Beschreibung:

WOMAN SPINNING IN A DOORWAY William Craig (1829-1875)
Medium: watercolour and pencil Dimensions: 8½ x 11.70in. (21.59 x 29.72cm) Provenance: Gorry Gallery, Dublin;Private collection Exhibited: ‘An Exhibition of 18th - 20th Century Paintings…’, Gorry Gallery, 10 - 20 December 2008, catalogue no. 36 The Gorry exhibition catalogue accompanies this lot in which the following note is reproduced.Having studied at the Dublin Society this Irish landscape painter exhibited at the RHA between 1847 and 18... 862, before leaving for America. Considered by Strickland to be 'unquestionably a man of genius' his titles show that he travelled throughout Ireland as far north as counties Down, Antrim and Fermanagh, and to Connemara, Clare, Cork and Wicklow. Women were often depicted spinning in open doorways, because it provided them with sufficient light for their work. This watercolour may have been painted during Craig's trips up north, as this type of wheel, introduced by the English to improve the linen industry, was most widespread in northern counties. Unlike the much larger western 'walking wheel', which was traditionally used for spinning wool, this wheel was operated by a foot treadle, which enabled the spinner to sit and use both hands to feed an even finely spun thread onto the spindle. Above the spinner's head is the distaff, which holds the combed flax close to her hands, so she can easily gather more threads. Her foot is hidden beneath her blue skirt, but the treadle is just visible; the spokes of the driving needle is blurred by movement. The legs of this wheel are nicely turned, and the plain one is a replacement. People often repaired their furniture rather than renewing it, and chairs of similar staked construction sometimes had odd legs because of this frugality. Flax spinning required great cleanliness despite cottages having earthen floors and open fires, with attendant dust and smoke. Spinning and lace making were incentives for households to reduce dirt by lining the undersides of open thatched ceilings, and even to installing stoves, as the material had to be kept as clean as possible. People earned little from spinning, and the lack of furnishings around this room reflects the poor returns. Spinsters were so called because they had time to spin, rather than caring for children, but this lady is likely to have been married, as suggested by her white bonnet. Craig paints with the practiced eye of one who is witnessing this occupation first hand, and he masters the challenging perspective of the wheel with alacrity.Claudia KinmonthReproduced in the Gorry Gallery exhibition catalogue, December 2008Footnotes:1 W.G. Strickland 'A Dictionary of Irish Artists', vol. 1, A-K, (Irish Academic Press, 1913, 1989), 216-7.2 Ann M. Stewart, 'Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Index of Exhibitors 1826-1979', vol. 1, A-G (Manton, 1985), pp.172-73.3 See in Claudia Kinmonth, 'Irish Rural Interiors in Art' (Yale University Press, 2006), chapter 3 Women and Work', figs. 90 & 92.4 Claudia Kinmonth, Irish Country Furniture 1700-1850 (Yale University Press, 1993), p.38, fig. 34. more