially loved artist are present in abundance. The painting relates to a larger work in which, John Hutchinson notes in the catalogue for the National Gallery of Ireland exhibition in 1985, ‘O’Connor had more or less made a complete transition from topography to the picturesque’ (John Hutchinson, James Arthur O’Connor (Dublin, 1985), no. 40 p 131. This version was illustrated on the front cover of Nicola Figgis (ed.), Art and Architecture of Ireland, Volume 2, Painting 1600-1900). Our smaller version includes numerous changes and, though it is likely to have preceded the more finished work, is in some instances noticeably more successful as a composition. Hutchinson notes the ‘uncomfortable addition’ of a figure of a young girl in the larger version which, he suggests, ‘may have been inserted as an afterthought’. Here in the absence of that figure the flow from fore- to middle-ground coalesces much more successfully. At the same time in our work O’Connor introduces a flick of red on the cloak of an abbreviated female figure walking across the bridge – consisting with masterly economy of just two dots of paint – to catch the eye in what is famously his hallmark motif. As Hutchinson had noted, the early to mid-1820s was a period of both consolidation and on-going experimentation in O’Connor’s landscape art. He had arrived back in London by early 1822 and soon met with success with his pictures exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. O’Connor was an artist in constant need of inspiration from the physical world. He expressed this eloquently in relation to the Irish landscape that he loved so well: ‘I am about [to go] to the wild and beautiful scenery of my native country to refresh my memory, and get some studies to help me in future exertion of my profession – I know I will be benefited by a sight of the grand....scenery that I will meet with in Ireland and hope to show it on canvas’.

          Adam's
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR 1792 - 1841
          Mar. 06, 2024

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR 1792 - 1841

          Est: €15,000 - €25,000

          Extensive landscape with travellers and cattle. Signed J. A. O'Connor and dated 1828 (lower left). Oil on canvas. PICTURES AND PRINTS Approximate Time 17:02:36

          Sheppards
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)
          Dec. 06, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)

          Est: €3,000 - €5,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A Clearing in a Forest with Figures on a Path by a Stream Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 93.5cm (28½ x 36¾) Signed and dated 1825 One of the largest and most impressive works by the artist to come to mark
          Dec. 06, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A Clearing in a Forest with Figures on a Path by a Stream Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 93.5cm (28½ x 36¾) Signed and dated 1825 One of the largest and most impressive works by the artist to come to mark

