83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:50 Page 1
GORRY GALLERY
requeststhe pleasure of yourcompanyatthe privateviewof
An Exhibition of 18th -21st Century IrishPaintings and Antique Prints courtesyofCaxton
on Sunday 29thMay 2011
Wine 3o’clock
This exhibitioncan be viewed prior to theopening by appointment also Wednesday 25th-Friday 27thMay 11.30 a.m.-5.30 p.m. andSaturday 28thMay 2-5p.m. andat www.gorrygallery.ie Kindly note that allpaintingsinthisexhibitionare forsalefrom3.00 p.m.
29th May-11th June2011 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 2
27. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY1853 -1936 ‘L’auberge’ Oiloncanvas 76.7 x96.5 Signed and dated lower right: Aloysius O’Kelly,1909 Exh: Probably Paris Salon, no. 1366, 1909 Lit: NiamhO’Sullivan, Aloysius O’Kelly:Art,Nation, Empire (Dublin, 2010); Julian Campbell, TheIrish Impressionists (Dublin, 1984).
nBrittany,according to the celebrated American to Brittanywereeitherunconscious of,orresistant to the Iwriter,EdgarL.Wakemanin1890, thereare ‘3,000,000 modernisation in progress, and continued to focus on people morepeculiar and interesting than can be found the picturesque costumes,poverty,superstitiousrituals in any equal space of Europe’. Having gone to Brittany and strange religiouscustoms that they continued to after ayear in Ireland, Wakemanfeltqualifiedtoobserve ‘see’. Theartist’sarguedthat they weredocumentingthe that ‘in language, thought,mannerand everyday life, ‘quaint’ lives of the Bretons before they were Breton folk arelessFrench todaythan Irishmen in extinguished by modern ‘progress’. Critical theory, Ireland areEnglish’. He wentontodescribe apeople however,wouldnow argue arelationship of power, whowere‘self-contained, self-sustained,isolated’, explaining that artists,throughthe act of representation, wherethe ‘women and men alike arebeasts of burden. assumed adominant position over those depicted as All refuse and resentinnovation’.1 primitive. But from the late 1870s,Brittany becameone of the most Whether the term ‘primitive’ is usedtosignify productive regions in France, having been among the (patronisingly) alack of civilisation, or (romantically) a poorestinthe midcentury.Therewas ahugegrowth in simplicity in the faceofthe over-civilisation of western agricultureand fishing, as well as population, especially societies,itstereotypes thosedepicted. O’Kelly, in the southofthe peninsula wherethe artists however,evinced an empathy that the more standard concentrated. But therewas also aconsiderable time lag attitude lacked. He wasone of the first Irish artiststo in representations of the region. The artist’swho flocked
2 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 3
discover Brittany in the 1870s and wasinfluential in were several hotels,includingthe Pension Gloanec – drawingother Irishartists there. where O’Kelly resided–reputedly therowdiest of them all. The patronne greatly enjoyed the company of her Druidic spirituality,megalithic remains, myths, artists;the walls of her diningroom and kitchen were language,and the inter-connectednessofRoman covered in the work of her regulars, featuring thelocal Catholicism, land and the concept of nationhood, were men and women who dailyposed for posterity. some of the many points of comparison between Brittany and Ireland,noless than vibrant oral traditions Unrenowned for his portraiture, Gérôme (O’Kelly’s of story telling and music making. Specifically,in1885, master in the École desBeaux-Arts) recommended his Eugene Davis noted that the Bretons wereabrave and students to Bonnat for this training. The loose yet hospitable people, very like the Irish.2 Inevitably,Irish controlled brushwork,broad values,and the use of visitors to Brittany,suchasAloysius O’Kelly,Thomas dramatic light and shade evident in the portraits in this Hovendenand Augustus Burke,thrived on the painting areatestimony to Bonnat’s realist teaching.The historical, cultural and ethnic connections. womenwear distinctive white linen coiffes and wide collars, dark skirts, fitted bodices, embroidered Typical accounts describe awild people whoroamed ‘in waistcoats, and heavy wooden sabots.The men wear long goatskin outfits,terrorising effete Parisian woollen jackets, waistcoats, bragoù-bras,black gaiters travellers withwild criesand rudimentary personal and felt broad-rimmed hats. The artist and hygiene skills’.3 The American artist, Edward Simmons, ethnographer,René-Yves Creston has identified sixty-six maintained that the Bretons only ever washedbelow the principal styles of Breton dress,ofwhich the costume of chin twice in their lives: once when they wereborn and Cornouaille is the mostvaried, while the region of then whenthey married.4 Honoré de Balzac described Fouesnant alone comprises thirty-three communes and womenofbeauty but little virtue, and men of obduracy some dozen costume variants, of which Pont-Aven is but and chauvinism. The artist and writer,A.S.Hartrick, one. recounted a‘savage looking race, whoseemed to do nothing but searchfor driftwood, or to collect seaweed, withstrangesledges drawnbyshaggy ponies’.5 And, accordingtoHenry Blackburn, Bretons had only three vices (avarice, contemptfor womenand drunkenness) in contrast to fivevirtues (loveofcountry,resignation to the will of God, loyalty,perseverance and hospitality).6 Many such aspersions were usedtodescribe the peasantsofthe west of Ireland at the same time. Wakeman arguedthat‘itspeoplehavesturdilyretained their own individuality in traditions, custom,dress and language’,tothe extent that ‘the illimitable drudgery and child bearing of the wife who is now alegal slave brutally mastered to the end of her life…is the true picturestripped of itspoetry.’7 Over time,jaundiced accounts of Breton stupidity,savagery and superstition were transformed into sociological studiesofBreton poverty, primitivismand piety.Anartist less dependent on the popular stereotype, such as O’Kelly,would have been ever attuned to the realities of communities in transition. While O’Kelly’s first visits,inthe mid1870s, occurred at atime before modernisation was evident, his later paintings, even whenthey highlight what mightbe considered ‘Breton’ features, tend to reflect a predominantly industrious, healthy and dignified people,ascan be seeninthis painting. O’Kelly shows himself to have been an acute observer By the1880s, therewerewellover ahundred artists in of the variety and complexity of Breton dress.The Pont-Aven, including agroup of American artists with developmentofover 1,200different kindsofcoiffe whom O’Kelly associated. They mixed together in Paris reveals the extraordinary typography of dress in which and they returned summerafter summer to Brittany, almost infinitesimalvariations revealed specifics undoubtedly influencing his decision to emigrate to the concerning the locality and status of the individual, and US in 1895. which articulated relationshipsofwealth, kinship and Although others had been to Pont-Aven in the early ethnicity. 1860s,itwas not until Robert Wylie was established In describing ‘these dumb folkrooted to so therein1864 that it became an art colony.About aday immeasurable apast’ where antiquity,religion, myth and ahalf’s journey from Paris, Pont-Avenwas asmall and superstition co-exist,Wakemanconceded that ‘there community of farmers, millers and fishermen. There aresofter blendings and tenderer side pictures’, going
3 83770Gorry GalleryCatalogue 16/05/2011 16:51Page4
on to say that ‘[t]hrough the grime and slimeoftheir The genre aspects –the manpouring thedrink with his hardcold lives afew things must stand luminously lefthand on his companion’s shoulder,the young girl in revealed. Their love of and reverence forbabiesare the leftbackground wiping the bowl, the man lighting something wondrously touching… one holding deadly his pipe,the shadowy figureinthe background hatred willnot strike an enemy if that enemy’s arms squatting low to tap the cider –make for alively enfold achild. Again,likethe Irish –and it must be painting. Above all, the painting is fullofgestureand borne in mind that the people of Ireland and those of expression. Notwithstanding the dark interior,the play Brittany arethe closest of kin and from one common of light on form,onbottles and glasses, on the rugged Celtic stock,the affection and family ties, and to furniture, on theanimatedfaces of thefigures, is typical neighbourhood and communal yearnings,find here of O’Kelly,anartistwho paints sometimestightly and universal expression to adegree that almost approaches precisely,and sometimes loosely and freely. pathos’.8 Redolent of Robert Wylie, and ultimately seventeenth- The O’Kelly painting features agroup of adults century interiors, it is ‘a tavern subjectthat savors of surrounding achild, joyously holding their glasses of Munich andthe past’, accordingtothe NewYork Times.9 cider aloft. Although an identical version, dated1908, Notwithstanding this archaism,the compression of so wasgiven the title The Christening Party when it was manyfigures into such aconfined space demanded exhibited in the Irish Impressionists exhibition in the considerable skill, in addition to which he countered the National Gallery of Ireland in 1984, it is not clear that it apparent informality of the figures by granting to each a is indeed aChristening,asthe child must be nearly two notable individuality. years of age, and the toasting is not necessarily focused Some late nineteenth-century painters responded on the mother and child per se.The oval disposition is selectively to the pressures of modernism by employing designedtolet theeye rove around the painting,from Impressionist-type techniques foroutdoor subjects one figuretoanother; the dynamic is inclusive and while retaining more academic methodsfor the engaging.The light pours in from the left, and moves rendering of indoor scenes. Thus O’Kelly toyed with but acrosstothe right, taking in the mother andchild, and never fully absorbed Impressionism. Since O’Kelly’s on to the figures in the front of the painting with their works do not follow the usualstylistic progression — backs to the spectator. some later interiors beingconsiderably more In an inn, rich in detail, the distinctive clothes of both conservative than some earlier,moreavant-garde the menand women identifyits setting as the pays de landscapes —the dating of many of his paintings is very Rosporden (around Concarneau and la Fôret de difficult.O’Kellypainted many tavern scenes Fouesnant). The furniture, including the pannier and the throughout his time in Brittany; in 1909, he exhibited rush-woven Breton chairs aretimelessenough, but other L’auberge in the Paris Salon. As he dated his paintings aspectsidentify it as specifically of its time, notably the rarely –notably thoseexhibited in prominent venues – visiblehair of the women (before the turn of the century, given the subject matter and date, it would appear that no self- respecting girlwould have herself painted with thisisthatpainting. The inclusion of the letter “A” on her hair uncovered).The translucent treatment of the the stretcher denoting ‘accepté’may providefurther still life on the uppershelf verges on the semi abstract corroboration of this. and is avery beautiful passage in the painting. Prof.NiamhO’Sullivan
1 E. L. Wakeman, ‘Wakeman’s Wanderings’, Weekly Inter Ocean,7January 1890. 2 E. Davis, Souvenirs of Irish Footprints over Europe [1890],ed. O. McGee (Dublin, 2006). 3 Quoted in S. Jeffries,‘Wild at Heart’, Guardian,3April 1999. 4 E. Simmons, From Seven to Seventy,Memories of aPainter and aYankee (New York, 1922), 141. 5 A. S. Hartrick, APainter’sPilgrimage through FiftyYears (Cambridge, 1939), 30. 6 H. Blackburn, ‘Pont-Aven and Douarnenez: Sketches in Lower Brittany’, MagazineofArt,2(1879),6–9, 6. 7 E. L. Wakeman, ‘Wakeman’s Wanderings’, Weekly Inter Ocean,7January 1890. 8 E.L.Wakeman, ‘Wakeman’s Wanderings’, Weekly Inter Ocean,7January 1890. 9 New York Times,11February1912.
