Lot 33: ALOYSIUS O'KELLY B. 1853 THE MARKET

signed l.r.: ALOYSIUS O'KELLY

oil on canvas

CATALOGUE NOTE

Although the exact location of The Market is unknown, the composition captures the lively market day at one of the villages near Pont-Aven and Concarneau on the Brittany coast. The women and children in their traditional Breton dress cluster animatedly around the local clog stall.

O'Kelly first went to Brittany in 1876 during the summer months whilst studying in Paris and the fresh rural subject matter would have been in direct opposition to the meticulous studio training Gérôme advocated. Like most of his contemporaries, he cannot have failed to be inspired by the naturalism of Jules Bastien-Lepage and his followers.

The loose handling of The Market clearly reflects O'Kelly's knowledge of the French master's edict of painting directly en plein air. The fluid style and manner of O'Kelly's signature in The Market suggest that it most likely dates to the first decade of the 20^th century. Having returned from the United States, O'Kelly went to Brittany in 1902 and stayed there for prolonged periods over the next twenty years.

54 by 64.8cm.; 21 1/4 by 25 1/2 in.