          Est: €30,000 - €40,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A Clearing in a Forest with Figures on a Path by a Stream Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 93.5cm (28½ x 36¾) Signed and dated 1825 One of the largest and most impressive works by the artist to come to market in recent decades – and prior to its rediscovery in a French private collection unknown to scholars and collectors alike – this is a truly magnificent example of Irish landscape art, unusual both in the grandeur of its conception and the bravura handling of paint in its execution. Impressive in scale, the landscape is at the same time a masterpiece of detail, palette and texture. It is perhaps best described as symphonic in the complex richness of its multi-layered surface but somehow the disparate elements coalesce into a harmonious and pleasing whole. The mid-1820s was a period of both consolidation and on-going experimentation in O’Connor’s landscape art. He had arrived back in London by early 1822 and soon met with success with his pictures exhibited at the Royal Academy and the British Institution. A sketchbook of 1822 (National Gallery of Ireland) shows his travels around the south of England in search of subject matter while in 1824 he experimented with etching. O’Connor was an artist in constant need of inspiration from the physical world. He expressed this eloquently in relation to the Irish landscape that he loved so well: ‘I am about [to go] to the wild and beautiful scenery of my native country to refresh my memory, and get some studies to help me in future exertion of my profession – I know I will be benefited by a sight of the grand....scenery that I will meet with in Ireland and hope to show it on canvas’. Through the early ‘20s he continued to paint Wicklow landscapes. In 1825 in a work in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, he revisited the Westport subject matter with which he had engaged in the previous decade and here again memories of Ireland are clear, if less topographically specific with the rocky stream inevitably reminding of his beloved Dargle River. This is one of a series of generally serene compositions showing travellers on a path by a wood including another landscape of 1825 (Gorry Gallery, 2023) and a work of the following year in Nottingham Castle Museum. However, it surpasses all other works of the 1820s in the intricate complexity of its pattern making as various paths penetrate the picture plane. The play of light and shade as the eye is drawn by human activity into the forest – and back again – is only matched by the subtlety variegated palette as autumn imparts golden richness of tone to the verdure. James Arthur O’Connor, was born in 1792 at 15 Aston’s Quay, Dublin, the son of an engraver and print seller. He first exhibited with the Society of Artists in 1809 when he showed The Card Players. This subject piece was to be something of a false start as his interests thereafter were to lie almost exclusively in landscape, and specifically the Irish scenery which he loved. The artist was, however, to spend a large part of his career in England, also making several extended tours of the continent. Together with Francis Danby and George Petrie, he travelled to London in 1813, but returned the following year to care for his orphaned sisters. His first great series of topographical landscapes was of Westport, executed for the Marquis of Sligo in 1818/19 (private collection). To the same years can be dated the impressive series of Ballinrobe house and demesne (NGI). Although he met with some initial success at home (winning a premium of twenty five guineas from the Royal Irish Institute), in, or about, 1821 O’Connor returned to London and, over the following years, he exhibited landscapes at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Society of British Artists, of which he was elected a member. In 1825, the year he painted this large work, O’Connor moved to Hampstead where his friend Danby, as well as John Constable, were neighbours and the following year he spent at least six months in Brussels where, it seems, he painted a rather atypical view, The Field of Waterloo (private collection). While his correspondence shows that he was acutely aware of the innovations in landscape painting of both Constable and Turner, it is also tempting to hypothesize continental influences. Indeed, O’Connor made several trips to Europe, meeting with some success in Paris, where he was apparently patronized by King Louis Phillipe. Indeed, given the longstanding French provenance of this notably distinguished work it is likely that it was one of the works that O’Connor brought with him to the continent in the 1820s as a calling card to showcase his art. Certainly it can be viewed as a summation of the different strands within his art up to this point and the proud, even programmatic nature of the signature argues for the significance that O’Connor afforded to the painting. However, from about 1833 failing eyesight and general ill health curtailed O’Connor’s career, although he was greatly helped by a generous commission from Sir Charles Coote of Ballyfin, which was paid for in advance. O’Connor died in poverty in London in 1841. His fellow artists, led by his compatriot the President of the Royal Academy Sir Martin Archer Shee, organized a subscription for his widow. O’Connor’s obituary in the Dublin Monthly Magazine for Apr his character and art. ‘O’Connor was a man of simple, quiet, unsophisticated feelings, alive to the simple charms of nature, and awake to her slightest impulses. He was impressed by her sublimity and grandeur and artificially cultivated scenery was not to his taste’. O’Connor is one of the most capable and interesting of all Irish landscape painters, and comes close to matching the achievements of the eighteenth-century school: as one of his earliest biographers put it, ‘he was a poet with the brush, and exquisitely reproduced the impressions inspired by the more romantic and solemn aspects of nature’. It is pleasing that this, one of his lost masterpieces, has finally been identified and indeed has been repatriated to Ireland after its long sojourn in France.

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) FOREST LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A PATH, A WOMAN RESTING BEYOND, 1825
          Dec. 04, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) FOREST LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A PATH, A WOMAN RESTING BEYOND, 1825

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) FOREST LANDSCAPE WITH FIGURES ON A PATH, A WOMAN RESTING BEYOND, 1825 oil on panel signed and dated lower left h:10  w:14 in. Provenance: Pyms Gallery, London; Private collection

          Whyte's
        • ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figure in a woodland and rocky landscape Oil on canvas, 23.5 x 29cm
          Nov. 27, 2023

          ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figure in a woodland and rocky landscape Oil on canvas, 23.5 x 29cm

          Est: €1,500 - €2,500

          ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figure in a woodland and rocky landscape Oil on canvas, 23.5 x 29cm

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O Connor (1792-1841)-attributed
          Nov. 21, 2023

          James Arthur O Connor (1792-1841)-attributed

          Est: €80 - €160

          James Arthur O’ Connor (1792-1841)-attributed, Travelers in landscape. Oil on canvas. Framed. 17X22 cm.