4 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 5
THEGRAND TOUR:IRISHARTISTS IN ITALY
orry Gallery is delighted to be abletopresent a Charlemont, shown here in an engraving by Joseph Gremarkable groupofworkswhich explores the key Haynes, after Hogarth (cat. no. 14), wasperhaps themost themes and personalities of the Grand Tour and cultivated of the Irish grand tourists and the lessons he highlights the international cosmopolitanism of agroup learnt were put into practice in his famous Casino at of Irish artists in the eighteenth century.The Grand Tour Marino, and indeed at Charlemont House, now home to phenomenon was notnew,ahandful of Irish artists had the HughLane Gallery.InItaly,Charlemont was apatron visited Italy since the latter year of the seventeenth of Piranesi(althoughthey laterfell out rather century with Hugh Howardand Charles Jervas enjoying spectacularly) and he too commissioned landscapes from extended sojourns,onwhich they perfected their art and Vernet, whose Irish wife mayhave facilitated the alsofound time to collect paintings for friendsand clients transaction. BothCharlemont and Leeson were painted back home–asometimes lucrative sideline. In addition by Pompeo Batoni,asindeed weremanyother Irish to the opportunity that it offered for study of thegreat visitors who helped established the Lucchesepainter’s works of antiquity and the Renaissance, the reputational reputation at an early point in his career. benefit to be gainedbyanItalian journey cannot be Artistsfollowed in the wake of thesearistocratic visitors. overemphasised.Romewas the fonsetorigo of classical Some like James Barry (cat. nos. 10, 23) spent several civilisation –art, architectureand literature–and those years in Romebeforereturning home to put into practice who had spent time in Italy commanded alevel of what they had learnt. Others suchasRobertFagan spent respectthat could not easily be achieved by remainingat almosttheir entirecareers abroad.Fagan’s portrait of home, or even makingthe shorter trip to London.Onhis Emma Hamilton(cat. no. 13),the celebrated beauty, later return Jervasfound hisstock as an artisthad greatly risen to be famousasthe lover of Nelson,istruly an icon of –hewas referredtobyHorace Walpole ‘as the last great the Irish Grand Tour,for Emma was herself one of the painter Italyhas sent us’. great ‘sights’ of avisit to Naples.Robert Crone (cat. no. WhileHowardand Jervaswerepioneersinvisiting Italy, 12), an enormously rareartist, is represented herebyan in 1697 and 1698 respectively,bythe mid-eighteenth accomplishedlandscape (illustrated page 8) and is the century aflood of Irish aristocrats and artists were pair to awork which we exhibited in 2005, while we also making the long journey across the Alps,orbysea to include an important drawing (cat. no. 22) and rare Leghorn(Livorno). Joseph Leeson(later Earl of aquatint by Henry Tresham, (cat. no. 9) the friend in Milltown),for example, having inherited avast brewing Rome of HughDouglas Hamilton (cat. nos.11, 15) and fortunedisappeared offtoItaly in the 1750s while his Antonio Canova. We hope youenjoy this selection which mansion at Russborough,County Wicklow,was being we have put together which showsaninternational builtand returned with rich spoils of classical sculpture, dimensiontoIrish art, acentury beforepainters suchas paintings by artists such as Claude Joseph Vernet and Walter Osborne and RodericO’Conor visited Paris, scagliola furniture withwhich to furnish it.The Earlof Antwerp or Brittany.
12. Robert Crone (detail)
5 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 6
13. ROBERT FAGAN 1761-1816 ‘Three-quarter-length portraitofEmma Hamiltoninher ‘Attitude’ as aNeapolitanPeasant’ Oiloncanvas 44.5 x35.5 in agiltwood neo-classical frame Signed,inscribed ‘Roma’, and dated 1793 Provenance: Mallets,New York and London; Exhibited at Lyons Village, An Age of Elegance,Irish Art of the18thCentury,November2007, illustrated in colourinthe catalogue
he extant oeuvreofthe Irish neo- Tclassical painter Robert Faganistiny, makingthis picture, signedand dated 1793, asignificant addition. At the sametime, the fame of the sitter,Emma Hamilton, makes it akey workofIrish Grand Tour art. At this date Emma had been married to Sir William Hamilton, ambassador to the court of Naples, for two years. Although her periodofgreatest fame, or notoriety,asthe mistress of Nelson wasinthe future, she wasalready established as one of the most sought-after,ifleastconventional, ‘sights’ of the Grand Tour.That the flamboyant Irish artistshould have wanted to paint the celebrated beauty is of coursenot surprising. Both ledunconventional lives and Emma had inspired asuccession of artists,most famously George Romney. Both wererather seenasoutsiders in the aristocratic world they inhabited.Fagan, the sonofabaker,was mocked for hislack of breeding; Emma daughter of a blacksmith wasridiculedbyLadyWebster (herself painted by Fagan) forher lapses in etiquette. Fagan’spassionate interest in classicalstatuary which he excavated, traded and collected would have been a further incentive for seeking outEmma who was celebrated as the living embodimentofantiquesculpture. This had been expressed afew years earlier by no lessthan Goethe: After many years of devotion to the arts and the study of nature [SirWilliam has] found the acmeofthesedelights in the person of an English girlof20with abeautiful faceand aperfect figure. He hashad a survive. Neverthelesshehas been hailed by Raleigh Greekcostume made forher which becomes her Trevelyan as an outstanding artist in the neo-classical extremely.Dressed in this shelets down her hair, tradition withEllis Waterhouse going even further to and with afew shawls, gives so much variety to claim him as the ‘only Britishportrait painter who 2 her poses, gestures, expressions, etc., that the deliberately adopted aneo-classical style. Faganisone spectatorcan hardly believe his eyes.1 of the most interesting of all Irish artiststomakethe Grand Tour,bothfor his stylistic modernity and embrace Fagan’s art was to avery large degreeinspiredbythe of international neo-classicism,and for his exploration classical sculpture he excavated (muchofitpreserved in of specifically Irishiconography.Acatholic and fierce the museum in Palermo);here, for once, he had the republican, he alienated many British Grand Tourists, opportunity to paint the classical ideal incarnate. even refusingtoshow his picturestoLady Knightonthe The sizeofFagan’soeuvreisnot surprising. His groundsthat she and her family were‘enemies of the adventurous, nottosay tempestuous, lifecan have left revolution’.Fagan’s Portrait of aLady as Hibernia, little time to paint and only sometwenty pictures described as his ‘patriotic masterpiece’ is replete with
6 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 7
Irishsymbolism and can be interpreted as alament for the God of Wine; given Emma’s ownlater descent into his native country’s lossofindependence after the Act of alcoholism,this iconography was ironically prescient. Union.3 The quality of his work, his glamorous life and By contrast, in the work considered here, Emma, with a tragic death certainly justifyProfessor Crookshank and knowing smile on hereface, takes on amorehumble, if the Knight of Glin’s description of Fagan as ‘one of the equally seductive, part. The samesource noted how most dramatic characters associated withIrish Emma would drop her classical guise to adopt the painting’.4 character of aNeapolitan peasantwoman dancing a tarantella with castanets and hereshe is showninthe Faganspentalmosthis entirecareer in Italy and soon brightly coloured costumeofthe southofItaly about to came into the Hamiltons’ambit. He shared withSir embark on her dance. Fagan’s romanticisation of the life William apassionate interest in classical art and at alater of the Neapolitan peasantry wouldhave attuned well date was himself appointed aBritishdiplomat, ataskfor withthe Neapolitan court. King Ferdinand and Maria which he wassingularlyunsuited. Faganwould have Carolina liked to withdraw from the stifling formality of come directly into contact with SirWilliam throughhis court life and role play abucolic existence as humble archaeological activities.From1793, the exact dateofthe peasants,nodoubt inspired by theexampleofMarie present portrait, he wasexcavating at Campo Iemini in Antoinette’s hameau at Versailles (theFrench queen was the company of Prince Augustus Frederick, later Duke of course MariaCarolina’s sister).The royal family were of Sussex. The prince, sixth son of George III, had been even painted by Philip Hackert in peasant costumes entrustedtoHamilton’scare, with theambassador ‘indulging in thefantasythat they arehelping to harvest reportingtoQueen Charlotte on his progress–and his the crops’(Museo de SanMartino,Naples).7 inappropriate liaisons. For Sir William Hamilton, and indeed for Fagan, the Faganpainted Emma twice. Afurther portrait of her as distinction between Emma’s classicaland her more abacchante