Dublin Streets: a Vendor of Books

The painting shows a bookseller's stall, set up on Aston Quay, looking eastwards towards O'Connell Bridge with a hazy impressionistic view of James Gandon’s Custom house.^[1] A mother leaning against the wall holds a child in her arms. She looks tired and anxious, and appears to be connected with the young barefoot girl who approaches the bookseller's customers, offering daffodils for sale.^[2] That they have been unsuccessful attracting buyers is indicated by the basket full of flowers on the ground by the woman.^[1]

Other details in the bustling scene include traffic (horses, carts and pedestrians) passing over O'Connell Bridge, and a barge and skiff just coming into view as they travel up the River Liffey. To the right of the main figures are a number of horse-drawn carts awaiting fares. A number of men wearing kilts gather at a corner.

The painting is one of a series of paintings of Dublin street scenes the artist completed around the time,^[1] during visits home from his residence in England. They were later exhibited as a group at the Royal Academy.^[3][4] The series was completed in oils in his studio, using detailed pencil sketches, and also on photographs, a modern approach for a painter at the time. Like the other works in the series, Dublin Streets is documentary in subject matter, influenced in part by the French Naturalist and Realist painters.^[1]