GORRY GALLERY 19. WILLIAM OLIVER fl. 1867-1897

FRONT COVER: Harry Jones Thaddeus R.H.A 1860-1929 Catalogue Number 8

© GORRY GALLERY LTD. GORRY GALLERY

requests the pleasure of your company at the private view of

An Exhibition of 18th - 21st Century Irish Paintings

on Sunday 30th March 2014

Wine 3.30 p.m.

This exhibition can be viewed prior to the opening by appointment also on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th March 11.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. and Sunday 30th March 12 noon - 3.30 p.m. prior to the opening and sale of exhibition.

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30th March - 12th April 2014 8. Harry Jones Thaddeus R.H.A. (1860-1929) ‘The Friends of the Model’ Signed ‘HTHADDEUS JONES/1881’ Oil on canvas 116 x 98 cm

EXHIBITED: Paris Salon, 1882 Number 1427 Industrial and Fine Arts Exhibition, 1883, Number 138 Royal Scottish Academy 1883, Number 601 LITERATURE: Cork Constitution 4 July 1883 Recollections of a Court Painter by H. Jones Thaddeus, 1912 The Life and Work of Harry Jones Thaddeus, Brendan Rooney, Four Courts Press, 2003

2 The Chapelle de l’Hôpital sits on the rue Vauban, the France in the nineteenth century, it speaks volumes of main thoroughfare leading to the heart of the Ville Close, Thaddeus’s affection for Concarneau and his ambitions Concarneau’s medieval fortified island.1 A hospital church for the art that he would produce there that he remained built in the sixteenth century, it originally comprised two during an outbreak of pox in 1881 that claimed over a communal wards from which male and female patients, hundred lives in four months.6 ‘At the commencement of cared for by nuns, could follow religious services from the outbreak,’ Thaddeus remembered ‘I invariably had their beds. By the nineteenth century, however, all that a number of children in this chapel, who took it in turn remained of the original structure were part of the walls, to pose for a child I was painting in one of my pictures’. including the gable end and large stained glass window One young boy, ‘after posing for a short time’ actually looking on to the street.2 It was in this building (fig.1) died in the studio.7 Thaddeus’s decision to stay was vindicated by the success he enjoyed the following year. Both The Friends of the Model and Market Day, Finistère (NGI) (fig.2) featured at the Paris Salon of 1882, where Thaddeus ‘had the pleasure of seeing [them] well placed’.8 Indeed, the pictures’ catalogue numbers indicate that they were hung side- by-side, no doubt as Thaddeus himself had hoped but certainly could not stipulate or expect. The main (fig.1) female character is clearly the same in the that twenty-one-year-old Harry Jones Thaddeus, two paintings. Indeed, through the good fortune that appears to have blessed Photo © National Gallery of Ireland she appears in both in much of his professional life, established his studio for (fig.2) very similar costume, his lengthy stay in the large Breton port. According to though in The Friends of the Model her starched coiffe is the artist himself, the disused chapel had been placed at turned down on her shoulders, and she wears sabots on his disposal by the town’s mayor, and ‘the light from the her feet rather than polished shoes. Though different in large Gothic window [served] my purpose admirably’.3 size, the paintings were clearly conceived as a pair. While one is a broadly documentary image of everyday life Concarneau had been for several years a popular in Concarneau, the other records the environment and destination for young artists seeking to apply technical manner in which such pictures were executed. As The skills recently honed in Europe’s ateliers to subjects from Friends of the Model suggests, Thaddeus would routinely the everyday lives of local people. In the early summer have completed figurative and local detail in the studio of 1881, Thaddeus travelled to Brittany with a number of before incorporating it into backgrounds studied in situ. his ‘French camarades’ from Paris, where he had studied The young woman’s activity, spinning with a distaff at the Académie Julian.4 Having spent a short time in and spindle, is typical of the domestic tasks recorded in the picturesque village and celebrated artists’ colony of Breton art of the period.9 Pont Aven, he moved on to Concarneau, where he took lodgings at the Grand Hotel on the mainland.5 Drawing In The Friends of the Model, Thaddeus casts himself clearly confidence from the triumph of having his interior scene as engaged with, but separate from, the local Breton The Wounded Poacher (NGI) accepted for the Salon in Paris community. In fitted jacket, velvet breeches, stockings that year, and inspired by the endeavour of Concarneau’s and a scarlet beret, he appears clearly more boulevardier artistic community, Thaddeus produced some of his finest than paysan. This is all the more obvious when one work in Brittany. His privileged location at the centre of compares him to the local fisherman who stands close by the old town must surely have aided his development. in a coarse blue smock, heavy trousers and sabots. Even Though epidemics were relatively common in provincial Thaddeus’s carefully groomed moustache contrasts with

1. The church is also known as la Chapelle de la Trinité. 2. The building functions today as an art gallery. 3. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter, (London 1912), 33. 4. Thaddeus, op. cit., 21. 5. Thaddeus, op. cit., 25. For a full account of Thaddeus’s life in France see Brendan Rooney, The Life and Work of Harry Jones Thaddeus, ( 2003). 6. Catherine Fauchet, ‘Les crises de la pêche à Concarneau et les politiques municipales 1800-1914’, in Jacques-Guy Petit et Yannick Marec, eds, Le Social dans la Vie en France et en Europe 1750-1914, (Paris 1996), 136. 7. Thaddeus, op. cit., 33. 8. Thaddeus, op. cit., 35. 9. For comparison, see Jules Breton, The Rest of the Haymakers (1872, private collection) and Paul Gauguin, Breton Girl Spinning (1889, Van Gogh Museum).

3 the more functional beard sported by the fisherman. early works, including several Breton pictures. Perhaps most remarkable, and incongruous, however, are the artist’s pointed shoes, clearly associated with the The Friends of the Artist provides a rare insight into an fencing items that lie in the foreground to the left. (fig.3) Irish expatriate artist’s methods and practice. On the wall by the door hangs a study of a Breton pardon, a religious subject favoured by both local and visiting artists in Brittany in the second half of the nineteenth and early twentieth century.10 Interiors and figure studies appear elsewhere in the room, including a sketch of the main model spinning. The canvas on the easel, meanwhile, is suspended at an angle by a string and supported at the rear by a bar to allow the artist to sit while painting.

Whereas the finish and tonal character of the work is typical of Naturalist painting of the period, the colour range is resolutely Thaddeus’s own. Flashes of red occur throughout, from the frame of a fencing mask and on the canvas and palette to the tip of the artist’s shoe. The composition also features a distinctive blue that recurs in many of Thaddeus’s paintings, including formal portraits of the 1880s.

