WALTER FREDERICK OSBORNE
(1859 - 1903)

Irish Painter

Walter Osborne was born in Dublin in 1859, living his early years in Castlewood Avenue, Rathmines, an inner suburb of the city. Like many Irish artists of his and later generations, he moved to continental Europe to study art, starting in Antwerp, moving on to the French Brittany region of Quimperlé and from there to England in 1884. He returned to Dublin in the early 1890s where he taught one of the leading Irish painters of the next generation, William J. Leech.

His paintings of rural scenes that dominated his early years gradually gave way to an 'impressionistic' interpretation of those subjects that he had great empathy for, namely women, small children and old people. His superb images of young girls at play are still cherished by the National Gallery of Ireland: The Dolls School, The House Builders, and other examples of his work are also housed there.From the evidence of the few canvases from his last years, Osborne may be the only Irish artist who could justifiably be called 'an Irish Impressionist'. Osborne died in 1903 of pneumonia at the early age of 43.
 

The Dolls School	Breton Girl by a River (1833)

(The name Osborne in Ireland was brought to the country by Anglo settlers in the fifteenth century. The main settlement points were Counties Waterford and Tipperary and although there is still a strong representation in these areas the name is widespread throughout the country. )

SOURCES:

http://www.ireland-information.com/apr99.htm

Paintings by Walter Osborne in the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin.
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/arch/769/irish/Osborne.html

http://www.canvascraft.com/pictures.htm

http://booksirish.com/lanecards/osbornecollection.asp