          Deutsch Auktionen
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR 1792 - 1841
          Nov. 07, 2023

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR 1792 - 1841

          Est: €25,000 - €35,000

          Extensive landscape with travellers and cattle. Signed J. A. O'Connor and dated 1828 (lower left). Oil on canvas. Approximate Time: 11:49 Lot No: 150

          Sheppards
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A wooded landscape with figures on a path Oil on panel, 18.5 x 23.4cm (7¼ X 9¼) Signed Provenance: Sale, Christie's, London, 15 December 1883, lot 161; Martin E.P. Smith, 1902 (according to a label on the r
          Sep. 27, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A wooded landscape with figures on a path Oil on panel, 18.5 x 23.4cm (7¼ X 9¼) Signed Provenance: Sale, Christie's, London, 15 December 1883, lot 161; Martin E.P. Smith, 1902 (according to a label on the r

          Est: €3,000 - €5,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) A wooded landscape with figures on a path Oil on panel, 18.5 x 23.4cm (7¼ X 9¼) Signed Provenance: Sale, Christie's, London, 15 December 1883, lot 161; Martin E.P. Smith, 1902 (according to a label on the reverse); Private Collection, Dublin

          Adam's
        • Manner of James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841). Traveller in a wooded landscape at dusk
          Jul. 20, 2023

          Manner of James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841). Traveller in a wooded landscape at dusk

          Est: £300 - £500

          Manner of James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841). Traveller in a wooded landscape at dusk * Manner of James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841). Traveller in a wooded landscape at dusk, oil on card, depicting a traveller walking along a path with a church and village in the distance and a river to the right, unsigned, 12 x 17 cm (4 3/4 x 6 3/4 ins), framed (21 x 26 cm) QTY: (1)

          Dominic Winter Auctions
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)
          May. 31, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)

          Est: €4,000 - €5,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figures in Conversation in a Woodland Oil on canvas, 30 x 25cm (11¾ x 9¾”)

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836
          May. 31, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836

          Est: €5,000 - €8,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in Landscape with trees and Rocky Outcrops in the Distance Oil on panel, 30 x 40cm (11¾ x 15¾) Signed and dated 1836

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Fisherman on a Bridge Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 25cm (12 x 9¾”) Signed
          May. 31, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Fisherman on a Bridge Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 25cm (12 x 9¾”) Signed

          Est: €8,000 - €12,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Fisherman on a Bridge Oil on canvas, 30.5 x 25cm (12 x 9¾”) Signed

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dargle: Moonlight and Ruin (1837) Oil on canvas, 35 x 44.5cm (13¾ x 17½) Signed and dated 1837 Provenance: Lady Woods, 'Marino', Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by descent. William Ferrand Frame-Maker trade lab
          May. 31, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dargle: Moonlight and Ruin (1837) Oil on canvas, 35 x 44.5cm (13¾ x 17½) Signed and dated 1837 Provenance: Lady Woods, 'Marino', Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by descent. William Ferrand Frame-Maker trade lab

          Est: €6,000 - €10,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dargle: Moonlight and Ruin (1837) Oil on canvas, 35 x 44.5cm (13¾ x 17½) Signed and dated 1837 Provenance: Lady Woods, 'Marino', Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by descent. William Ferrand Frame-Maker trade label verso. Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 'O'Connor Centenary Exhibition,' Catalogue No. 46

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Rocky Landscape with Figure (1840) Oil on canvas, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾) Signed with initials and dated 1840 Provenance: Collection Chidley Coote, Dublin; Lady Woods, Marino, Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by des
          May. 31, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Rocky Landscape with Figure (1840) Oil on canvas, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾) Signed with initials and dated 1840 Provenance: Collection Chidley Coote, Dublin; Lady Woods, Marino, Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by des