is now in the Smurfit Collection.5 Here, contemporary ‘attitudes’ wouldhave been easily elided. however,heshowsher in acalmer pose.Following It wassomething of acommonplace to discern survivals Fagan’s usual pattern he gives the place as well as the from the classical pastinthe life and customsofthe date of the execution of the picture. It is signed‘Roma Neapolitan peasantry: ‘Local gamessuchasmora, 1793’, and is accordingly an early work,immediately dancessuch as thetarantella,and religious customsall post-dating the portraits of Lady Clifford(1791, private seemed to have reflections in objectsand paintings collection) and Sir Andrew Corbet and his wife (1792, discoveredinthe excavations, and thusappeared to private collection). Faganwas based in Rome from 1793 have ancient roots’.8 Theseweredepicted by local and to 1797, however,uptosometimeinthe former year,he visiting artists such as David Allan and PietroFabris.A had residedinNapleswhere, no doubt,hesketched direct comparison may be madewith Allan’s AProcidian Lady Hamilton performing one of her ‘attitudes’, Girl (1776, DukeofHamilton), however,incontrast to completing the work later in the year and signing it in the Scottishartist’s attempt at empirical observation and Rome. the woman’s rather generic features,inFagan’s picture Most of Emma’s attitudes weretaken from classical the element of acting, or role-play,isclear.The theatrical antiquity.One contemporary describes how‘withthe wasofcoursepartofFagan’s own artistic persona, so assistance of one or two Etruscan vases and an urn’ she evidently exemplified in his famousself-portrait with would become ‘a Sibyl,then aFury, ANiobe, a his second wife(HuntMuseum, Limerick).Herehe Sophonisba, aBacchante drinking wine’.6 This last captures Emma’s flirtatiousness,but also her posturewas howshe wasportrayed in the (undated) vulnerability.Itisastriking imageand an important picture by Fagannotedabove in which he includes a document of the lives of both artist and sitter. tripodand Greek vase, no doubt from SirWilliam’s own William Laffan collection, as attributes to define Emma as adevotee of
1 Quoted J. Ingamells, ADictionary of Britishand IrishTravellers in Italy,1701-1800 (New Haven and London) 456. 2 R. Trevelyan, ‘Robert Fagan, an Irish Bohemian in Italy’, Apollo,lxcvi (October 1972) 300; E. Waterhouse, Dictionary of British 18th Century Painters in Oiland Crayons (Woodbridge1982) 122. 3 A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’sPainters, 1600-1940 (New Haven and London 2002) 118. 4 ibid. 5 Sold Sotheby’s The Irish Sale 18 May 2000 lot 68; see T. Murphy, Smurfit ArtCollection2001 (Dublin 2001)11. 6 Ingamells, Dictionary,458. 7 Lady Hamilton in Relation to the Art of her Time,Exhibition Catalogue,KenwoodHouse (London 1972)34. 8 IanJenkinsand Kim Sloan, Vases and Volcanoes,Sir William Hamiltonand His Collection,Exhibition Catalogue,British Museum (London 1996)242.
7 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 8
12. ROBERT CRONE c.1718-1779 ‘Morning:AClassicalLandscape with Shepherds leading theirFlock to Pasture’ Oiloncanvas 94.5 x135.2 Provenance: Private Collection, U.S.A.
nthe catalogue note forasigned and dated landscape this group of artists defined aremarkable branch of the Iby Robert Crone exhibited in this gallery in March2005 eighteenth-century landscape school, mixingnative (Fig. 1),the hopewas expressed ‘that other workscan be influence withtheir exposure to the headymix of their attributedtothe artist on thebasis of this securelydated seicento predecessors,the Roman campagna and the work’. Happilythis has come to passand afurther incipient neo-classical movement. impressive landscape can now conclusively be shown to Afterstudying in Dublin withRobert Hunter and his be the work of the Irish artist, indeed,and remarkably,it kinsman Phillip Hussey,Crone set offfor Italy wherehe is almost certainly the pairtothe picture previously wastospend sometwelve years. He is firstdocumented exhibited here. The workofIrish landscape painters in in Rome in 1755 and by Easterofthat yearhewas sharing eighteenth-century Rome is becoming betterknown and ahouse with his fellow Irish artists James Forrester and admiredasmoreexamples arefoundand the correct Jacob Ennis in the Strada della Croce. In Rome, Crone identification of this painting is afurther milestone studied with RichardWilson, whowas to greatly towardsanunderstanding of this talented groupof influence his stylistic formation. Their respective artists.Their distinctive contributionwas certainly mannersoflandscape drawingwereclose, and one recognised by the contemporaries.Travelling in Italy in signed drawing by Crone has allowed for the 1764, John Martin noted: ‘Mr Crone, Mr Delane and Mr reattribution to the Irish artistofseveral sheets Forrester the only persons from our part of the world previouslythought to be by Wilson. An insight into who practice landscape painting areall Irish’.1 Indeed Crone’s working method’s can be foundinadrawing,
8 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 9
reproducedbyCrookshank and Glin, of astand of trees which seemstobe astudyfor the grouponthe right hand side of thepresent work.2 Like manyofhis fellow countrymen, such as Henry Tresham (cat. no. 9and 22) and Robert Fagan(cat. no. 13), Crone supplemented his income by buying worksofart for collectors backhome. The sculptor Joseph Nollekens described him as ‘little Crone the landscape-draughtsman’ and noted that he was collecting on behalf of ‘MrMangin of Dublin’ –indeed a drawing by Anton Raphael Mengs bought by Cronefor Manginsurvives in the National Gallery of Ireland.3 Given its overwhelming similarities with the worknow in an Irish private collection it seemsthatthe newly Fig. 1 discovered painting (unknown previously to the art market and scholars alike) dates comprised this newly discovered workand the work fromthe same year, 1755. The painting demonstrates previouslyexhibited here. Certainly the 1770 exhibit Crone’s full assimilation of the Italian classical tradition shows that Crone enjoyed pairing landscapes showing and particularly the model of Claude. This debtwas the differenttimes of dayand the Evening picture was noted by Martin whowrote that Crone ‘was very clever in described in the RA catalogue as the ‘companion’ to the his profession and must have great natural genius…He Morning indicating that they wereconceived as apair has chiefly studied Claude Lorrain and Ibelieve is and hung together.The present painting and its pendant reckoned to have agood dealofhis manner’.4 Martin areofidentical dimensions and arelinked chromatically continued to recordthat Crone had wonroyal patronage, (with the details of red, blue and white costumes ‘Heisamostexcellent drawer of landscape of which he providing acolour coded connection) and also has done several for the King’(at least one of these compositionally with the classical templeinthe same survives at Windsor Castle), and well characterises the position in each (but varied by being shown complete in vaporous qualities of the present work –withits limpid one and ruined in the other). They shareacentral vista light and the evanescent treatment of the foamcoming off into the distance and almostidentically crossed trees the cascade–‘they have aremarkablesoft mellowness in towards the right hand sideofthe scene. Combined, them which is very pleasing’. these factors seemtoargue compellingly forthe two workshaving originally been apair which were The present work clearly showsanearly morning scene, subsequently separated. as shepherds lead their flocktopasturebythe cold light of dawn. It contrasts in this with the work exhibited in Unfortunately Crone’s artistic development was affected this gallery in 2005 which is an evening view withthe by his poor state of health which mayalso accountfor crepuscular golden light of the setting sun and ascene of the rarity of his work. He was hunchbacked and was music anddancing –now that the day’s workisdone. described by one contemporary as a‘little crooked The conceit of pairing landscapes withone showing Irishman’.Asayouthhehad alsosufferedfromepileptic evening and its pendant morning was beloved of Claude fits, which recurred after afall from scaffolding while whose artCrone had studiedsodiligently (suchapairing copying in the Barberini Palace. Crone left Italy,in1767, by the French artist wasinthe collection of the Earl settling in London where he exhibited at the Society of BishopofDerry) while LordCharlemont went further by Artist,and as we have seen, the Royal Academy.Healso commissioning aset of the fourtimes of the Day from sentwork for exhibition in Dublin. Martin’stribute to Vernet.5 We know forcertain that this example was taken Crone, bears repetition: ‘He is Irishand does honour to up by Crone as in 1770 he exhibited at the Royal his country not only as afine painter but as avery Academy AMorning scene–alandscape and its pendant A honestman’. landscape –anevening.Itisconceivable that theseexhibits W.L.