Despite its apparent authenticity, however, it is a curiously contrived composition. The young girl seems to continue to pose despite the fact that the artist has set his equipment down and smokes casually while showing a small canvas to two other girls and a child. He is, as it (fig.3) were, providing a private audience in his studio, proudly showing the products of his industry to an approving This sporting panoply distinguishes Thaddeus further assembly. The bearded fisherman gestures towards the from the fisherfolk among whom he lived. Fencing, in canvas on the easel, while a young boy appears stupefied France as elsewhere, remained a pursuit of the privileged, by the art before him and the seated male figure, very and Thaddeus is making here an audacious claim to likely a fellow artist, contemplates the scene through his position among them. Moreover, his deliberate pipe smoke. Thaddeus’s youthful self-regard, which juxtaposition of the epée, masks and gauntlet with a rather qualifies the composition as a whole, is epitomised bottle of turpentine and a bowl for cleaning his brushes by the fact that the young girl on the left appears more serves to underline his role as gentleman-artist. fascinated by his dashing appearance than the canvas he holds up. The figurative detail in the picture owes much to Thaddeus’s study from the model in Paris, though the At this point of his fledgling career, Thaddeus still bore little boy at the centre of the composition suggests a less his original name, which appears in precisely the same academic impulse. Such figures, approaching caricature, form and style in his more loosely executed Young Breton were not uncommon in Thaddeus’s work. For example, Fisher Boy (private collection) of the same year.11 He an awkward character in rural attire – including large returned some time later, however, to alter the signature sabots and oversized hat – strolls nonchalantly through on the companion picture Market Day, Finistère so that a Paris fairground in a picture painted less than a year it corresponded with his adopted name. In 1883, he earlier (private collection). Given that these pictures included The Friends of the Model among a disparate were painted for an urban audience, one could argue selection of works he contributed to the Cork Industrial that Thaddeus was indulging a perception of Breton and Fine Arts Exhibition in his native city, and later that people common in Paris. On the evidence of his own year reunited the painting with Market Day, Finistère at writing about Breton peasants, at once fond and mildly the annual exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy. patronising, the artist was himself inclined to such views. Alternatively, or perhaps simultaneously, Thaddeus Brendan Rooney was appealing to a keen appetite among art audiences for sentimental images of children. From studies of bootblacks and juvenile gleaners to portraits of bourgeois infants at leisure, children figured prominently in art throughout Europe in the final decades of the nineteenth century. They were often the subject of Thaddeus’s own

10. Pardons are a uniquely Breton religious festival, which involve 11. The artist changed his name by deed poll in June 1885 to Harry Jones Thaddeus.

4 13. Howard Helmick R.B.A., (1840-1907) ‘A Kerry Breakfast’ Oil on canvas, 59.5 x 83 Signed & dated lower right ‘H.Helmick ’85’,

The American artist Howard Eaton Helmick was highly The young woman sitting on the wooden wheelbarrow regarded during his lifetime as a talented painter and must be unmarried, as she lacks a wedding ring, nor etcher. He was one of the most accomplished subject does she wear a bonnet over her red hair. By her feet is and figure painters to focus on rural Irish life in the late a food basket, and she appears to be knitting a stocking nineteenth century. The National Gallery of Ireland owns as she waits to take the pewter plate, knife and jug back some of his best work, and it has featured increasingly to the house once the meal of white bread is finished. prominently in major recent exhibitions in Cork, Dublin That itself is suggestive of comparative comfort, as white and Boston. bread was considered special, as opposed to brown bread or potatoes, which was the less expensive staple of The son of a clerk, he was born in Zanesville Ohio, most working people. Also she wears shoes, which were and trained initially in the artistic department of The another luxury, so much so that they were often removed Ohio Mechanic’s Institute and then at the Pennsylvania and carried to make them last, then donned for church Academy of Fine Arts. Emigrating to Europe, he studied or special occasions. It was normal for rural women and under the award-winning teacher Alexandre Cabanel children, such as this small girl, to go barefoot, or carry at Paris’s École des Beaux-Arts. During the following their shoes, if they were fortunate enough to own a pair. twenty five years, he divided his time between studios in London, Dangan Cottage in Galway and Kinsale in south We know that Helmick used models, as some of them do west Ireland. re-appear in different pictures, and they are referred to in texts describing how he worked, as well. This man looks Some elements of this conversation piece are reminiscent familiar from another of his paintings where he is dressed of themes incorporated in his earlier paintings. He the same and is sitting on a similarly elaborate wooden enjoyed portraying the tensions and emotions between wheelbarrow (Gorry Gallery Exhibition of Irish Paintings mixed groups, couples and families, setting the stage April-May 1986, Cat.22 ‘The Noonday Rest’ signed and and inviting his audience to interpret and discuss dated 1882). possible narratives, augmented with local objects placed symbolically. Dutch genre painters originated the art of It’s open to interpretation as to whether both adults work such conversation pieces and subsequently influenced a for the people who own ‘the big house’, or if she has wave of c.19th artists who depicted Irish rural life through brought his food from their nearby farmhouse. Their good a similar prism. Helmick’s figure and genre paintings clothing and food support the notion that their general were often topical and suggestive, and at times political. status has been raised by such employment, which was a Full of warmth for his subject, as an outsider he could commonly approved moral message in art at that period. also be wryly satirical at times, a stance facilitated by painting in Ireland, yet most often exhibiting in A considerable number of the nearly four dozen (where the market was most affluent). paintings that Helmick exhibited in Britain have recently been identified and matched to their titles. Sometimes he repeated in oil what he’d done in watercolour. It is Helmick informs us that this is a working man, identifiable interesting to consider the remaining unmatched titles by his hard-wearing, practical garments; his tall felt hat, after this inscribed date. A watercolour named ‘A Kerry waistcoat, button fitted knee-breeches, woollen stockings Breakfast’ (lent to the Irish exhibition in London in 1888) and hobnailed working boots. His long, narrow-bladed provides a possible clue to the identity of this oil. As spade known as a loy, leaning up beside him, tells that more information in the way of reviews, engravings and he is a gardener. There were many variations of specialist watercolours emerges, it may become possible to confirm spades, which had lots of local and practical designs this. (a sharper type known as a Slane, had an extra cutting wing specifically for turf). The loy was good for making Dr Claudia Kinmonth ridges, undercutting and turning sods, as well as for C. Kinmonth ‘Howard Eaton Helmick Revisited; Matrimony and Material Culture through cultivating potatoes and gardening. The setting indicates Irish Art’ in V. Krielkamp ed., Rural Ireland: The Inside Story (Exhibition Catalogue, Boston that they are in the grounds of a so called ‘big house’. The College/McMullen Museum, 2012), 89-102. C. Kinmonth in P. Murray ed., Whipping the Herring: Survival and Celebration in Nineteenth- distinctive type of bench built encircling the large tree, Century Irish Art (Exhibition Catalogue, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 2006), 34-45. the neat gravel paths and what appears to be a vegetable A.M. Stewart, Irish Art Loan Exhibitions 1765-1927 (Manton, 1990), Vol.1, 319-20. patch in the background, all reinforce this. C. Kinmonth, Irish Rural Interiors in Art (Yale University Press, 2006),

5 14. Nathaniel Hone R.A. 1718-1784 Portrait of Muspratt Williams, ‘A Boy Composing A Garland’ Oil on canvas 54x43.7 In a pierced carved giltwood frame in the Chippendale manner contemporary with the painting

EXHIBITED: Royal Academy, 1771, no. 103 LITERATURE: Adrian Le Harivel, Nathaniel Hone the Elder, 1718-1784 (Dublin, 1992) p. 30

‘Hone’ notes a recent biographer ‘clearly enjoyed being but, tellingly, exhibited at the Royal Academy under the with children and painted them sympathetically’. He title ‘A Boy Composing A Garland’ – verge on the new had ten children of his own, five sons and five daughters genre of the Fancy Picture where the subject matter is as – though several died prematurely – and among the important as the likeness. Hone’s biographer continues: most sympathetic portraits in his entire oeuvre show ‘his affinity for children often captures the wistful his sons Horace (Portrait of a Boy Sketching, c. 1766, NGI) transiency of childhood surpassed only by Gainsborough. and Camillus, as ‘The Spartan Boy’ (private collection, His directness anticipates the next generation of George RA 1775). Some of his child portraits including the Romney and Thomas Lawrence’. (Adrian Le Harivel, present work showing the young Muspratt Williams – Nathaniel Hone the Elder, 1718-1784 (Dublin, 1992) p. 30.