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Rocky Landscape with Figure (1840) Oil on canvas, 35 x 45cm (13¾ x 17¾) Signed with initials and dated 1840 Provenance: Collection Chidley Coote, Dublin; Lady Woods, Marino, Killiney, Co. Dublin, thence by descent Exhibited: Dublin, Exhibition of Arts, Industries and Manufactures, Exhibition Palace, 1872; Dublin Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 'O'Connor Centenary Exhibition' 1941, Catalogue No. 48 The Romantic movement in early 19th century European painting was a response to the Enlightenment era and its emphasis on reason and logic. It was characterized by a fascination with emotion, imagination, individualism, and the natural world. James Arthur O’Connor belongs to the great Romantic movement, a movement that celebrates - in literature, music and especially in painting - creativity and a deep understanding of the power of nature. He was perhaps one of Ireland’s best loved painters of the 19th century until being eclipsed by Walter Osborne and others of the Irish Impressionist school. James Arthur O’Connor was born in Dublin, the son of an engraver and printer, William O’Connor. Although given a few lessons by Dublin artist William Sadler, he was largely self-taught. A lifelong friend of George Petrie and Francis Danby, he went to London with them in 1813, only to return a short time later to look after his orphaned sisters. His reputation as an artist quickly developed while back in Ireland, painting a series of landscapes for the Marquis of Sligo and Lord Clanricarde. In 1821 O’Connor and his wife, Anastasia, emigrated to London and the following year he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Over the course of the next decade he travelled a great deal in Europe, visiting France, Belgium, Holland and Germany, spending several months in the Rhine Valley. With his eyesight and his general health failing in 1839, his output diminished dramatically and he eventually died, virtually penniless, in London in 1841. John Hutchinson noted, in the catalogue for the 1985 exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland, that O’Connor’s work may be divided into three distinct phases – the early topographical paintings, mid-period picturesque and the late romantic works. Romantic painters sought to create art that evoked strong emotional responses in the viewer, often through dramatic subject matter, intense colour, and dynamic compositions and O’Connor’s late works, such as the selection in this sale, reflect his abiding interest and fascination in the dramatic, such as the moonlit scene with the ruined castle reaching high above the surrounding trees. The presence of a solitary figure standing on a rocky outcrop and an attendant dog provides dramatic scale. Tranquillity is a common theme in these later works and possess a pastoral calm that transforms them into very pleasing compositions which went down very well with the picture buyers of the time. However, by the mid 1830s O’Connor was quite depressed about his lack of sales, complaining in correspondence about the fact that he wasn’t ‘selling a single picture’. Solitude too is a feature of pictorial compositions through the 18th and early 19th centuries and is a motif that O’Connor developed in his later work. The Canadian art historian David Solkin made interesting observations in relation to this theme in 1982 when he wrote ‘(It) gives emblematic form to the notion of rural retirement, as a moral activity which allows man the opportunity to study and to become aware of the greatness of God … such a message was designed to appeal to contemporary patrician landowners, who like to think of themselves as virtuous hermits in the private confines of their country estates.’ While O’Connor’s solitary figures, as represented in these present works, may not be seen as aristocratic in any sense, they are representative of the broader family of man, whether a fisherman preparing his rod or an ambulant red-clad countrywoman with bonnet and basket. While O’Connor’s star waned in the later years of his life, his work has continued to have a great appeal, a testament to his enduring power as a painter of timeless natural sublimity.

          Adam's
        • O'Connor, James Arthur
          May. 13, 2023

          O'Connor, James Arthur

          Est: -

          O'Connor, James Arthur 1792 Dublin - 1841 Brompton Way Home. Signiert. Öl/Holz, 24 x 28 cm.

          Dusseldorfer Auktionshaus
        • James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841)
          Apr. 04, 2023

          James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841)

          Est: £3,000 - £5,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841) James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841) A figure on a path in a wooded landscape signed 'J A O'Connor' and dated '1825' l.c., oil on canvas 45 x 60cm Condition Report: overall: 68 x 83.5cm Craquelure with a 3cm long brown line to the right edge, please see images. Some possible retouching to the white of the clouds. The canvas is lined. There are some small white flecks on the inside of the glass but the painting itself is unaffected. Unexamined out of glazed frame or under UV light, for a full report please contact the department.

          Sworders
        • ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792 - 1841)
          Mar. 01, 2023

          ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792 - 1841)

          Est: €2,000 - €3,000

          A wooded river landscape, with shepherd and sheep, a hilltop castle to the left, and oak trees to the right. Oil on canvas, unlined, held in its original carved giltwood frame.