1 Quoted A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’sPainters (New Haven and London 2002) 138. 2 A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland (London 1994)58, fig. 63. 3 N. Figgis, ‘Robert Crone’, in J. Ingamells, ADictionary of Britishand IrishTravellers in Italy,1701-1800 (New Haven and London 1997) 256. 4 Quoted ibid. 5 The Art Union,Monthly Journal of the Fine Arts, for the Year EndingDecember 1839,84. 9 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 10
22. HENRYTRESHAM c.1751-1814 ‘TheLatomie,near Syracuse’ Pen, pencil and wash on paper44.5 x66.5 Provenance: Colonel John Campbell (later created 1stBaron Cawdor) by 1784 By descent until sold at Sotheby’s by the then Lord CawdorOct. 1953 Iolo Williams Inscribed on label formerly attached to the mount‘The Latomie at Syracuse’
Tresham’sdrawings aregenreand landscape’,and herehemanagesto combine the two.2 Having spent several months in Florence, by September1775 Tresham had settled in Rome where he wasclose to the Welsh landscapistThomas Jones and sharedaccommodation with his compatriot, Solomon Delane. Some years later,in1783/4, Tresham visited Sicily with Colonel Campbell. It is from this trip that the present drawingdates –itremained in the Cawdor family until soldat Sotheby’s in October 1953 and was subsequently in the collection of the great connoisseurIolo Williams. Tresham and Campbelltouredthe friend of RobertFagan, and his occasional island shortly after the great earthquakeof5February Aaccomplice in art dealing adventures, during his 1783 and thereisanaccount of his landscapesexecuted time in ItalyHenry Treshamwas alsoclosetoHugh in Sicily being seen backinhis RomestudioinMarch Douglas Hamilton, whoincluded Tresham in his 1785.3 Amongst these, was this large drawing showing masterpiece showing the studio of Antonio Canova the famousLatomie, near Syracuse. These ancient (Victoria and Albert Museum). This famous pastel was quarries weredeveloped by theoriginal Greek settlers of commissioned by Colonel JohnCampbell (later created the island as asourceofrock for the great temples and 1st Baron Cawdor)who was oneofTresham’smost theatres of Sicily.They also served as aprison and it was supportive patrons in Italy and it wasalsohis herethat the defeated Athenians (some seven thousand relationship with Campbell that led to the present large in number)wereincarcerated after the fatal Sicilian drawing.Treshamhad studied at the Dublin Society Expedition in the Peloponnesian War. The fewwho Schools and exhibited at the Society of Artists in Ireland survived, according to Thucydides’contemporary between1769 and 1775 after whichheset offfor Italy account, did so through their ability to recite the verses of wherehewas to spend some fourteen years.His talents Euripides’ tragedies for which they weregiven food. No were recognised with his election to membership of the doubt this hallowedclassical association added frisson Florentine Academy. Like Hamilton it seemsthat to grand tourists suchasTresham and Campbell, Tresham had hopes of becoming agreat history painter however,the scene as depicted in 1783/4 is utterly but ‘as withsomany,his ambitionsweredeflected by his tranquil as alocal peasant sleepsquietly accompanied by success as an agentand dealer and none of his Italian his dog.Showing Tresham’s versatility across the paintings survive’.1 Ahandful of drawings, however, spectrum of graphicmedia is an aquatint also dating doneinItalyare extant of which this is among the most from 1784, one of aseries illustrating Le AvventurediSaffo, significant–asCrookshank andGlinnote: ‘The best of by Alessandro Verri (cat. no. 9). W.L.
1 N. Figgis, ‘Henry Tresham’, in J. Ingamells, ADictionary of Britishand IrishTravellers in Italy,1701-1800 (New Haven and London 1997) 953. 2 A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, The Watercolours of Ireland, Work on Paper in Pencil, Pastel and Paint c. 1600-1914 (London 1994) 101. 3 Figgis,‘Henry Tresham’, 953. 10 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 11
HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON 1740-1808
he portraits of RobertHolfordand Fanny Gore(later wherehespecialised in this type of small oval pastel TWillock) arefine examples of the skilfullydrawn portrait. During his years in London Hamilton exhibited pastels that Hamilton was doing at his lodgings in Pall hiswork frequently at theFreeSocietyofArtists, Society Mall, London, during the 1770s. They areloosely drawn of Arts andatthe Royal Academy. on greypaper and show how good Hamilton wasat Hamilton left London for Rome, c.1778, wherehebecame capturing the character of his sitters. Few of his pastels friends with the sculptors Canova and Flaxman and was from this period aresigned. Strickland noted that apopularand influential figureinthe artistic life of the Hamilton worked quickly and was in suchdemandthat city.Hamilton and his wife and daughter spent twoyears “he could scarcely execute all the ordersthat came to living in Florence making visits to Venice, Naples and him”(vol.1, p. 429-30). Pompeii. In 1792 he returned to Dublin wherehehad a HughDouglas Hamilton wasbornand educated in studioinClareStreet. Dublin. By 1764 he had established himself in London
11.‘Robert Holford(1738-90) 15. ‘Miss Frances (Fanny)Gore(1759-1806), Master in Chancery,late 1770s’ late 1770s’ Pastel on paper, Oval 24 x19.5cm Pastel on paper, Oval 23 x18.5cm Framed in an eighteenth century gilt frame. Contemporary carved and gilded frame Inscribed on the backing board: Robert Holford Inscribed on an old label on the reverse: Esq.,/ nephew of Lord Chancellor/ Jocelynwhose This Picturethe/ propertyof/ Sir HenryWillock/1835/ honest/Countenance was the/ true index of his/ portraitofhis Mother/ Paintedby/ Hamilton excellent Heart. RobertHolfordwas adescendant of Sir Robert Jocelyn Fanny wasthe daughter of Charles GoreofTring Park, baronet of HydeHall, Hertfordshire. His mother Sarah, Hertfordshire. Hamilton would have done this portrait the daughter of SirPeter Vandeput,was of Huguenot during the1770s whenshe was an unmarried young descent. Holfordwas educated at Eton (1747-54) and was woman.In1785she marriedHenry Willock.Her portrait admitted apensioner of Saint John’sCollege, Cambridge as amarried lady waspainted by Ozias HumphreyRA in 1755 (BA, 1759, MA) and was aFellow of Peterhouse (1742-1810) (private collection). Anote on the reverse (1762).Onleaving Cambridge he was admitted to the records that shedied at the birth of her eleventh child. Middle Temple(1762).Hewas electedaFellow of the Royal Society.In1765 he married aMissDavies of Sackville Street, London, whowas an heiresswitha Dr Paul Caffrey considerablefortune (see theGentleman’s Magazine, 1765, p.247). The reference in the inscription on the back of the frame is to the 1st Viscount Jocelyn(Baron Newport of Newport, Co. Tipperary)who wasLord High ChancellorofIreland from 1739-56. 11 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 12
8. WilliamSadlerIIc.1782-1839 ‘Travellers in alakelandscape’ Oilonwood 21.5 x33 Exhibited:PymsGallery,London Provenance: ‘The Sublime and the Beautiful IrishArt 1700-1830’ Pyms Gallery,London, June 2001, cataloguenumber 13, pages 142 143, illustrated
4. WilliamSadlerIIc.1782-1839 ‘KingstownHarbour’ Oilonwood 29 x42 An inscription on an old label on reverse reads ‘The foreground on right is wherethe present Clarence Place endsand the roadway shown is wherethe Dublin South Eastern Railway runs.’ 12 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 13
VIEW OF ENNISCORTHYc.1780
7. AttributedtoCaroline,LadyCarlow,1750-1813 but is likely to have beenawatercolour or ‘body-colour’ OilonCanvas 35.5 x42.5 drawingprobablyresemblingaSandby,asacontemporary Welsh visitor,George Hardinge,isquoted as saying in 1792 he viewofEnniscorthy engraved in Paul Sandby’s book that Dawson ‘draws in Sandby’smanner and almostaswell.’2 TThe Virtuosi’sMuseum in 1778 was, accordingtothe But Dawson’s composition has also beenpreserved –with accompanying letterpress, ‘Sketched on the Spotbythe variations –intwo related representations of the samescene Honourable John Dawson,and painted by Paul Sandby, –the one on offer here and the other exhibited in this gallery 1 R.A.’ In it,the horizon is dominated by thetown’s medieval in 20033,whereby thepresentone is closer in detailtothe castle, while the seriesofbuildings nestling at its footverge engraving.Itisinoil –amedium not usually practised by onto the river Slaney which occupies much of the watercolourists, thus making it less likely that the painting foreground after flowing under the bridge on the right, built was done by exponents of that medium, suchasSandby or in 1715. theHon. John Dawson. Dawson (1744-1798) was one of those responsiblefor getting But one memberofthe Dawson familyrecorded as having Gandon to come to Dublin to build the CustomHouse, and beenproficient in oils is the Hon. John’s wife,Caroline, also commissioned him to design anew home for himself at daughter of JohnStuart, thirdEarl of Bute and Prime Emo Court in Co. Laois, now in State care. He succeeded his Minister of England, who married him on January1st, 1778. fatherasLordCarlow in 1779, and becamethe 1stEarlof When visiting the Dawson home at Emo,Co. Laois, in 1792, Portarlington in 1785. the sameGeorge Hardinge described her as ‘a most capital painter in oils’ andfoundher copyingaRaphael to act as an altarpiece for the church her husband had built at Coolbanagher nearby.4 She painted aportrait of her husband which was reproduced as the frontispiece to the second volumeofMrs. GodfreyClark’s Gleaningsfromanold portfolio,privately printed in Edinburghin1895/6, where she is also described,inlate August 1781, as awaiting the arrival of the painter Jonathan Fisher to ‘lay her palette’ and clean her brushes, beforedoing aportrait of her recently- bornson John. We could easily imagine her practising her skills and whiling away the time in her husband’s Irish topographical watercolours and, under the circumstances,she is the most likely person to have painted this view of Enniscorthy. His original, which the well-known English artist Sandby Peter Harbison used as the basisfor hisengraving has, sadly,not survived,