6 3. Agostino Aglio 1777-1857 ‘The Eagle’s Nest, Killarney’ Oil on canvas 71 x 89 cm signed and dated 1842

Agostino Aglio the artist of this charming depiction of Killarney’s landscape had of course been much admired the Eagle’s Nest, Killarney, had travelled further then – and painted – since the mid-eighteenth century most visitors to this Kerry beauty spot, having been born particularly after Jonathan Fisher produced several in Cremona. Educated in Milan he arrived in England major paintings, engravings and a book on the beauty of in 1803 where he spent the best part of his career its scenery, including a view from a similar standpoint to working as a scene painter, decorator, lithographer and Aglio’s of The Eagle’s Nest (National Gallery of Ireland). landscape painter exhibiting views of Italy, Wales and Aglio’s delightful painting, signed and dated 1842, is Germany at the Royal Academy between 1807 and 1846. perhaps less sublime than Fisher’s starker image. It In his unpublished autobiography Aglio notes an early stresses instead the conviviality of the occasion as much connection with Killarney: ‘Having completed my work as the magnificence of the scenery. Three rowing boats I returned to London and my next work of importance pass through the narrow passage between the lower was a commission to paint 12 pictures of views of the and upper lakes. In the middle vessel a man stands lake of Killarney in Ireland for a French Gentleman, at the front to blow a trumpet or horn to illustrate the a merchant of Martinique, at a price of fifty guineas specific acoustic effects for which this part of the lake each’. Aglio was not fully paid for this commission, had been well known since Fisher wrote his Picturesque only receiving £180 for ten paintings and at the time he Tour of Killarney in 1789. In the nearest boys fish, leaving wrote his autobiography two works from the series were control of the tiller to one of the smartly dressed female in the collection of the Marquis of Landsdowne, rather companions. High in the sky a pair of eagles hover, appropriate given the Kerry corrections of the Petty- reminding us of the origins of the mountain’s name. Fitzmaurice family. Aglio seems to have renewed his connection with Ireland on several visits. Views of the Abbey on Innisfallen Island and the Sheen Bridge both in County Kerry are known. In 1813 he exhibited in London a painting of Blackwater Bridge. He also drew a very sympathetic portrait sketch of the poet Tom Moore. (See William Laffan (ed.), Painting Ireland, Topographical Views from Glin Castle (2006) 99-100.)

7 4. Herbert Pugh active c. 1758-1788 ‘Cows, sheep and goats in a landscape’ Oil on canvas 39x47.5 Signed and dated 1762

Born in Ireland, Pugh moved to London, settling in here joined in a forest glade by sheep, goats and sparing Covent Garden. He exhibited at the Society of Artists bulls. In the background is a pyramid-shaped funerary between 1760 and 1776 where his work was admired monument. Pugh’s work is extremely rare and this is a by no less than the great connoisseur Horace Walpole. fine example. The canvas is painted with great brio and He painted low-life, caricatured genre subjects rather in enthusiasm, and an element of quirky humour – found the manner of Hogarth and also landscapes seemingly in his Hogarthian caricatures – should not be denied this influenced by the later period of George Barret, although gathering of the species. According to Strickland, Pugh’s the influence of Richard Wilson, his neighbour in Covent ‘intemperate habits hastened his death’ which occurred Garden has also been detected in his work. Pugh’s some time after 1788. landscapes were praised by Colonel Grant, the great chronicler of the subject, who described him as ‘very nearly a great artist’.

Within the landscape tradition, Pugh specialized in the genre popularized by Dutch artists such as Aelbert Cuyp who was enormously popular in England and of the forty-five works he exhibited at the Society of Artists about a quarter were landscapes with cattle (Nicola Figgis and Brendan Rooney, Irish Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland Vol. 1, 2001, p. 395).

Clearly within this tradition, the present work, signed and dated 1762, is closely related to an example in the National Gallery of Ireland (NGI 1819) dated three years earlier which shows similarly, anthropomorphized cattle, Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

8 2. James Arthur O’Connor c. 1792-1841 ‘Wooded landscape with man and dog on a path’ Oil on canvas 35.5x46 Signed and dated 1836

EXHIBITED: The Exhibition, Earls Court, London 1897 ’Fine Art Section’ Exhibition Number 722 as “landscape, a peasant and a dog on a road,” lent by the Countess of Normanton. (original label verso) LITERATURE: James Arthur O’Connor: John Hutchinson National Gallery of Ireland, Nov-Dec 1985 p.196 PROVENANCE: Christies, London 1876, 5th June, Lot number 49, Purchased for 73 Guineas by Lord Normanton (Vendor D.W. Turquand)

1. George Barret R.A. 1728-1784 ‘Extensive Landscape with figures and cattle’ Gouache on paper 44.3x64.5

9 Rebecca Minch (Dictionary Of Irish Biography) with reference to his statues of and John Selden in Westminster says it was “his ability to combine an element of realism with a classical approach to pose that gave his work a vitality and monumentality often felt by contemporary commentaries to be lacking in the sculpture of their day”.

From this perspective,”A Young Girl”,although not a monumental piece,is a characteristic piece.The shape of the head,with its fine bones,is classical,ideal. The hair,mouth and nose are carved in detail and are contemporary.The girl is beautiful,has spirit and a personality.

Presumably the work was commissioned.Did the people who came to the exhibition in the Royal Hibernian Gallery in Lower Abbey Street in May 1863 recognize the subject?Did Foley’s fellow academician,JJ McCarthy,by this time a celebrated architect,know who she was?

Alongside his famous monumental works,Foley’s oeuvre included a series of 20 busts,perhaps more.Sir James 10. John Henry Foley R.A.,R.H.A., Annesley 1848;James Oliver Annesley,1845;William 1818-1874 Robert Dickinson 1841;;Helen Faucit ‘A young girl’ etc.In virtually all cases,the subject is named.The girl Head and shoulders marble bust, height 43cms. of the 1860’s is anonymous,enigmatic,like many of the including socle busts which survive from classical times.Like the bust of Signed and dated ‘J.H. Foley Sculp . London 1863 An Antonine Lady in carrara marble A.D. 150 now in the Getty museum.

EXHIBITED: Royal Hibernian Academy 1863 Dublin scarcely celebrates her brilliant son.Foley number 479 Street,named after him to recast Montgomery Street with its redlight associations, now boasts a civic Art institution which The Gorry Gallery in Molesworth Street is an appropriate breathes not his name.Recent years have nevertheless place to exhibit this recently discovered bust by Foley,the seen a modest revival of interest.John Turpin’s “John great Irish Victorian sculptor,of the in Henry Foley,Sculptor” Dublin Historical Record (June Hyde Park and Dublin’s O’Connell monument.It is of a 1974) Paula Murphy’s girl,perhaps in her early teens,marked RHA 1863. “John Henry Foley’s O’Connell Monument” Irish Arts Review Yearbook 1995 155/6 and,if I may be so bold, the On St.Stephen’s day 1830 the twelve year old Foley present writer’s novel “ Foley’s Asia” Lilliput 1999. A and his friend JJ McCarthy were brought to the Dublin superb visual record of Foley’s art is preserved in Sé Society’s premises across the road in the precincts of Merry Doyle’s TV documentary “Ghosts Of Empire “ Leinster House.There they saw a reproduction of the Loopline Films 2008,shot in Ireland,Britain and India. Apollo Belvedere,a masterpiece of Leochares. Ronan Sheehan February 17th 2014 “This is the sort of thing I’ll spend my life at”,Foley announced to JJ.