          Sheppards
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Moonlit Landscape with Figure by a Waterfall Oil on panel, 25.5 x 34.5cm (10 x 13½) Signed with initials
          Dec. 07, 2022

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Moonlit Landscape with Figure by a Waterfall Oil on panel, 25.5 x 34.5cm (10 x 13½) Signed with initials

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 - 1841) Moonlit Landscape with Figure by a Waterfall Oil on panel, 25.5 x 34.5cm (10 x 13½) Signed with initials

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792 Dublin - 1841 Brompton)
          Nov. 26, 2022

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 Dublin - 1841 Brompton)

          Est: - €4,400

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792 Dublin - 1841 Brompton) Nach der Heuernte, Öl auf Platte, 23,5 cm x 27,5 cm, signiert, craqueliert, partiell retuschiert, kleines Loch in der Platte, minimale Farbabplatzer, reinigungsbedürftig English Translation: James Arthur O'Connor (1792 Dublin - 1841 Brompton) After the hay harvest, oil on panel, 23.5 cm x 27.5 cm, signed, craquelure, partially retouched, small hole in the panel, minimal paint chips, in need of cleaning

          Wettmann
        • Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) "View of the Wye Valley," O.O.C., depicting Romantic
          Nov. 16, 2022

          Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) "View of the Wye Valley," O.O.C., depicting Romantic

          Est: €1,500 - €2,000

          Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) "View of the Wye Valley," O.O.C., depicting Romantic River Scene with cliffs and forestry, with two figures resting in the foreground, boats on the water and two further figures standing on the cliff, approx. 23cms x 30cms (9" x 12") in contemporary gilt frame. Provenance:   Formerly in the collection of Terence de Valera, (with note on reverse confirming that the painting is authenticated by Mr. James Gorry.)

          Fonsie Mealy Auctioneers
        • CIRCLE OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH 1792-1841)
          Aug. 04, 2022

          CIRCLE OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH 1792-1841)

          Est: £120 - £180

          CIRCLE OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH 1792-1841) CIRCLE OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH 1792-1841) Wooded river landscape with a ruins beyond within a foliate painted border oil on copper 48 x 64 cm (oval)

          Chiswick Auctions
        • An extensive wooded landscape with figures
          May. 26, 2022

          An extensive wooded landscape with figures

          Est: £5,000 - £7,000

          James Arthur O'Connor Dublin 1792 - 1841 London An extensive wooded landscape with figures signed lower right: J.A.OC oil on panel unframed: 18.5 by 23.4 cm.; 7¼ by 9¼ in. framed: 21.2 by 26.3 cm.; 8⅜ by 10⅜ in. Bid on Sotheby's

          Sotheby's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dunleary, Coast of Dublin Oil on board, 22.5 x 29cm (8¾ x 11½'') Signed indistinctly
          Mar. 30, 2022

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dunleary, Coast of Dublin Oil on board, 22.5 x 29cm (8¾ x 11½'') Signed indistinctly

          Est: €6,000 - €8,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Dunleary, Coast of Dublin Oil on board, 22.5 x 29cm (8¾ x 11½'') Signed indistinctly

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Wooded Defile with Figures and Distant Cattle Oil on canvas, 63 x 75cm (24¾ x 29½'') Signed and dated 1827 Provenance: Collection of Dr. R.R Woods, Merrion Square, Dublin Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Galler
          Mar. 30, 2022

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Wooded Defile with Figures and Distant Cattle Oil on canvas, 63 x 75cm (24¾ x 29½'') Signed and dated 1827 Provenance: Collection of Dr. R.R Woods, Merrion Square, Dublin Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Galler