1 This was only one of anumber of instances whereDawson’s drawings of Irish views wereengraved in the samevolume. 2 Quoted in EdwardMcParland,‘EmoCourt, Co. Leix –I’, Country Life May 23, 1974, 1276. 3 Gorry Gallery,AnExhibition of 18th-21st Century Irish Paintings, 26th November –6th December,2003, 37, No. 21, with illustration insideback cover. 4 McParland, Emo 1275. 13 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 14
16. JAMESRICHARDMARQUIS, R.H.A.fl. 1835-85 ‘Summer,Viewofthe LiffeyatWoodlands, County Dublin’ Oiloncanvas 96.5 x122 in its original exhibition frame Signed lower centre: ‘MARQUIS. RHA/1863’ and inscribed by the artistonalabel attached to the reverse: ‘Summer/on the Liffey,coDublin/J Rich MarquisRHA/Park House/Baldoyle/Dublin’ Provenance: Pyms Gallery,London, 1985 Exhibited: RoyalHibernian Academy, Dublin, 1863 (no.62) Celtic Splendour,AnExhibition of IrishPaintingsand Drawings 1850-1950,PymsGallery(London 1985)(no.2) Literature: IrishTimes, 3May 1863, Irish Times, 4May 1863 Kenneth McConkey, AFreeSpirit, IrishArt 1860-1960 (London andWoodbridge1990) 17 (illustrated in colour) AnneCrookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’sPainters, 1600-1940 (New Haven and London 2002) 218 William Laffan,‘JamesRichardMarquis, RHA’, Artand ArchitectureofIreland,vol. 2 (forthcomingNew Haven and London 2014) ‘ ew cities’,wrote J. Sterling Coynein1842, aremore Hibernian Academy, and is, withoutdoubt, among the Ffortunate than Dublininthe beautyoftheir finest works by the artist to have survived. 1 environs’. Among the natural beauties that Coyne Marquis was theson of abuilder George Marquis of East singledout is the approach to Lucanalong the Liffey JamesStreet, Dublin, who also leasedproperty in valley: ‘Theroad runs parallel to the courseofthe Liffey, Baldoyle,County Dublin. He entered the School of whose banks, enriched by ancient woods, overhanging Landscape at the Dublin Society Schools in 1847, winning the silent waters,orspreading into verdant slopes,never apremium in 1852 and amedalthe following year.He failtoelicit the admiration of every beholder’.2 A practisedasalandscapepainter in Dublinwith great ravishing evocation of this landscape on asummerday success, exhibiting at the RoyalHibernian Academy from in 1863, Marquis’ View of theLiffey at Woodlands has been 1853 and was elected an academician in 1862, the year muchadmired since its first exhibition at the Royal before painting Summer, View of theLiffeyatWoodlands.
14 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 15
MarquislaterwenttoLondon butcontinued to sendwork noted ‘“Summer in the Valley of the Liffeyat to Dublinfor exhibition until 1885. He exhibited only twice Woodlands”,isafine painting and worthy of careful at the Royal Academy,in1862 and the following year. inspection’.This is perceptive, as the work reveals its Marrying late, he moved to Edinburgh andexhibited at charms slowly. In parts it is very highlyfinished and it the RoyalScottishAcademy from 1869 to 1873. replaysclose examination not only for its surface detail but alsofor its compositional complexity with several Strickland notes the rarity of examples of Marquis’ art, carefully constructed focal points which draw the eyeto however aselect body of workcan nowbeassembled the keytopographical landmarks in the distance. The which demonstrates the quality of his work. Sunsetwith meticulouslyminute techniquethat Marquis displays an Anchored Three-Master off Kingstown of 1864 (private hereisfully in accordwith the precepts of the most collection) shows him to have been afinemarine painter, influential critic of the dayJohnRuskin, whoseviews, while two contrasting works,alarge view of the Palace which, it must be said, werenot always consistent, can be of Westminster and an enormouspainting of rural life in summedupinhis dictum in Modern Painters ‘go to Ireland,Sunshine and Showers –aHome in Killarney, Natureinall singleness of heart.... selecting nothing, and indicate the variety of his subjectmatter.The latter work scorning nothing, believing all thingstoberight and wasclearly highly regardedbythe artist whoexhibited good, and rejoicing alwaysinthe truth’.5 In his carefully it three times in his lifetime, includingatthe RHA in 1882 observed approach, Marquisherecan be related to when it was priced at £125, by along way thehighest Ruskin’s advice and also to the work of artistsinPre- price the artistasked in his career.Marquis also worked Raphaelite circles, notably Ford MaddoxBrown and the in watercolour, while oils of Antwerp, Hamburgand Irish landscapist William Davis. Rotterdamindicate aperiod of continental travel;healso exhibited views of Norwegian scenery. He died in 1885, ApossibleclueastoMarquis’ artistic allegiances maybe and three years later his work was posthumously foundinthe application he made forthe post of director includedinthe Irish Exhibition at Olympia. of the National of the Gallery of Ireland, on February 12 1869: ‘Inconsequence of the lamentable death of the late Described byCrookshank andGlinasan‘excellent Director of the National Gallery of Ireland George F. panoramic view’, Summer,View of the Liffey at Woodlands Mulvany –Ibeg to offermyselfasacandidate for the is an original, even unorthodox, composition with the appointment’.6 This revealing document (still in the files tree to the left making asomewhat daring variation on of the National Gallery) suggests aquiet confidence in the Claudeantradition of the repoussoir framing device.3 his ability as an artist: ‘I have tried to be an Irish Painter Notingthat this ‘blasted foregroundtreeisarelic of a for some years standingwhose humbleefforts in the storm that has long passed’one critic writes ‘in the causeofArt [have] met withappreciation –fromthose majestic Summer...thelandscapeisrendered with best able to judge’. Marquis’ choice of referees is picturesque charm’.4 In the foreground asolitary figure interesting:‘Iventuretosend Mr Ruskin’s kind letter just no doubtrepresents the artist himself enjoying the view come to hand as to my fitness to presideover the which he is simultaneously painting (Fig.1). interests of the National Gallery of Ireland. Mr J.H.Foley R.A. wouldjoin Mr Ruskininhis opinions if required’. Beingabletocall on two of the towering figures of the Victorian art world in supportofhis application was, however,tonoavail, and Marquis didnot succeed in gaining the position (itwent instead to Henry Edward Doyle), nevertheless when taken in conjunction with the minute techniqueofSummer,Viewofthe Liffey at Woodlands, the closerelationship with Ruskin that his letter in support of Marquis demonstrates is certainly suggestive. Ruskin, of course, didnot advocate an undiscriminating naturalism in his approach to landscapepainting –he dismissedapainting by JohnBrett (1831-1902) as a ‘mirror’s worknot man’s’ –and the moreone looksat Marquisworkits carefulartifice is apparent. 7 Farfrom being an unmediated account of the sceneryinfront of him, Marquisuses the painting’s structure to highlight the man-made,aswellthe natural, beauties,ofthe Liffey Valley –focusing on the elegant demesnesof Luttrelstownand St Edmundsbury which runtogether Fig.1 on either side of the river.Again this wasapoint made by Coyne who describes ‘thebeauteousvale, throughwhich The painting wassingled outtwice by the Irish Times in winds the Liffey’ssilver stream, its steepbank enriched its reviews of the 1863 exhibition of the RHA.On4May with gardens, pleasurehouses andcharmingvillas’.8 The it was describedasamong thepictures‘welldeserving subtletyofthe workhas been noted by Kenneth of particular notice’, whilethe next daythe reviewer McConkey –‘thereismoretoMarquis’idyll than meets
15 83770Gorry GalleryCatalogue 16/05/2011 16:51Page16
the eye’–and he makesatelling comparison between View of theLiffey at Woodlands and contemporary American painting, and in particular ThomasCole’s The Oxbow,the Connecticut River near Northampton (Metropolitan Museum, New York).9 The view is takenfromahigh vantage spot within the grounds of Luttlestowndemesne, or Woodlandsasitwas then known. This very spot wassingled by out by Coyne for an ecstatic eulogyinapassage which comesclose to averbal account of Marquis’ painting. It would be impossiblefor astranger to pass the demesne of Woodlands...without being struckby its eminently beautifulsituation...girt by rich woods, in which thereare many romantic rides and walks,leading through sylvan glades or deep glens, wherethe sparkling of brightstreams and the glad sounds of water murmuringovertheir pebbly beds,orleaping down therocks,soothethe mindtogentlerepose.10
At the time that Marquisvisited its demesne to paint the Fig. 2 scene, the ancient castle at Luttrelstownhad been renamed after it was sold, in about1800, by the Luttrels earlier in 1823, probably to designs by JamesGandon –who had held the land since it wasgranted to them six whodonated the site to the parish. hundredyears earlier by KingJohn–tothe self-made The blasted tree simultaneouslypoints to, and encloses, millionaireLuke White. As the Knight of Glin put its ‘[the on the extreme left of the painting,the large country Luttrels’]baleful influence and wicked doingsmade house of St Edmundsburywhich was builtinabout1771 them so notorious that the name of the property was for EdmundPery,speaker of theIrish House of changed when Luke White bought it to the prosaic title Commonsand later 1st Viscount Pery.The house now of “Woodlands”’.11 White who had started offasa serves as ahospital. humblebookseller –oreven, if was rumoured at the time, as astreet vendor of newspapers –madeseveral Marquis returned to this Liffey scenery afew years later alterationstothe house which wasfurtheradapted by whenheexhibited at the 1869 showofthe RHA At St his son in about 1850, giving it its present appearance. Its Edmundsbury on the Liffey–Sketch from Nature,nor was namereverted to LuttrelstownCastle whenitwas Marquis alone in selecting this picturesque view,his purchasedbythe Hon. Ernest Guinness whopresented colleague in the Academy John Faulkner (1835-94) executed the demesne to hisdaughterthe Hon. EileenPlunkett on awatercolour From Woodlands, County Dublin which looks her wedding.Acting as an eye-catcher in the distance of southacross the Liffey from the Strawberry BedsRoadinto Marquis’ painting can be seen the tower and spireofSt the great estates of The Hermitage, Woodville and St. Andrew’s churchinLucan (Fig. 2),builtsome forty years Edmundsbury(Gorry Gallery,30Oct.-12 Nov. 1992). WilliamLaffan