In this event, one might say, Foley returns to the scene or the locale of his early inspiration.

We do not have a name for his subject but doubtless the piece is identical to that listed in Strickland’s catalogue of Foley’s works in his Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913):A Young Girl.Marble Bust.RHA 1863.

10 5. Erskine Nicol R.S.A., A.R.A. 1825-1904 ‘View of the Dublin mountains from Templeogue’ Oil on canvas 37.5x74 Signed and dated 1854, also inscribed in the artists hand verso Painted from a sketch taken on the spot for Henry Todd Esq. Dublin Erskine Nicol October 1854 EXHIBITED: Royal Hibernian Academy 1856 Number 177

It seems that Erskine Nicol did his sketch, on which this 1920s up to the 1980s when the lands were incorporated painting is based, from a vantage point on the left bank of into the Dodder Valley Park by the County Council. The the Dodder River close to Bella Vista mill in Templeogue, foundations of the cottage can still be discerned on the looking south towards the Dublin Mountains. This point laneway leading through the park from the Firhouse is just east of the M50 and the Firhouse Weir. Road.

The Dodder can be seen cutting through the foreground The substantial farmhouse behind the line of farm of the picture just beyond the sheep in the field. On the workers in the field, which cannot be positively far bank, the land in the floodplain of the river is fertile identified, is situated in the townland of Knocklyon. and well drained. A long line of farm labourers can be The woodland to the right of this is part of the demesne seen working in the field at the centre of the painting. of Sally Park which belonged to the Handcock family. Cattle grazing on the rich pastures of Knocklyon and William Domville Handcock who wrote “The History of Templeogue were an important source of dairy produce Tallaght” was born here in 1830. for the people of Dublin well into the 20th century. The mountains in the background are, from left to right: Kilmashogue, with Three Rock Mountain just above it, then Fairy Castle and Tibradden Mountain. Kellys’ Glen, with its green fields, nestles between them. To the east can be seen the low-lying land stretching towards the coast.

Tomás Maher

Looking to the left of the picture a very small cottage can be seen on a laneway leading down to the riverbank. This was the home of the Purcell family from the early 11 9. Richard Brydges Beechey H.R.H.A. 1808-1895 ‘Dutch Galliot Running into Harbour” (detail) Oil on canvas 91.5x137.3 Signed and dated 1874

EXHIBITED: Royal Hibernian Academy 1874, Number 109

A son of the prominent portrait painter, Sir William Sent from his address at 110, Pembroke Road, Dublin, Beechey R.A. and Ann, Lady Beechey, a talented Dutch Galliott running into Harbour was exhibited at the miniaturist, Richard Brydges Beechey joined the navy R.H.A. in 1874. This was clearly one of Beechey’s most aged 14. Throughout a varied and distinguished career important paintings bearing the substantial price of Beechey combined his naval duties with a parallel artistic £73-10-00, the third most expensive of the 57 pieces he life as a maritime painter. His extensive naval travels exhibited there over the duration of his career. allowed for a wide variety of topographical subject This dramatic scene of a Dutch ship attempting to matter from the Arctic expeditions of Captain Markham reach the shelter of a harbour, most likely in East to Singapore Harbour via numerous coastal views of Anglia, captures the sublime narrative of the impact of Britain and Ireland. Indeed, it was his sojurn as a naval surging breakers on the harbour wall bringing with it surveyor in Ireland, where he met his wife, Frideswaide the near helpless galliott and the desperate attempts at Smyth, of Portlick Castle, Co. Westmeath before retiring communication between it’s crew and the solitary figure to Monkstown, Co. Dublin in 1864, that led to much of standing precariously at the end of the harbour wall. his finest output.

He exhibited extensively at the Royal Academy from 1832-1877 and the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1842- 1894. 12 9.

13 11. EDWIN HAYES R.H.A., R.I., 1820-1904 ‘Summer weather Great Yarmouth, fishing smacks leaving harbour’ Oil on canvas 70x49.5 Signed, also signed again, inscribed and dated 1899 on reverse

14 14. WILLIAM MULREADY R.A. (1786-1863) ‘The Child Sitter’ (The Artist Drawing his Daughter) Oil on Wood 50.8 x 61 cms.

PROVENANCE: Charles J. Hargitt, With Leggatt Brothers by 1921 William Allen Hair (of Hull) His sale Christie’s 28 April 1924, Lot 139 bt Sampson Private Collection U.S.A.

EXHIBITED: London, Grosvenor Gallery : A Century of British Art 1787-1837, 1888. Lent by Charles J. Hargitt

15 Mulready was born in Ennis, County Clare, the son of laundress or seamstress perhaps if we judge by the mise- an Irish breeches-maker, who took the family to England en-scene - looks over the artist’s shoulder. Two boys on in 1792. Showing a precocious talent for drawing, he their way to or from school make up the group. There are entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1800 at the young typically Mulreadian passages of highly-detailed still- age of 14. His first attempts were at historical genre life painting. A dog and a cat, recognizable Mulready and landscape, but it was his domestic genre scenes touches, are skilfully put in. A washing basket and a that brought him to the public’s attention resulting in sewing basket also receive assiduous attention. We are election at the Academy as A.R.A. in 1815 and R.A. in looking at perhaps one of the earliest depictions of a 19th 1816. He can be classed with Wilkie and Webster as century genre painter at his trade. A style of painting one of the earliest and best exponents of this essentially that was just coming into fashion with Mulready right in Dutch-influenced style of painting. The Fight Interrupted the vanguard. (Victoria & Albert Museum) and Idle Boys (Private Coll.) are amongst his best known examples in this vein. Later However, there is another, deeper layer to this picture, in his career his style changed. In subject matter his which in fact represents one of the more exciting paintings became more imaginary and idealized. In discoveries about this artist in recent years. The technique they became more highly-coloured and are discovery in this case is in the identification of the often cited as fore-runners of the Pre-Raphaelites. Of personages depicted in the scene. First it has now Mulready’s works John Ruskin wrote : “they remain in become clear that the artist depicted must be Mulready my mind as standards of English effort in rivalship with himself. F.G. Stephens, writing the catalogue notes for the best masters of Holland”. this picture when it appeared in the Grosvenor Gallery Exhibition of 1888 already states that we are looking at ‘The Child Sitter’ is at first glance a typical example of an artist “whose face resembles Mulready’s”. However, Mulready’s earlier genre painting. A young, sensitively when we set out to confirm this, most of the Mulready depicted artist has come into a fairly humble house to portraits that confront us show us the artist as he wished draw a young girl. He has put his hat and gloves down posterity to recall him – a man in late middle-age, stern, and settles to his work. (fig.1.) be-whiskered, often be-spectacled, the very essence of the successful member of the Victorian art establishment. Looking more carefully though, we note in those standard portraits his elegant aquiline nose - and note too that this feature is apparent in this present picture as well, where the artist is still a relatively young man. (fig.2.)

fig.2. Portrait of Mulready by A.W.Callcott

fig.1.