          Est: €25,000 - €35,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Wooded Defile with Figures and Distant Cattle Oil on canvas, 63 x 75cm (24¾ x 29½'') Signed and dated 1827 Provenance: Collection of Dr. R.R Woods, Merrion Square, Dublin Exhibited: Dublin, Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, O'Connor Centenary Exhibition, 1941, Catalogue No. 35 When, in Pride and Prejudice [1813] Jane Austen has Elizabeth Bennett exclaim ‘What are men to rocks and mountains’ Austen, though offering us a humorous view of Romanticism, is nonetheless highlighting the beauty and power of landscape and its effect on us. For T.E. Hulme, the root of all Romanticism is when the individual feels within ‘an infinite reservoir of possibility’ and especially when the open, untamed landscape, the great outdoors, works wonders on both mind and imagination. James Arthur O’Connor belongs to the great Romantic movement, a movement that celebrates - in literature, music and especially in painting - creativity and a deep involvement with what Wordsworth calls ‘the goings on of earth and sky’. O’Connor was born, at 9 Exchequer St Dublin, in 1792. Shelley was born that same year. In 1792 Constable was sixteen, Turner was seventeen. Wordsworth and Beethoven were both twenty-two, and though not all of them knew each other, being contemporaries, their work reflected and expressed the spirit of the age in which they lived. O’Connor’s father, an engraver and printmaker, died when O’Connor was sixteen, his mother died before O’Connor’s twenty-first birthday. By 1809, O’Connor, then twenty-seven, began to exhibit with success at the Dublin Society. He most likely had been taught by his father but was also self-taught and his early work featured frequently commissioned landscapes of the west of Ireland including View of Lough Derg with Portumna Castle in the Background, The Grounds, Ballinrobe House, View of Westport with Croagh Patrick, Mangerton Killarney. In 1822, O’Connor, experiencing financial difficulties and hoping to improve his lot and help his orphaned sisters, moved to London with his wife Anastasia. He lived at Upper Marylebone Road, travelled widely in Britain and France, exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy, the British Institute and the Royal Society of British Artists. Exiled future French King Louis Philippe bought several of O’Connor’s work but O’Connor beset by conmen and dealers, who behaved dishonourably, deprived him of earnings that were rightly his. When he moved to Hampstead he lived close to where John Constable, an important influence, lived. In 1826 O’Connor spent a year in Brussels. In 1832 he lived in Paris for nine months and then spent six months in Southern Germany where the Saar and Moselle valleys inspired some of his best work. When O’Connor was forty-three, one of his Irish landscapes was acquired by the Musée des Beaux-Arts Thomas-Henry, Normandy, on its foundation in 1835, but during the 1830s O’Connor’s eyesight deteriorated and his career went into decline. O’Connor died poor in London aged forty-nine and was buried at St Luke’s Church, Chelsea. Prince Albert and the RA initiated a subscription to assist his widow. His obituary in the Dublin Monthly Magazine spoke of O’Connor as ‘a spirit of exceeding mildness; manly, ardent, unobtrusive and sincere; generous in proclaiming contemporary merit, and unskilled and reluctant to put forth his own’. His skill, imagination and brilliant compositional talents are evident in this exceptional work painted when he was thirty-five years old, Wooded Defile, Figures and Distant Cattle [1827]. Defile, here, means ‘a steep-sided narrow gorge or passage (originally one requiring troops to march in single file)’ and the dramatic, steep, rocky cliff-like landscape to the left and the rising ground to the right create a pathway along which four figures are travelling. These four figures, three men and a woman, carry with them and contain their own stories. In the foreground the two figures, a man and a woman, lit from behind, are given prominence. The tall-hatted man in rust-coloured jacket with walking stick and a dog on a lead, seems to have paused to look back at his companion. The woman in red dress, blue-green shawl and carrying a receptacle - a small cage perhaps - as if in response to the man before her, stands her ground. Farther along the path, the man with his back to us carrying a basket and stick walks on slowly; the blue cloth in his basket a little bright detail, the side of his face brightly lit. A fourth figure in dark clothes and white shirt walks towards us leading a young cow. Each one prompts in the viewer a narrative of our own making. In this painting from 1827 we are invited to ask, who are they where are they going what are they like And against the distant trees the ‘distant cattle’ of the title – important enough to get a mention. There are beautiful details here: in O’Connor’s handling of trees, rocks, shrubs but the triumph is in his capturing the way light falls through the defile and that beautifully bright golden-blue sky. Light, shade, perspective all make this a radiant and stunning work. Constable who died in 1837, just three years before O’Connor, said that ‘A gentleman’s park is my aversion. It is not beauty because it is not nature.’ Here, O’Connor celebrates the untamed, natural beautiful landscape, a landscape imbued with a Romantic sensibility where rocks and mountains dominate in every sense. Niall MacMonagle, February 2022

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O’Connor (Irish, 1792-1841), Travellers in landscapes, Oil on wooden panel, a pair, 14 x 19cm.
          Sep. 28, 2021

          James Arthur O’Connor (Irish, 1792-1841), Travellers in landscapes, Oil on wooden panel, a pair, 14 x 19cm.