1 J. Sterling Coyne, The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland (c.1842, new ed. London 2003) 382. 2 ibid., 384. 3 Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’sPainters, 1600-1940 (New Haven and London) 218 4 Celtic Splendour, An Exhibition of Irish Paintings and Drawings 1850-1950, Exhibition Catalogue, PymsGallery (London 1985) 14. 5 E.T.Cook and A. Wedderburn (eds) The Works of Ruskin (London and New York 1903-12) vol. 3, 623. 6 NGI, National Gallery of IrelandAdministration 1869-99, Letters, Accounts, Official Notices, Box 2, Letters of Application, February 12 1869, Iamgrateful to Dr Brendan Rooney of the National Gallery of Ireland for bringing this document to my attention. 7 Cook and Wedderburn, Works of Ruskin, vol. 14, 237. 8 Coyne, Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland,382. 9 Kenneth McConkey, AFreeSpirit, IrishArt 1860-1960 (London andWoodbridge1990) 18. 10 Coyne, Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland, 384. 11 D. FitzGerald,Knight of Glin, ‘Luttrelstown’ in Christie’s, Luttrelstown Castle,Clonsilla,Co. Dublin,26-28 Sept 1983.Iammuch indebted to DavidJ.Griffin andthe Irish Architectural Archivefor kindassistanceinproviding informationonthe buildings depicted. 16 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 17
21. ERSKINE NICOLR.S.A., A.R.A.(1825-1904) Probably ‘An IrishMerrymaking’ Signed and dated lower left‘E. Nicol/56’ [1856]. Oilonboard, 28 x43
rskine Nicol was afrequent visitor to rural Ireland, of beaten earth. Nicol paints an earlier scene showing a Ewhere he specialised in figureand genrepaintings of the couple dancing on adoor,outside afarmhouseinhis peasantryatworkand play.Like other foreign visitors,he painting of 1854 ‘Over theBuckle’ (GorryGallery Exhibition brought the outsiders’sharp sense of observation of the Catalogue, 1995).Herethe couple arewatched closely by idiosyncracies of Irish life, to his prolific work. From Leith in another pair who sit on asúgán chair (with its distinctive Scotland,hewas apprenticed to ahousepainter and seatoftwistedstraw rope), on the right. Behind them some attended the Trustees Academy.Subsequently mostofhis men gatheraround atable drawn close to the hearth beneath workwas exhibited in Edinburgh at The RoyalScottish the capacioussmoke canopy.The turf smoke can just be seen Academy. rising behindthe men as they drinkand enjoy the music. Pewter tankards and awhite cloth adorn the table, and a Initially visiting Ireland in 1846, he set up astudio and lodge man puts hishandonthe serving woman’s shoulderasshe in 1862 at Clonave,Derravarragh, county Westmeathand passes withanearthenwarebowl. More jugs and vessels, exhibited alarge number of Irish genre scenes. He was as and alarge barrel on the right partly obscureanolder accomplished with watercolours as he was with oils, and his womanwho is crouching,presumablytofillajug from a workbecame wellknownthroughits reproduction as beerbarrel, on the right. Unlike theyoungerwomen,she chromolithographs and bookillustrations. The work is wears awhite bonnet denoting her married status. reminiscent of his moreambitious, crowded interior,‘A ShebeenatDonnybrooke [sic]’ (1851)which also The scene is flanked by tall presses with elaborate hinges on incorporates people gathering and carousinginaconvivial their upper doors.Insomehouses, these wereusedtostore farmhouse interior.This oil is dated 1856, ayear whenhe food, and somepaintings show them opened to display the showed twentytitlesinEdinburgh, mostofthem obviously household’s‘ware’orceramics.Although thereare a Irish, and at least three relating to the Claddagh,near number of items furnishing the room, such as clothes Galway,where the womencustomarilyworered skirts,like dangling on lines (in lieu of wardrobes), andastorm lantern the mainfemale character here. This painting might perhaps hanging from abeam,the fundamental poverty of the be ‘An IrishMerrymaking’,which he showedthat year, or household is clear,with panes missing from the window possibly ‘AShebeenHouse’,which was thenamegiven to and little in the way of luxury. such smallIrish pubs at that time. Dr Claudia Kinmonth Here he shows nearly adozen young people listening to the References: music of the Uilleann pipes, withthe piper wearing his C. Baille de Laperriereed., The Royal Scottish AcademyofExhibitions characteristically worn and patched clothes, seated in the 1826-1990 (Hilmarton Manor Press,1991), 367-370. foregroundtothe left. Acouple aresteppingforwardfor C. Kinmonth, IrishCountry Furniture1700-1950 (YaleUniversity their dance. Holding hands coyly,her hair tied up and her Press,1993), 52-59. shoes on, the young woman and her partner areaboutto C. Kinmonth, IrishRural InteriorsinArt (YaleUniversity Press, stepontothe doorlaid outfor the purpose. Adoorwas often 2006), fig.210, p. 216. removed from its hinges specificallytoprovideresonance C. Wood, Victorian Painters,Dictionary of BritishArt (Antique and spring underthe dancers’feet, as the floorswereusually Collectors’ Club, 1995), p.380.
17 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 18
expense, had engaged John Nash to design agrand, classical mansiononarise over-looking Lough Keyand Castle Island. Shown clearly in the 1818 work arethe house and the island with its remains of asixteenth-century castle, once the stronghold of the McDermotts; this was later adapted to create an impressive gothic folly.O’Connor –and,or, his publisher Sherwood, Jones and Co.–clearly thought highly of his view of Rockingham as it wasthe only work by O’Connor to be engraved, appearing as a print (by James andHenry Storer) in 1825. The present work,which is signed and dated 1823, dates from the period between O’Connor’svisit to Rockingham and the appearance of the print. At the time O’Connor clearly had 5. JAMESARTHUR O’CONNOR in his possession detailed drawings doneonthe spot – c.1792-1841 including thoseonwhich the ‘A View of Part of theGroundsand Lake Scenery of Rockingham, engraving relies. This was to be Seat of Lord Lorton’ his working method throughout Oilonboard30.2 x40.3 his life. Later he was to express the desiretoreturn home‘to Signed and dated 1823 refresh my memory,and get some Also signed,inscribed and dated on reverse studies to help me in future Provenance: private collection, Dublin exertion of my profession –I know Iwill be benefited by a ames Arthur O’Connorisparticularlyassociated with sightofthe grand....scenery that Iwill meet with in Jviews in the vicinity of Dublin. From outlying suburbs Ireland and hope to show it on canvas’.1823, the yearthe suchasBallsbridge and Irishtowntothe picturesque painting was executed saw O’Connor recently settled in scenery of theDargle Valley he pursuedhis unique London (he was living at No. 32 UpperMarylebone vision of the Irish landscape. However,fromanearly Street) and beginning to explorethe sceneryofEngland date in his career O’Connor extended his reach further –an1822 sketchbook records sites including Dover afieldinhis missiontopaint what he termed the ‘wild Castle, Sandgate beach and Hampstead Heath – and beautiful scenery of my native country’. His first however,in1823 he wasstill exhibiting Irish views at the greatseriesoftopographical landscapes was of Westport, RoyalAcademyand the British Institution. County Mayo, executed for the Marquis of Sligo in The agriculturistArthurYoungin1776 described the 1818/19 (private collection). To the sameyears can be landscape of Rockingham as ‘one of the mostdelicious dated the impressive series of Ballinrobe house, its mill scenes Iever beheld’.Young,himselfanamateur artist, and demesne (NGI). Twoimportant worksdating from whosketched on his tourofIreland,describes the view the 1820s arepresented hereshowing O’Connor again in very pictorial terms; ‘the woods unite into alarge penetrating into counties moreremote from Dublin. Both mass, and contrast the bright sheet of water with their showscenes in Connaught: one in countyRoscommon, dark shades’. This accords wellwith O’Connor’s 1823 the other in Galway.The Roscommon view,showing a painting which is significant as one of the earliestimages woodedgladeinthe Rockingham estate, seems likely to in which he trulyfinds his own–instantly recognisable have been painted in England,wherethe artist moved in –visual vocabulary withhis trademark figureinared 1822, however,itwas clearly based on prolonged study coat in the middledistance. Up to aboutthis point in his of the demesnewhich O’Connor had known since at career –althoughalready producing highly least 1818 whenhesignedafineseatportrait of the estate accomplished work –thereisthe sensethat he is still (private collection), awork very muchinthe eighteenth- experimenting and trying outdifferent modes of century manner of artists such as William Ashford. painting.Perhaps related to this sense of O’Connor The Rockinghamestate belonged to Lord Lorton who burgeoning with new-found self-confidenceisthe way had remodelled the demesne in the early nineteenth that the 1823 view in the Rockinghamdemesne exhibited century to the designs of John Sutherland, and, at huge heredeparts from the more orthodox 1818 image of the
18 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 19
house in combining differentsub-genres; it is subjectoftwo rather different drawings dating from topographical,yet appearstobeanexercise in pure about1766 and 1850 (see William Laffan, Painting Ireland, landscape. It is avery confident, and greatly appealing TopographicalViews from Glin Castle (Tralee 2006)113-17). workwithgutsy application of paint. Rockingham housewas destroyedbyfirein1863 butwas subsequently carefully restored. It was gutted by fire In addition to O’Connor, afew other artists painted this once morein1957. Shortly afterwards the King Harman Roscommonscenery.Amongthe first to visitthe area family soldthe demesne to theForestry Department. The werethe antiquarians Gabriel Beranger and Angelo shell of the house wasdemolished in the 1970s and Bigari in 1779, while Lough Key, of which O’Connor replaced by aviewing tower when the grounds were allows us just the mosttantalising glimpse, wasthe opened to the public as Lough Key Forest Park.
