Sir, – I refer to the reproduction of Paul Henry's painting, The Potato Diggers (Fine Art & Antiques, June 1st), the original of which has since been sold at auction for a substantial sum.
It occurs to me that the artist’s depiction of his subjects contains an anomaly. He shows them digging on a slope while facing down, and apparently moving backwards up it. As anyone who has handled a spade will know, to dig facing down a slope can be back-breaking work. By contrast, to dig facing up it minimises stooping and with it the digger’s travail. By facing up the slope, starting at the top and moving backwards down it, the diggers in this instance could have saved themselves an amount of back-ache. I doubt if the people of Achill Island in 1910 were so dim as not to appreciate this.
Being no authority on Paul Henry, I hesitate to suggest that he did not know his potatoes. Perhaps there is some symbolism in the stooped posture of the diggers? I feel sure, in any case, that authorities on Henry’s work have long ago spotted the anomaly to which I refer. – Yours, etc,
GERRY LYNE,
Whitehall Road West,
Perrystown,
Dublin 12.