          Est: £1,500 - £2,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (Irish, 1792-1841) Travellers in landscapes Oil on wooden panel, a pair One signed

          Gorringes
        • ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR
          Aug. 17, 2021

          ATTRIBUTED TO JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR

          Est: €1,500 - €2,500

          Figure fishing in a wooded landscape, Oil on canvas. Enclosed in an ornate gilt frame.

          Sheppards
        • Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor Landscape with a Lake, a Seated Figure in the Foreground
          May. 19, 2021

          Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor Landscape with a Lake, a Seated Figure in the Foreground

          Est: $800 - $1,200

          Attributed to James Arthur O'Connor Landscape with a Lake, a Seated Figure in the Foreground Oil on canvas 12 1/4 x 10 1/2 inches (31 x 26.7 cm) C 

          DOYLE Auctioneers & Appraisers
        • FOLLOWER OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figures in a Wooded Landscape Oil on panel, 20 x 25.5cm (8 x 10) Signed and dated 'J.AO'C 1838', lower-right
          Feb. 23, 2021

          FOLLOWER OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figures in a Wooded Landscape Oil on panel, 20 x 25.5cm (8 x 10) Signed and dated 'J.AO'C 1838', lower-right

          Est: €400 - €600

          FOLLOWER OF JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841) Figures in a Wooded Landscape Oil on panel, 20 x 25.5cm (8 x 10) Signed and dated 'J.AO'C 1838', lower-right

          Adam's
        • James Arthur O'Connor, (1792-1841, Irish), “Mangerton Killarney”, Oil on panel, 6.5" H x 8.25" W
          Dec. 16, 2020

          James Arthur O'Connor, (1792-1841, Irish), “Mangerton Killarney”, Oil on panel, 6.5" H x 8.25" W

          Est: $800 - $1,200

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841, Irish) 'Mangerton Killarney' Oil on panel Signed and titled verso: James O'Connor 6.5" H x 8.25" W Notes: Mangerton Mountain, at 838 metres (2,749 ft), is the 19th-highest peak in Ireland.

          John Moran Auctioneers
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in a Mountain River Landscape Oil on canvas, 25 x 24.8cm (9¾ x 9¾'') Signed
          Dec. 09, 2020

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in a Mountain River Landscape Oil on canvas, 25 x 24.8cm (9¾ x 9¾'') Signed

          Est: €2,000 - €3,000

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) Figure in a Mountain River Landscape Oil on canvas, 25 x 24.8cm (9¾ x 9¾'') Signed

          Adam's
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH, 1792-1841)
          Sep. 22, 2020

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH, 1792-1841)

          Est: €1,000 - €1,500

          Figures in a wooded landscape oil on panel signed and dated 'J.AO'C 1838', lower-right

          Sheppards
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH, 1791-1841).
          Nov. 24, 2019

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (IRISH, 1791-1841).

          Est: $1,000 - $1,500

          Oil on Canvas. Glendalough, Wicklow. Signed lower left. From a White Plains, NY collection.

          Clarke Auction Gallery
        • JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841)
          Sep. 25, 2019

          JAMES ARTHUR O'CONNOR (1792-1841)

          Est: €3,000 - €5,000

          A mountainous landscape with figures on a track. Oil on canvas, Signed, indistinctly, lower right in red. In a quality hand carved gilt wood frame, Old label verso.

          Sheppards
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) DARGLE RIVER
          Sep. 16, 2019

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) DARGLE RIVER

          Est: €1,000 - €1,500

          inscribed on reverse

          Whyte's
        • James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) FIGURE IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE, 1839
          Sep. 16, 2019

          James Arthur O'Connor (1792-1841) FIGURE IN A WOODED LANDSCAPE, 1839

          Est: €4,000 - €6,000

          signed and dated lower right

          Whyte's
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