6. JAMESARTHUR O’CONNOR O’Connor was unusualatthis date in painting the c.1792-1841 Connemara scenery which waslater to be so beloved of artists such as Paul Henry and, indeed,hedid so on very ‘Scene in Connemara’ fewoccasions.The motif of figures on apath was much Oiloncanvas 27.3 x38.2 deployedbythe artist,but the scale of the mountains and Signed and dated 1828 their somewhatforbidding appearance, make this an unusually original work in O’Connor’s oeuvre.Indeed,itis Provenance: private collection, Dublin clear that hereO’Connorwas something of apioneer in Dating from five years later is afurther impressivework painting the landscape of Connemara. Even after the showingfigures progressingthrough apassinthe appreciation of the sublime landscape of Killarney had mountains of Connemara. Unlikethe Rockingham view taken root in the 1770s,the fastness of the wilds of Galway this seemslikely to have beenpainted in Ireland as thereis had not recovered from the Cromwellian edict ‘to hell or evidence –suggestive butnot wholly conclusive –that in Connaught’. Some years after O’Connorpainted the Penny 1828, the yearitwas executed,O’Connor madeatrip Journal was able to patronisingly opine: ‘Connemara is a home. Dateable to this year areviews of Wicklow and the wordwhich to English,and even to Irishears,is Liffey and, furtherafield, the Shannon. An 1828 view of expressive of nothing butthe ultima Thule of barbarism’. Connemara–very likely the present work–was included O’Connor’s valiant stand againstthis prevailing attitude, in the 1941, centenary exhibition held at the HughLane, in perceiving beauty whereothers had only seen Municipal Gallery (SeeJohn Hutchinson, James Arthur desolation, makesthisexquisite small painting an O’Connor,NGI,Dublin 1985, 122-23).In1828, O’Connor important documentinthe development of Irish moved address to No. 8SohoSquare andexhibited landscape painting and, moregenerally,our appreciation picturesatthe BritishInstitution and the Royal Academy. of the West.
19 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 20
narrative paintingswhere he broaches the subject of arranged marriage, which underpinned the economics of Irish farming (even within living memory). His educated audiences wouldhave discussedthe parallels with the substantial dowries used by wealthy families in Paris or London,tomarry offtheir daughters into big estates at that time. Helmick’s young couple are well dressed, have good shoes, and arewell fed;hot foodand drink has been brought out to them in theearthenwarevessel and wrappedbasin to their right.
26. HOWARDHELMICK (1845-1907) ‘Couples Making Hay’ Oiloncanvas,54.5 x71 Signed and dated lower left‘H. Helmick –75’ Inscribed on reverseofstretcher with number1287.
HowardHelmick was oneofthe most accomplished The girl has her aprontuckeduprevealing her redskirt, socio realistpainters, who visitedIreland from abroad which wasafashionable arrangement and the colour and focused his attention on the Irish peasantry.Born suggests awestern location. The boywears fitted knee into afarming family in Zanesville, Ohio, he graduated breeches and aTam OShanter hat, perhapsmost from the Pennsylvania Academy of the FineArtsand commonly thought of as Scottish headgear,but often subsequently studiedunderCabanel at the Ecole des usedaroundGalway whereHelmick had astudio. Girls Beaux-Arts in Paris.During the 1870’s and ‘80’she only covered their heads withawhite bonnet or scarf exhibitedpaintingsfromaddresses in London and once married, so this differentiation can clearly be seen Galway,sometimesspending his winter months painting here, contrasting withthe older woman in the near Kinsale in county Cork.Both prolificand talented, background. It is no coincidence that the dwelling house he exhibited broadly, not only at the RoyalAcademy in and land that were central to marriagearrangements London,but also in the most prestigiousgalleries in provides Helmick’s setting,withathatched roof in the Dublin, Glasgow,Manchester,Liverpool and background,just visiblethroughthe trees.Weare invited Birmingham.During his lifetime, his paintings‘were to ponder the possibility of the young woman being popular because they bridgedthe gapbetween the approached controversially forlove, rather than money, traditional demandsofthe Academy clientele and the and ‘runaway matches’wereanalternative tradition that need felt by artists for amorefactual approach.’ provided an opportunity for the young to make their ownchoices, and follow their hearts. Elsewhere This painting showsayoung boymaking romantic Helmick’sfascination and thorough understanding of overtures to agirl, during asummer’s dayturning hay. such arrangements shone through his painting of Work and marriage came youngtothe rural Irish. ‘Matchmaking’, of 1880, ‘Candidates forMarriage’, of 1881 Landed farmers’ daughters had their marriages arranged (showing the couple visiting the Catholic priest), and for them and weretraditionally expected to marry for the ‘Bringing Home the Bride’, of 1883. Other paintings,which futureeconomic goodofthe family farm,rather than for have yet to come to light areclearly from the same series, love. Matchmakers wereinvolved to balance the dowry and may like this one showsome of thesame models. with the value of the farm that was being passed on to The influence of earlier genrepainters, andofHogarth’s the eldestson, while other siblings weremarried offor Rakes Progress,for example, is clear,both painters use emigrated. Marriage brought with it the shifting of work humourand juxtaposesymbols whenfocusing on patterns from old to young, and Helmick refers overtly to romance, withasimilar sense of humour,use of this withhis juxtaposition of the older couple, moving symbolism and juxtaposition of figures. away in the background, and stooping to turn over their crop, with youthinthe foreground.This is one of several Dr Claudia Kinmonth
20 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 21
25.HOWARD HELMICK(1845-1907) ‘Old Couplebythe farmhouse door’ Oiloncanvas,61x51 Signed and dated 1880
his painting also has romanticallusions,and overtly earlyhistory reflectsthe plantation of Irelandbythe Treferstotogethernessinold age, whereacouple are English.Early examples datingbacktothe c14thhave seen carefully fixing an upsidedownhorseshoe over the beendiscovered in England and Scotland,and in France porchoftheir farmhouse door.InIreland this symbolof it was known as the caquetuese chair. Its design would good luck is traditionally attached upside down,withthe have arrived in the westofIreland via transplantation arch of the horseshoe uppermost, whereas in England for from Scotland,and Helmick featuresitrepeatedly in his example, it is fixed theother way up. Helmick shows the other Irishinteriors,suchas‘ADifference of Opinion’(1882) wife’s concern for her elderly husband,with his knees and ‘Bringinghome theBride’(1883). His examples,unlike slightly bent as he attendstothe nailing up. He standson the raresurviving examples,have lathe-turned spindles alow chair withadistinct reclined backrest,that features supporting the curved arm-rests, which shows theuseful in some of Helmick’sother paintings, forexample‘The interplay between art and furniturehistory when tracing CountryDancing Master,West of Ireland’ (1874) and lostdesigns. ‘Matchmaking’(c.1880).They have awell-appointed house with good windows and leaded glazing,benches outside, Dr Claudia Kinmonth and time to enjoy each others’ company in their declining References: years. She has evidently got up from her knitting, and the C. Kinmonth, IrishCountry Furniture1700-1950 (YaleUniversity ballofwooland her work can be seentothe right on the press, 1993), pp. 51-52,figs. 60-63. seat of her armchair.This painting may well have been done from Helmick’s Galway studio, because the C. Kinmonth, IrishRural InteriorsinArt (YaleUniversity Press, armchair is adistinct design which was peculiar to that 2006), pp. 222-3,figs. 146, 213, 215, 216. region. Knownasthe Sligo chairwithits three legs, a C. Wood, Victorian Painters,Dictionary of BritishArt (Antique single boardforming the back and aT-shaped seat, its Collectors’ Club, 1995). 21 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 22
