Background
Walter Osborne was born in Rathmines, Dublin, the second of three sons of William Osborne, a successful animal painter.
Walter Osborne was born in Rathmines, Dublin, the second of three sons of William Osborne, a successful animal painter.
He was educated at Rathmines School and at the Royal Hibernian Academy school.
Most of his paintings featured women, children, and the elderly as well as rural scenes. He was influenced by the Flemish painter, Rubens, and the French realist, plein-air painter, Jules Bastien-Lepage. In 1883, Osborne moved from Antwerp to Brittany where he painted his famous Apple Gathering, Quimperlé, now in the National Gallery of Ireland.
Soon after, he moved to England where he worked alongside Nathaniel Hill and Augustus Burke at Walberswick.
In 1886, he was elected to the Royal Hibernian Academy and received many commissions for portraits. This was an important source of income, as he had no private means of his own.
In 1892, he returned to Ireland to live in the family residence, and he also had a studio at Number. 7 Saint Stephen"s Green.
He spent a considerable amount of time painting outdoors, in Dublin around Saint Patrick"s Cathedral or in the country.
He died prematurely at the age of 43 from pneumonia and was buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. Some critics suggest that at the time of his death he was on the brink of his artistic maturity. His final work Tea in the Garden, a dazzling fusion of naturalism and impressionism, remained unfinished at his death and is now in the collection of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery in Dublin.
In recent years his work has become highly sought after by collectors.