Art, John Duncan, The Riders of the Sidhe

‘The Riders of the Sidhe’ 1911,

by John Duncan

my contribution to 'Art Sunday'

 

This must be one of my all time favourite paintings, it is unimaginably beautiful. The first time I saw it ….I stood and I stood and I stood, totally transfixed. You can never tire of looking at this painting. There is so much to see and every time you revisit you see more. It just took my breath away. It usually hangs in the McManus Galleries, Dundee. They are under extensive refurbishment at the moment so I guess it’s in storage somewhere. Unless someone knows different of course. It is claimed that this painting depicts the Sidhe coming down from Law Hill, a long dead volcano which stands on the Northern edge of Dundee.

 

John Duncan (1866-1945)

John Duncan (1866-1945) was born and educated in Dundee. After a few years working as an illustrator in London, he studied art in Belgium and Germany before returning to Scotland. Eventually he settled in Edinburgh and became one of the key artists in the “Celtic Revival” movement, creating such memorable paintings as The Riders of the Sidhe (1912, McManus Galleries, Dundee). He sought to reinvent and re-present Celtic imagery through borrowing subjects from myths, legends and decorative devices from early Celtic art.

FURTHER READING

John Kemplay, The Paintings of John Duncan. A Scottish Symbolist (Pomegranate 1994)

The Fairies

John Duncan's The Riders of the Sidhe from 1911 depicts the Sidhe, or the Celtic Fairies, a divine race who inhabit the Otherworld of the dead; perceived only in visionary states of mind and usually at liminal places such as stone circles, sacred groves, wells and 'fairy hills' or 'fairy glens'.
In the introduction to her drama The Immortal Hour; Fiona Macleod emphasises that the Sidhe, or 'Hidden People… were great and potent, not small and insignificant beings'; as Duncan's portrayal of them reinforces. Macleod's re-telling of the ancient poem The March of the Faërie Host which she includes in her anthology of celtic poetry Lyra Celtica almost reads as a description of Duncan's painting:

'…Sons of kings and queens are one and all.
On all their heads are
Beautiful golden-yellow manes:

With smooth, comely bodies,
With bright blue-starred eyes,
With pure crystal teeth,
With thin red lips…'

The Sidhe are 'setting out on the eve of Beltane… bearing symbols as follows: the tree of life and of knowledge, the cup of the heart of abundance and healing, the sword of the will on the active side, and the crystal of the will on its passive side;' symbols which Lindsay Errington perceives as 'betraying in their type of symbolism the still lingering influence of Patrick Geddes.'
Experiences of the Sidhe are usually accompanied by sonorous phenomena; Duncan claimed to have heard 'fairy music' whilst painting; and seems naturally inclined towards trance-like states; as John Kemplay writes in his book on Duncan:
'he saw with the "inner eye" of his imagination forms more beautiful than any he had ever seen with the "outer eye". But these were not forms alone; they were "living people with quick eyes and strange solemn gestures who move as if in some ritual."

 

THE LEGEND OF THE SIDHE

This is the legend of the Sidhe, the Celtic Fairie folk from way back in the mists of time. The Celtic names are a little difficult but the stories are wonderful

The people known as "The Sidhe" or people of the mounds, or "The Lordly Ones" or "The Good People" were descended from the "Tuatha de Danann" who settled in Ireland millennia ago and in being defeated by the Milesians they retreated to a different dimension of space and time than our own, believed to be living under mounds and fairy raths and cairns,  and also the land of "Tír na nÓg" a mythical island to the west of Ireland.  Placenames in Ireland with the pre-nouns Lis, Rath, and Shee are associated with these people for example Lismore, Lisdoonvarna, Sheemore, Rathfarnham etc.

Down through the ages the Sidhe have been in contact with mortals giving protection, healing and even teaching some of their skills to mortals - Smithcraft or the working of metals being one such skill.  Cuillen (Culann) is one such sidhe smith who has been told of in the legends of Cúchulainn and the later legends of Fionn mac Cumhail.

The Gaelic word sí or síog refers to these otherworldly beings now called fairies.  The Irish fairy is not like the diminutive fairies of other European countries, the Sidhe are described as tall and handsome in all accounts, also they are dressed very richly and accounts of their halls are of richly decorated places with sumptuous foods and drinks.

The Sidhe are generally benign until angered by some foolish action of a mortal.  Many trees and mounds are considered under their protection and if a mortal destroys or damages these then a curse is put upon himself and his family.  In some parts of the countryside people would not build their houses over certain "fairy paths" because of the type of disturbances which would ensue.

Whenever a host of the Sidhe appears there is a strange sound like the humming of thousands of bees also a whirlwind or shee-gaoithe is caused.

 

 

 

triston and Isold, oil on canvas, click on picture to enlarge it

http://www.monstropedia.org/index.php?title=Sidhe

http://www.unicorngarden.com/gallery/gall05.htm

                                               

St Bride,  oil on canvas, click on picture to enlarge it 

Tags: art sunday, art, john duncan, scottish art, scottish artist

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delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on May 4, '08 I've just seen you did send it, thanks.

delete reply wickedlyinnocent wrote on May 4, '08 It's such a beautiful painting, I totally agree with you, I love the Celtic imagery too. This week Art Sunday was a bit different , but I usually post the links for the participants to take a tour. Next week we'll go back to the usual routine. Thanks for taking part and for the invitation. Have a wonderful week. Have you sent your link? If you haven't please do it, to allow others to visit you.

delete reply asolotraveler wrote on May 3, '08 just wish it posted a bit bigger to fully visually enjoy the work

delete reply jayaramanms wrote on May 3, '08 Thank you for presenting the painting - The Riders of the Sidhe and full biography of the artist -John Duncan. The painting is Brilliant and the details about Duncan is absorbing. Thank you for sharing such a beautiful painting. My blog for Art Sunday – Paintings of Jamini Roy at - http://tinyurl.com/4fr9oy . Please make it convenient to see.