His sitter, a girl of some 6 to 8 years of age perhaps, poses awkwardly for him, twisting her feet in brilliantly observed embarrassment. An intrigued mother – a

16 Professor Aileen Ribeiro of the Courtauld Institute has The facial expression is the same, the hairstyle is the suggested (Private Correspondence 2008) a date of the same. It can only be the same woman. early 1820’s for this picture based on her observations of the costumes and so it is at an image of the artist at From there it is an obvious step to identify the girl in the that period that we must point to make the defining picture as Elizabeth Leckie’s daughter, who was tellingly comparison. This is most convincingly confirmed called Mary Mulready Leckie and was even Mulready’s when we look at Augustus Wall Callcott’s portrait of ward. Mrs Leckie’s husband James Leckie appears to Mulready, reproduced in J.C. Horsley’s Recollections have died or at any rate disappeared very early on in of a Royal Academician. This picture is undated, but the the story. Some initial confusion arises here as there is hairstyle and costume would also suggest a date close a known picture by Mulready called Father and Child, to 1820. The Callcott portrait, here reproduced, shows which is usually given the date 1828 and is traditionally unmistakeably the same face as that of the artist in our supposed to represent James Leckie (Elizabeth’s picture. There can be no doubt that this is a painting of husband) and their daughter Mary. However, if the date Mulready himself at work. and titling of that painting are correct, it must have been Who then are the other persons depicted in the painting? worked from a much earlier drawing. Mary cannot have The other adult is a woman of similar age (in her been a baby in 1828 as the descendants of Mary Mulready thirties) standing at the back of the scene looking over Leckie have a Mulready drawing of her dated 1834 (here his shoulder. Once we take the starting point of the reproduced), (fig.4.) artist’s self-portrait then we might assume the woman where she is clearly a woman in her late teens or in her to be his wife - but thereby hangs a considerable tale. Mulready’s marriage (to Elizabeth Varley, sister of the famous watercolourist John Varley) was notoriously unhappy and, after the birth of their four sons, the couple separated around 1810. After that point the most consistent female presence in Mulready’s life was that of the somewhat shadowy figure of Elizabeth Leckie. She is variously described as an acquaintance or a housekeeper, although inevitably suggestions have arisen that she was in fact his mistress. It is also apparent that the artist is a visitor in this scene and not at home. Again this points to Elizabeth Leckie, who is known to have kept a lodging house in Kensington and not lived under the same roof as the Mulreadys. Her likeness can now be confirmed as well. The woman in our picture is similar beyond co-incidence to Elizabeth Leckie as she appears in Mulready’s drawing Mrs. Leckie and Paul Augustus Mulready (private collection), dated 1826 and reproduced here. (fig.3. )

fig.3. Pencil study of Paul Mulready and Mrs Leckie 1826 by Mulready

fig.4. Pen and ink study of Mary Mulready Leckie 1834 by Mulready

17 twenties. Mary Leckie must then have been born around close inner circle rather than instruct that it should be 1810. Therefore, as say a 6 to 10 year old, she could easily sold publicly after his death. be the girl in our painting. Who else would fit the bill in a family setting where the adults are William Mulready ‘The Child Sitter’ thus emerges as a highly important and Elizabeth Leckie? document. On one level we are looking at a typically fine example of William Mulready’s early genre painting, It would then follow that the boys in the painting are treating rather appositely the actual subject of his trade most probably two of Mulready’s own boys. These four and underlining his position as one of the earliest and were born between 1805 and 1809. If we date the picture best exponents of this art. But on another we are offered around 1817, we are probably safe in assuming that the a unique insight into the private world of this strangely younger of the two in the picture, seemingly about 8 years un-Victorian painter. Here is the artist in a completely old, must be Mulready’s youngest son John (b.1809). The unpretentious setting, surrounded by those dearest to older boy being more adult in appearance could be any him – his sons, his long-term companion Elizabeth Leckie one of the other three. However, looking at the above and her - and in all probability his - young daughter. The pencil drawing again, and noting in our painting the year is close to 1820 – the period of the Regency or George discrepancy in the two boys’ ages, Paul (b.1805), about IV in fact – and Victorian mores have yet to come into 12 at that time, seems the most likely candidate. force. So we are looking intriguingly not at the finished public image of this highly successful Irish painter, who If then we are looking at Mulready, his housekeeper/ rose to the top of the British Victorian art establishment, mistress, two of his boys and a girl widely thought to be but at the fascinating reality of his earlier life as he was his natural daughter, then the rather private nature of this making his way there. picture’s life heretofore also becomes understandable. First, as Stephens notes in the Grosvenor Gallery Bibliography : catalogue of 1888, the picture is slightly unfinished. That would indicate that it was neither a picture painted to F.G. Stephens, Catalogue Notes for the Grosvenor Gallery Exhibition, 1888 commission nor intended for public exhibition. Secondly, Kathryn Moore Heleniak, William Mulready, Yale University Press, 1980 this personal feeling is further underlined when Stephens Marcia Pointon, Mulready, Victoria and Albert Museum, 1986 notes also that it was “not before exhibited” and “not in sale at Christie’s April 1864”. This latter was Mulready’s dispersal sale after his death. Accounts of Mulready’s life handed down paint a picture, as Heleniak observes, of a man almost obsessive in his desire to preserve his reputation as being of “sound moral character” and to suppress any details of the “irregularities of his private life”. That being so, the existence of this painting must have been during his lifetime almost akin to unexploded dynamite. In his later years as a considerable figure in public life, Mulready could quite simply not have allowed this picture - a real exposure of his rather un- Victorian private life - to come to light. Not only does its non-appearance in public exhibitions during his lifetime become completely understandable, but it is highly likely also that he would have gifted it to someone in his

18 drink to jigs and reels, Nailed boots chasing girls’ naked heels.’ The piper’s hobnail boots were typical of what working men would then have worn, and his blue tail coat, woollen stockings and knee breeches, although worn into holes, were still fashionable at that time. He wears his felt hat with its brim upturned and sports a red cravat, at a time when raggedness in the rural population was common, and there was a thriving trade in second hand, and often ill-fitting clothes. Behind him is what appears to be a bed outshot, its entrance concealed by a narrow dark red curtain. This suggests that Oliver was working in a northern or western location, where in colder districts, people benefitted from sleeping in such enclosed discrete beds in close proximity to the fire. Many, like this one, had their own roofs to exclude draughts and dust and to conserve the heat from the sleepers’ bodies and were like minute private room within the main kitchen. Placed on top of this one is an ‘emigrant’s chest’, with its carrying handles and domed lid, and wisps of straw suggesting a hen’s nest. Hens allowed to roost indoors, given light and food through the winter, continued to lay eggs and were a common feature in poor cabins. Above these objects can be glimpsed the unlined underside of the thatched roof.

The piper sits on a board-ended stool, a widespread type 19. William Oliver (fl.1867-1897), that commonly survived until recently. ‘The Irish Piper’ Dr Claudia Kinmonth Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 63.5,

Signed and dated lower left, ‘W.Oliver 1874’. C. Kinmonth, Irish Country Furniture 1700-1950 (Yale University Press, 1993), Chs 1, 3, 6. C. Kinmonth, Irish Rural Interiors in Art (Yale University Press, 2006), Chs 4 & 7.

