Henry O’Neill (1798-1880) 'The Hill of Faughart, Co. Louth...

Estimate

€1,000 - €1,500

Henry O’Neill (1798-1880)

'The Hill of Faughart, Co. Louth,'  O.O.C., c. 1871, Signed  and inscribed lower left, 51cms x 59cms (20" x 23"). 

In this dramatic landscape, O’Neill captures the prospect from a location close to Moyry Pass—the ‘Gap of the North’—a few miles north of Dundalk. The view is taken from a craggy mountain, looking south towards the coastline and Dundalk Bay. In the middle distance can be seen the Hill of Faughart, famed for its ancient shrine devoted to St. Brigid. For centuries, Moyry Pass has been an important strategic location on the road between Dundalk and County Armagh. In 1600 Lord Mountjoy launched an attack here, on the forces of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, while ninety years later, William of Orange marched his army south through the Pass. An earlier Earl of Tyrone had been involved in the 1316 Battle of Faughart.

Although the birthplace of Henry O’Neill is given by Strickland as Clonmel, other accounts propose that he may have been born in Dundalk: this painting may provide evidence towards the latter theory. Perhaps inspired by the bravery shown by his namesake who defended Moyry Pass against the English in 1600, Henry O’Neill has used both colour and aerial perspective to add drama and a sense of depth to this view, with rocks and cliff in the foreground depicted in browns and russets, while the Hill of Faughart is picked out in light green colours, and a thin silver line in the distance indicates the sea. Dark clouds hang over the scene, adding to the sense of Romanticism. This painting may be the work entitled The Battlefield of Faughart, North Side of Dundalk, or else A Mountain Cliff on the North Side of Faughart, both exhibited at the RHA in 1871, while O’Neill was living at Francis Street, Dundalk.
Dr. Peter Murray, 2022