Henry Butterfield (1819-1910), Cliffe Castle, Keighley, West Yorkshire;
thence by descent

STRUCTURE The canvas has been lined. The canvas is slightly loose on the stretcher and is sagging very slightly in the lower left. This would be simply rectified by a tightening of the stretcher keys. PAINT SURFACE The painting appears to be in very good condition, and the paint is extremely well preserved despite the relining. There is one very small area of extremely minor paint loss in the upper right, in the foliage of the tree, to which there is some very primitive and extraneous old retouching. Otherwise there does not appear to be any further damage or loss of paint. There is an old, discoloured varnish overall and minor surface water marks in the lower right, on top of the varnish. ULTRAVIOLET Examination under ultraviolet light confirms the condition mentioned above and reveals no apparent further retouching. FRAME Held in a carved and gilded Georgian wooden frame. To speak to a specialist about this lot please contact Julian Gascoigne on +44 (0)207 293 5482, or at julian.gascoigne@laitexier.com, or Emmeline Hallmark on 44 (0)207 293 5407, or at emmeline.hallmark@laitexier.com.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This previously unidentified and untraced work by Thomas Roberts, who is widely regarded as 'the most brilliant Irish landscape painter of the eighteenth century', is an exciting discovery, and a wonderful addition to the artist's oeuvre. Roberts studieꦕd at the Dublin Society Schools under James Mannin, and later with George Mullins, and his painting is redolent of the influence of Vernet, as well as seventeenth-century Dutch precedents. His work however, along with that of his close contemporaries such as Ge💟orge Barret and William Ashford, belongs to a distinctively Irish school of landscape painting, and the present painting is characteristic of the qualities which Ann Crookshank and the Knight of Glin describe as 'capturing the vaporous atmosphere of Ireland'.

Yet Roberts's work transcends the parameters of a simply 'Irish School'. Both his composition and execution are almost unparalleled in his native land, and justly warrant appreciation on an international stage. The fact that the artist does not hold a more prominent place in the annals of European landscape painting is partly explained by the his premature death, though that is currently being redressed (see . W. Laffan and B. Rooney, Thomas Roberts, Landscape and Patronage in Eighteenth Century Ireland, Trake 2009).

As an exercise in what is sometimes referred to as 'pure landscape', the present, 'idealised' work exemplifies what Laffan and Rooney identify in Roberts's work as "some of his most interesting and rewarding pictures"¹. In it we find many of the trademarks of his non-💛topographical output. The luminously rendered half light, the diminutive figures, subordinated to the landscape, and the highly characteristic adoption of Irish ecclesiastical motifs, here seen as a monastic ruin perched atop a rocky outcrop, hinting toward a past habitation of the site and suggestive of a sombre, romantic atmosphere; an evocation of the sublime. What Laffan refers to as 'a palimpsest of an earlier dispensation', which marks out much of his work in this sphere.

1. W. Laffan and B. Rooney, op.cit.lit., p. 215