Portrait of Fingal, or Finn MacCool
1833. Black chalk and graphite on lightweight cream wove paper, 16 1/8 x 11 1/4 inches, (410 x 286 mm), the full sheet. Signed, titled, and dated in sepia ink in the lower-center sheet area. With horizontal folds approximately 1-inch from the sheet edge at each of the four sheets. The drawing appears to have been folded at the sheet edges to fit into a frame. "Inscribed Guillaume hameau del. 29 Janvier 1883."
Finn mac Cumail (or mac Umaill), often anglicized Finn McCool or MacCool, is a hero in Irish mythology, as well as in later Scottish and Manx folklore. He is the leader of the Fianna bands of young roving hunter-warriors, as well as being a seer and poet. He is said to have a magic thumb that bestows him with great wisdom. He is often depicted hunting with his hounds Bran and Sceólang, and fighting with his spear and sword. Fionn MacCumhail was transformed into the character "Fingal" in James Macpherson's poem cycle Ossian (1760), which Macpherson claimed was translated out of discovered Ossianic poetry written in the Scottish Gaelic language.
Fionn MacCumhail features heavily in modern Irish literature. Most notably he makes several appearances in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake (1939) and some have posited that the title, taken from the street ballad "Finnegan's Wake," may also be a blend of "Finn again is awake," referring to his eventual awakening to defend Ireland.
Item number: 1026
Price: $600.00
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