Although William Oliver is already known for his genre The piper is depicted very accurately. He is a right-handed and figure painting in England, the accuracy and depth of player, with the bottom of the chanter resting on his right detail of this characteristically Irish scene demonstrate that knee. The position of his hands on the chanter is correct. he also visited Ireland. He exhibited 15 works at London’s The left thumb is shown covering the ‘back D’ tone hole Royal Academy as well as elsewhere. Several of his and the fingers of each hand are shown in postures that surviving half-length figures of young women show them seem to have been standard for the time – the fingertips dressed in the same palette of pinks and creams that he of the top hand closing the upper tone holes, while the uses here. Music and dancing is set against the backdrop fingers of the lower hand are extended straight across the of a capacious hearth, with the typical floor level turf fire. chanter. Modern practice is to use straight fingers for the Above its glowing red embers are suspended are pair of upper as well as the lower tone holes. adjustable pot hooks and a crook, for hanging different The set of pipes is what would be termed a ‘full set’, cooking pots at particular heights. The characteristically i.e. including three drones and three regulators. This round topped, open mouthed bastable pot, useful for configuration had emerged by the 1820s. The top of the boiling stews and potatoes, can just be seen on the far chanter has a curved tube emerging from it, which is right, with potatoes strewn symbolically across the beaten inserted into the neck of the bag. This has been considered earth floor nearby. Typically a shebeen or public house a relatively modern arrangement and it is surprising to see would have a hooped barrel, such as is placed far right, it in a set from this date. Usually, at that time, the neck of and bottles of beer, which can be seen amongst the jugs the bag would have been tied directly onto the chanter cap and basins displayed on the little hanging dresser, with which covers the reed. The bass drone – the part nearest its retaining bars. Furniture in the small Irish cabin was the floor – is shown with a ‘sound-box’ at the end of the designed to occupy minimal floor space, in order to looped member. The loop is simply to shorten the overall accommodate ceilidhs and gatherings. So, if there were length of the set, and bring the sound-box within reach tables, they often folded up flat against the wall, and beds of the player’s hand. There is no similar need to loop the or settle beds could fold away to create extra floor space. baritone drone, as in this set, and this is not a commonly The focus of the painting moves between the piper and seen feature. The appearance of the piper is conventional the red headed dancer that he admires. With her skirts for the period – after the Famine and before the cultural stylishly tucked up to reveal her pale petticoat, she glances renaissance of the end of the century. He conforms very to her left, indicating that other onlookers are gathered in well to the trope of the ‘aged bard’ or ‘wandering minstrel’. the cabin. She dances barefoot, bringing to mind the poem Terry Moylan, Archivist, Na Píobairí Uilleann of J.M. Synge (1871-1909) ‘On an Island’; ‘And now we’ll

19 Frederick Buck c. 1771 - c.1840 Oval Miniatures Watercolour on Ivory 6.5x5.5 approx.

6. 7.

A collection of ten portrait miniatures, contained in a significant military and naval centre. He is particularly two frames, of members possibly of the Robert Bastable noted for his fine portraits of military officers. Examples family of Kanturk, Co. Cork or the Benjamin Swayne are found in the National Gallery of Ireland, the V & A Beamish family. Nine painted by Frederick Buck of Cork and other notable collections. and another, possibly by another Cork artist. See: Paul Caffrey “Treasures to Hold” Irish and English Frederick Buck was the son of Jonathan Buck, a Miniatures 1650 – 1850. 2000 pages 118 – 119. Daphne silversmith of Castle Street, Cork. His brother was Adam Foskett “A Dictionary of British Miniatures Painters” 2 Vols Buck, the portrait miniaturist (1759 – 1833). Frederick 1972 page 185 Buck regarded himself as the leading miniature artist Walter George Strickland “A Dictionary of Irish Artists” of Cork. He had a large patronage and was particularly Dublin/London 1913 p. successful during the Napoleonic wars, when Cork was

Frederick Frith c.1809 - c. 1843 A collection of Twelve silhouettes, oval 11x8

as working in Cork and Limerick about 1840. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1809 – 1828 and produced a portrait of Princess Victoria in 1836. “Frith signs freely, but the excellence of his work alone gives us his identity”.

Walter George Strickland “A Dictionary of Irish Artists” Dublin/London 1913 p.384 – 385 records “FRITH fl. C. 1840 – SILHOUETTIST” An artist of this name was working in Cork and Limerick about 1840, chiefly as a silhouettist. It is interesting to note that this artist can now obviously be recorded as working in Sligo in 1841 In Ebonised Frames with acorn decoration each depicting and Cork in 1842 according to these silhouettes. a member of the Little family of Sligo. The reverse of each variously inscribed with a family member’s name Thomas Little was born in 1783 in Galway and practiced and “Drawn by Mr Frith of London” or “Taken by Mr as a doctor. He died of cholera on 14 August 1849 Old Frith” plus a date varying between 15 July 1841 and Market Street Sligo. He had the following children 10 September 1843. Some further inscribed “Caldwells William Swayne Lilttle, Charity Margaret Little, Louisa Buildings Sligo” and “15 South Mall, Cork” Swayne Little, Henrietta Emma Little and Francis Little. These names are recorded on the reverse of these Mrs E. Neville Jackson “Silhouettes – A History and silhouettes. Dictionary of Artists” 1981 p.107 records Frith, Frederick

20 26. William Mulready 1786-1863 ‘A study for Crossing the Ford’ (1842) Oil on canvas laid down on board 54 x 39.5 cms

LITERATURE: Marcia Pointon, William Mulready 1786 –1863, exhibition catalogue, Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1986, p.163. Kathryn Moore Heleniak, William Mulready, New Haven and London 1980, p.128.

Mulready was meticulous in his preparation for his major colour and execution of any of his productions. The exhibited paintings, with drawings and oil sketches chiaroscuro is excellent, the colour rich and jewel-like, invariably preceding the final oil on canvas – or in the the execution refined and perfect of its kind.’ (Richard example of Crossing the Ford, his major work of 1842 and Samuel Redgrave, A Century of Painters of the English now in Tate Britain – oil on mahogany panel. In addition School, London 1866, p. 298.) to this detailed compositional oil, preparatory studies exist in pen and ink, chalk and watercolour. All this is As with the completed oil in the Tate, Mulready’s rather in keeping with his dedicated professionalism – preparatory drawing is visible on the canvas. Given its as a distinguished member of the Royal Academy he connection with one of Mulready’s masterpieces this is a continued to attend the life classes side by side with major addition to his extant oeuvre. the students in an almost obsessional pursuit of form. This paid off handsomely in the case of Crossing the Ford which the Art Union noted: ‘sustains the high reputation of its author; it is a work of surpassing beauty, grace and excellence – one of the most valuable paintings ever produced in England’ (Art Union, 1842, p.121). The contemporary popularity of the work led it to be among the most frequently copied of Mulready’s compositions. The work, however, was not universally praised. Blackwood’s Magazine criticized Mulready’s innovative use of colour writing that ‘Mr. Mulready has fallen into a reprehensible style of colouring’. On the other hand, the Redgrave brothers wrote that, ‘The works completed by Tate Britain him between 1839 and 1848 are the most perfect in story, ‘Crossing the Ford’

21 24. Edwin Hayes R.H.A., R.I. 1820-1904 ‘Fishing boat approaching a pier in heavy seas’ Oil canvas 51x92 Signed and dated 1860

20. William P. Sherlock fl. 1801-1850 21. Richard Whately West 1848-1905 ‘River landscape with romantic couple’ ‘Greystones’ Oil on canvas laid down on board 36x48 Oil on board 15.2x22.8 Signed with initials Signed with initials and dated 1886, also fully signed, inscribed and dated verso

28. William Percy French 1854-1920 29. William Percy French 1854-1920 ‘Bog lake with heather’ ‘The mountains of Mourne’ Watercolour on paper 25.5x35.7 Watercolour on paper 26.8x35.5 Signed Signed 22 Measurements in centimetres, Height precedes Width Gallery 1 Gallery 2

1. George Barret R.A. 1728 - 1784 15. John Franklin fl. 1819 – 1861 Illustrated Page 9 (A set of three drawings) “Temple of Juno Lucina at Arigentum 2. James Arthur O’Connor c. 1792 - 1841 – called Girgenti – Sicily pen and Illustrated Page 9 ink on paper 9.7 x 18 inscribed with title; “Pour La Belle Henriette” Pen 3. Agostino Aglio 1777 - 1857 and ink on paper 15 x 9.3 signed and Illustrated Page 7 inscribed; “study of a knight in armour” pen 4. Herbert Pugh active 1758 - 1788 and ink on paper 21 x16 illustrated Illustrated Page 8 below.

5. Erskine Nicol R.S.A., A.R.A. 1825 - 1904 Illustrated Page 11

6. /7. Frederick Buck c. 1771 - c. 1840 Illustrated Page 20

8. Harry Jones Thaddeus R.H.A. 1860 - 1929 Illustrated front cover and pages 2,3, and 4

9. Richard Brydges Beechey H.R.H.A 1808 - 1895 Illustrated Page 12, 13

10. John Henry Foley R.A.,R.H.A. 1818 - 1874 Illustrated Page 10

11. Edwin Hayes R.H.A.,R.I. 1820 - 1904 “Summer weather, Great Yarmouth, Fishing Smacks leaving Harbour” oil on canvas 70 x 49.5 signed, also signed, inscribed and dated 1899 on reverse Illustrated page 14 15.

12. Nathaniel Hone The Elder R.A. 1718-1784 John Franklin studied at the Dublin Societies Schools Illustrated Page 6 commencing in 1819. He exhibited nine works at the R.H.A from 1826 to 1828 and again in 1842. Settling in London he exhibited at the British Institution and the 13. Howard Eaton Helmick R.B.A. 1840 - 1907 Royal Academy from 1830 to 1861 mainly of subject Illustrated Page 5 pictures. He contributed eleven illustrations to Halls “Ireland, it’s 14. William Mulready R.A. 1786 - 1863 scenery and character” and to many other publications Illustrated Page 15, 16, 17, 18 and inside including the “Art Journal” front cover (detail) Literature: W.G. Strickland Vol.1.p.383

23 16. Erskine Nicol R.S.A., A.R.A. 1825-1904 This charming genre painting, attributed to the Cork ‘Sunset, Fisherman’ artist Edward Sheil (1834-1869), depicts a group of Watercolour on board 16.5X22 young people in the Irish countryside, sitting at the base Signed and dated 1863 of a Celtic high cross, with farm buildings and hills in the distance . The group is composed of two women, a man and a young child. The most important figure is a woman wearing a black shawl and red dress, who sits at the base of a Celtic High Cross, she is knitting as she listens to the young man lying on the ground at her feet, reading from a broadsheet. behind her, inclining her head to one side, another young woman listens to the young man. In the foreground the infants pats the head of a sheepdog. It is an idealised and romanticised scene, conveying a sense of peace and contentment. The farmhouses in the background are substantial two-storey buildings, nestling comfortably in the valley, smoke rising from their chimneys. There is no hint of famine, oppression, eviction or lawlessness, as is often the case with depictions of rural Ireland in the nineteenth century.

16. The broadsheet in the young man’s hands is titled The Colleen Dubh, (The Dark Girl), possibly a reference to ‘My 17. Irish School mid 19th Century Dark Rosaleen’ a favourite literary image of Ireland in ‘Rostrevor, Ireland’ the nineteenth century, or perhaps it relates to a specific Pencil on paper 11X18.6 poem or song, such as those penned by Charles Kickham Signed with initials F.M.L and inscribed (1822-1882), author of Knocknagow and The Irish Peasant Girl.

19. William Oliver 1867-1882 Illustrated page 19

20. William P. Sherlock fl. 1801-1850 Illustrated page 22

17. 21. Richard Whately West 1848-1905 Illustrated page 22 18. Attributed to Edward Sheil R.H.A. 1834-1869 22.William Henry Bartlett 1858-1932 ‘Colleen Dubh’ ‘Coastal scene with fishing boats’ Oil on canvas 77.5X63.5 Oil on canvas 27x49 Signed with initials

22.

18. 24 23. William Davis 1812-1873 This Irish genre painter was praised for his portrait ‘Cutting Corn’ miniatures, as well as caricatures of horses and dogs. He Oil on canvas 30x45 lived in London, and exhibited at the Royal Academy Signed and elsewhere, then became Head of Cork school of Art in the 1850’s. His minutely observed Irish labourers contrast a potential emigrand with a returning immigrant, beside a poster advertising the “Victoria Regina”. Many passenger ships were then named after monarchs, e.g. “The British Queen” (of 1839-40): the largest passenger ship in the world. On the right, the homeward bound labourer carries his sickle (for harvesting everything from corn to seaweed by hand), the tool of his trade, under his arm, along with his possessions strung in a red bundle. Smoking a clay pipe, and sporting a green cravat with his high necked shirt and waistcoat, he loooks well fed and content. He wears full-fall breeches, with blue and white stockings and brogues and his tail 23. coat although worn, is fashionably blue, Inspecting the Dublin born landscape and still life painter. Studied at poster, the potential emigrant lacks tools, socks or a pipe, the Dublin Society’s School and exhibited at the R.H.A and his empty pocket suggests he can’t afford a ticket to before settling in Liverpool, painting with the Pre- the “New World” of employment opportunity. Raphaelites and exhibiting at the R.A. 1851-72. Several Reminiscent of popular lithographs after Erskine works by him are in the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Nicol ‘Outward Bound’ & ‘Homeward Bound’ Scanlan including ‘Corner of a Cornfield’. ‘A View of Rye Water’ topically observes the wave of emigration from Ireland near Leixlip is in the National Gallery of Ireland. around the time of the Great Famine.

24. Edwin Hayes R.H.A., R.I. 1820-1904 Dr Claudia Kinmonth Illustrated page 22

25. Edwin Hayes R.H.A., R.I. 1820-1904 28/29. William Percy French 1854-1920 ‘Yarmouth Roads’ Illustrated page 22 Oil on board 17x29 Signed and dated 1876 also signed and inscribed verso 30. Frederick Frith c.1809 - c. 1843 (Set of twelve) Illustrated page 20

31. Style of James George Oben (O’Brien) 1779 - c. 1819 ‘Fishing party on a lake by a waterfall’ Watercolour on paper 27x42

32. ‘Figures on a path by a lake’ Watercolour on paper 27.7x41.6 Original trade label verso 25. Joseph O’Reilly, 63, Capel Street, Dublin

26. William Mulready R.A. 1786-1863 Illustrated page 21

27. Robert Richard Scanlon c. 1801-1876 ‘Victoria Regina’ oil on board 26x23 Signed with Monogram

27. 32.

25 Noel Murphy

Born in London 1970 graduted with a B.A. Hons in Fine Art Painting, University of Ulster Belfast . Also studied at N.C.A.D. Dublin. A frequent exhibitor at the R.U.A and has had many one-man and group shows in Belfast, Derry, London and Dublin.

Works by him are in numerous public and private collections, including Arts Council for Northern Ireland, Ulster Museum and Bass Ireland. His monumental portrait commission of the members of the Northern Ireland Assembly is in the Senate Chamber Parliament Buildings, Stormont.

36. ‘The Mystery Play’

37. ‘The Gathering’

All paintings are signed 33. ‘Revision’ Acrylic on board 24x17 34. ‘Nude’ Acrylic on board 30x19.5 35. ‘Bandit’ Acrylic on board 30x19.5 36. ‘The Mystery Play’ Acrylic on board 24.5x17 37. ‘The Gathering’ Acrylic on board 17.5x12.5 38. ‘The Detectives’ Oil on canvas 51x61 39. ‘Twilight’ Acrylic on board 19x15 40. ‘From Florence’ Oil on canvas 51x41 41. ‘Untitled’ Acrylic on board 16x12

34. ‘Nude’ 26 Paul Kelly

Born in Dublin he has been a full time professional artist for over 25 years. He has exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy and was awarded the James Kennedy Memorial award for portraiture in 1991. Works by him are in public and private collections in Ireland, the Fingal County Library and the Brian P. Burns collection U.S.A. His painting “The Liffey Rowers” was exhibited at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the performing arts, Washington in 2000.

43. ‘Self Portrait’

47. ‘Currach, Tory Island’

All paintings are oil and signed 42. ‘O’Connell Bridge’ board 20.5x25 43. ‘Self Portrait’ canvas 24x18 44. ‘Lambay from Portrane’ canvas 33x41 45. ‘St. Marks Square, Venice’ canvas 41x33 46. ‘Regatta, Venice’ canvas 33x46 47. ‘Currach, Tory Island’ canvas 40x30 48. ‘The Forge’ board 30x40 49. ‘Gondolier, Bridge of Sighs’ board 25x30 50. ‘The River Liffey’ board 25.5x30 45. ‘St. Marks Square, Venice’

27 Robert Ballagh Born in Dublin in 1943. He studied Architecture and worked for a time as a professional musician, a postman and an engineering draughtsman. He has been painting on a full time basis since his first exhibition in Dublin in 1969. Ballagh’s work is represented in many important collections including the National Gallery of Ireland, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Crawford Municipal Gallery, Cork, the Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane, the Ulster Museum and the Albrecht Dürer House, Nuremberg. Major survey exhibitions of his work have taken place in Lund, Warsaw, Moscow and Sofia. In 2006 a career retrospective was staged in the RHA Gallery, Dublin. As a graphic designer he has produced book covers, posters, limited edition prints, 66 stamps for the Irish Postal Service and the last Irish bank notes produced by the Central Bank of Ireland. Robert Ballagh created the imagery and set design for ‘Self Portrait III’ the dance phenomenon RiverDance and the staging for the opening ceremony of the Special Olympics in Croke Park, Dublin. 51. ‘Self Portrait III’ Oil on canvas 49.5x49.5 Signed

52. ‘Self Portrait II’ Oil on canvas 49.5x49.5 Signed

53. ‘A sorry state of affairs’ Oil on canvas 50.25x47 Signed

‘A sorry state of affairs’

Robert Ballagh has been an active campaigner for artists rights. He was the founding chairperson of the Association of Artists in Ireland and in 1983 he was elected to the International executive of the International association of Artists, a UNESCO affiliate of over 80 countries. For 3 years he served as treasurer. He is chairperson of the Irish Visual Artists Rights Association. In 1991 Robert Ballagh was elected chairperson of the national organising commitee for the celebration of the 75th anniversay of the 1916 rising. He is a member of Aosdána, a self governing trust of Ireland’s most distinguished artists, and is a fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science. Robert Ballagh has been awarded an honourary doctorate in philosophy by the Dublin Institute of Technology and an ‘Self Portrait II’ honourary doctorate of literature byUniversity College Dublin.

28 Kenny McKendry

Born in Bangor, County Down 1964 graduated with a degree in illustration from the University of Brighton. A frequent exhibitor at the R.H.A he has painted portraits of Sir James Galway and John Hume. Works by him are in numerous private and public collections including Department of Environment of Northern Ireland, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Laganside High Court, Belfast, University of Brighton, The Aldrich Collection, Brighton, H.R.H. Princess Anne, Brian P. Burns Collection, U.S.A. Coolmore Stud, Corpus Christi College Oxford and the Green Templeton College, Oxford.

57. ‘Self Portrait’

56. ‘Sheepwalk Hill’

All paintings are oil on board and signed 54. ‘Entrance to the Woods’ 27x38 55. ‘Murlough Bay’ 23x17 56. ‘Sheepwalk Hill’ 18x27 57. ‘Self Portrait’ 23x18 58. ‘The Pietá, Carcassone’ 28x26 59. ‘Sundown, Reggies Cottage’ 17x25 60. ‘Road to Essouira’ 17x23 61. ‘Winter Hilltop II’ 19x24 62. ‘Path to Montségur’ 18x27 63. ‘Winter Hilltop I’ 16x21 64. ‘Morning’ 61x51 65. ‘Evening’ 61x51 66. ‘The Lemon Bowl’ 14x21 67. ‘Marrakesh Doorway’ 23x17 68. ‘Late Afternoon, Muck Island’ 14x21

55. ‘Murlough Bay’

29 Gearóid Arthur Hayes B. 1980

69. ‘Self Portrait with Seneca’ 69. ‘Self Portrait with Seneca’ oil on canvas 95 x 130 signed Born 1980 Pery Square, Limerick City. Educated Clongowes Wood College. He then went on to 70. ‘Rustic still life’ read business and law at U.C.D. and received a oil on canvas 56 x 72 signed classical training at the Charles H. Cecil studios, 71. ‘Self portrait with red cravat’ Florence. Exhibited at the R.H.A. and won the oil on canvas 61 x 46 signed James Adam Award for a self portrait. 72. ‘Still life - Training Saddle’ oil on canvas 91.5 x 66 signed 73. ‘Kinsale Fish’ oil on canvas 25.5 x 36 signed

72. ‘Still Life - Training Saddle’ 70. ‘Rustic Still Life’

30 Index of Artists

Page Page

Aglio, Agostino 7 Kelly, Paul 27

Ballagh, Robert 28 McKendry, Kenny 29

Bartlett, William Henry 24 Mulready, William 15,16,17,18,21

Barret, George 9 Murphy, Noel 26

Beechey,Richard Brydges 12,13 Nicol, Erskine 11,24

Buck, Frederick 20 Oben, James George 25

Davis, William 25 O’Connor, James Arthur 9

Foley, John Henry 10 (inside front cover)

Franklin, John 23 Oliver, William 19

French, Percy 22 Pugh, Herbert 8

Frith, Frederick 20 Scanlan, Robert Richard 25

Hayes, Edwin 14,22,25 Sheil, Edward 24

Hayes, Gearóid 30 Sherlock, William 22

Helmick, Howard 5 Thaddeus, Harry Jones 2,3,4

Hone, Nathaniel 6 West, Richard Whately 22

Irish School 24

31 Notes

32 We are grateful to the following for their kind assistance in the preparation of this catalogue

Christopher Ashe Nicholas Bagshawe Gillian Buckley Dr. Peter Harbison H.R.H.A. Ian Haslam Dr. Claudia Kinmonth M.A.(R.C.A.) PhD William Laffan Richard Lawton Tomás Maher Terry Moylan Susan Mulhall Peter Murray Colin Rafferty Dr. Brendan Rooney GORRY GALLERY, 20 MOLESWORTH STREET, DUBLIN 2. TELEPHONE and FAX 679 5319 The Gallery is open Monday - Friday 11.30 a.m. - 5.30 p.m. Saturday (during exhibition only) 11.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m. www.gorrygallery.ie

Origination and Printing by W&G Baird