collection of the Ulster Museum, Belfast. Among Trevor’s favourite subjects werepaintingsof children. Sometimesfeatured alone, as for example, ‘Early Morning,GirlatPrayer’, 1887 (exhibited Gorry Gallery,1998, no.21); in agroup, as in ‘Breton Boys,enretenue’, 1881 (formerly Milmo-Penny Fine Art); or as two childrentogether,for instance in ‘The Young Eve’, 1882 (Ulster Museum, Belfast),featuring a younggirland boyinaroom, ‘TwoBretonGirls’, (exhibited ‘The IrishImpressionists 1984, no. 3) showing twochildrenreading in aclassroom,and in the present smallpictureofayoungboy and girl. Rather than showing the children facingusasinother pictures, Trevor is daring in her 28. HELEN MABELTREVOR 1831-1900 composition, showing the ‘ChildrenPlaying In ABarn’ childrenfacing away from us, andgivingprominence to their Oiloncanvas,54x65 hob-nailed boots. Therough Signed clothes suggestthatthese are orn in Loughbrickland,Co. Down in 1831 Helen working children, yetthey BMabel Trevor showedatalent for drawing as achild, appear clean and well-fed. The generalised clothing and and her father EdwardHill Trevor of LisnageardHouse, sturdy boots suggests that these might be Irish or English, set up astudiofor her. In the 1850’s she exhibited rather than Continental, children, perhaps observed at St. portraits and animal studiesatthe RoyalHibernian Ives in 1893. Trevor captures the soft pink childishcheeks Academy. In her forties, after the death of her father,she and ears of her subjects.Perhaps the boy and girl are began to study art formally at the RoyalAcademy sharing childhood secrets,playingagame,ortending an Schools, London,1877-1881. animal in the straw. Then began along period of travel and residence on the The broad, loose styleofthe picture,paint applied in bold Continent withher sister Rose. They visited Brittany and swatches,suggeststhat this is alate work by Trevor.Yet Normandy c. 1880-1883, working variously at the artists’ thereare echoes in subject and pose of humblepictures of colonies of Pont-Aven, Douarnenez and Concarneau in children by Realist artists of an earlier generation, for Finistere,and at Trouville. Helen painted several studies instance Francoise Bonvin’s‘TheYoungSavoyard’, 1845 of elderly womenand children in aRealistic manner,and (Musee Municipal, Boulogne-sur-Mer), and Pierre- landscapes in the open air.The Trevor sisters lived in Italy, Edouard’s ‘TheLittle Cook’, 1858 (Brooklyn Museum, New 1883-c. 1889, visiting Florence, Assisi,Perugia,Venice and York), Realist painters such as Jules Bastien-Lepage often Rome,Helen copyingOld Masterpaintings in museums, showed country and working peoples in worn clothes and painting genre scenesofItalian life. and boots as for example his studies of children: ‘Pas Meche’, 1882 (National Gallery of Scotland)and ‘Le Petit The Trevors moved to Paris in 1889, and this becametheir Colporteur endormi’, 1882 (Musee des Beaux Arts, Tournai). base during the 1890’s.Now nearly sixty,Helen attended Similarly, Irish artist Walter Osborne featuredcountry classes in the ateliers of Carolus-Duran and Jean-Jacques children in rough working clothes and boots,asfor Henner,and in 1894 of Luc-Olivier Merson. She painted instance in ‘The Poachers’, 1884-85, and ‘PrimaryEducation’, in the artists’colony of St. Ives in Cornwall, c. 1893 and 1885 (exhibited ‘TheFrenchConnection’,Adams, Ava Concarneau,inBrittany 1895-96, and at Antibes in the Gallery Belfast andHunt Museum, Limerick 2010, no. 28), SouthofFrance, 1897. Trevor exhibited regularly at the the latter which shows aboy in straw feedingajackdaw RHAand at the Paris Salon, 1889-1899, gaining and aterrier.But Trevor eschews the Social Realism of honourable mention therein1898. After her deathinParis theseearlier artists,and indeed of her earlier work, fora in 1900, two of her paintings, of Breton or Normandy subjectwhich sheloved, agently observed scene of peasant subjects, werebequeathed to the National Gallery children. of Ireland,and Rose presented aSelf-Portrait by Helen. Another Breton painting ‘The Young Eve’isinthe JulianCampbell
22 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 23
38. PATRICK HENNESSY R.H.A.1915-1980 ‘Enterprise Neptune’ Oiloncanvas,63.5 x88.9 Signed Exhibited:HendriksGallery Ltd. 1973 Catalogue Number20 Provenance: HendriksGallery Ltd. 1985 wherepurchased by the present owner
atrick Hennessywas borninCork in 1915 and diedin The enigmatic title is explained by the trompel’oeil PLondon in 1980. During his lifetimeheacquired a depiction of the magazine page with photo which is the loyal clientele of peoplewho admired his technical skills major focal point in the painting. ‘Enterprise Neptune‘ as apainter,and also as an artistwho never altered his wasthe title given by theUnited Kingdom National styleorsubject matter for reason of fashion. Trust to along term projecttoacquireorput under covenant parts of the U.K and Northern Ireland The 20th century in Ireland produced avaried groupof coastline of natural beauty, to protect and conserve artists who gradually moved from late 19th century them from insensitive development and lack of academic styles to embrace the rapid changes in the new maintenance, the imageonthe magazine page showing century,changes of method styles and perception about arugged, rocky coastline is probably Cornwall where how an imagecould be created and viewed, (these the Trust hadbeenunsuccessful in abid for the coastat changes werebrilliantly portrayed at the recent 20th Land’s End. Anniversary exhibition at I.M.M.A. “The Moderns,The Arts in Ireland from the 1900s to the 1970s”) Patrick This magazine pageispinned to arough wallsurface Hennessytookhis rightful place. In this panoply of Irish and is framedwithin the actual frameitself by the artistic talent being represented by two paintingsa wooden shelf and its sidesupport. The nautical themeis recognition of his technique and the position he occupied continued by theconch shell and the glassnet float on in Ireland during this period.Recentmovementsinthe the shelf. Theblue satin ribbonand straw covered wine IrishArt marketare awitness to his appeal. bottle aremischievous, arecurring theme throughout Hennessy’s life and work,itwas not uncommonfor The painting ‘Enterprise Neptune’was first exhibited at Hennessytoplace an object in apainting with no the David HendriksGallery,Dublinin1973, at apparent connection to the maintheme, this has added Hennessy’s Annual Show,atthat exhibition among the to the appeal of his paintings,aform of trademark. 28 works shown it was oneofthe largestand most expensive of the worksondisplay. Kevin A. Rutledge 23 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:51 Page 24
24. CHRISTOPHER CAMPBELL 1908-1972 ‘TheVagabond’ (Self Portrait) Oilonboard, 60 x48 Signed and dated August 1935 alsosigned and inscribed on reverse Exhibited:R.H.A.1936 number156 Provenance: Private collection, Dublin
ublin born portrait and figurepainterand stained America, Europeand Australia. He designed and Dglass artist. He studied at the Metropolitan School executed several stained glass windowsand did of Artunder Patrick Tuohy and later worked at the illustrations for the CapucinAnnual. Hisbrother Harry Clarke StainedGlassStudios. Laurence Campbell R.H.A.1911-1964 wasan important sculptor. In along career,heexhibited some 76 worksatthe R.H.A.invirtually every medium. He alsoshowed in
24 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 25
Measurements in centimetres, height precedeswidth 3. MICHAEL ANGELO HAYES R.H.A.1820-1877 ‘Portrait of Lieutenant-Colonel LordGeorge GALLERYI Augustus Frederick Paget 4th (Queen’s Own) LightDragoons, Dublin 1850’ 1. ALEXANDER POPE 1763-1835 Pencil and Watercolourheightened with white on ‘Portrait of JohnBrown’ paper 33.5 x25.5 Penciland watercolouroncard24x18 Signed and inscribed on reverse Originalinscription on reverse: John Brown Esq. Provenance: The Fine Art and Sporting Gallery, 1807 drawnbyPope the Actor 31, NewBondStreet, London (original label verso) In original gilt frame by Cornelius Callaghan, Illustrated below carver and gilder,looking glass, pictureframe manufacturer,No. 24 ClareStreet, Dublin. (Label on reverse) Illustrated below
4. WILLIAMSADLER II c. 1782-1839 Illustrated page12
5. JAMES ARTHURO’CONNOR c. 1792-1841 Illustrated page 18
6. JAMES ARTHURO’CONNOR c. 1792-1841 Illustrated page 19
2. NATHANIEL HONE THE ELDER R.A. 7. ATTRIBUTED TO CAROLINE,LADY 1718-1784 CARLOW1750-1813 ‘Working at night’ Illustrated page13 Pen, ink and washonpaper20.7 x15.5 8. WILLIAMSADLER II c. 1782-1839 Signed, inscribed Lucubratio and dated 1748 Illustrated page12 Illustrated insidefront cover
25 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 26
9. HENRYTRESHAM C.1751-1814 15. HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON 1740-1808 ‘Le AvventureDiSaffo’ Illustrated page11 Aquatint after his own design published 16. JAMES RICHARD MARQUIS R.H.A. FL. Rome 1784 1853-1885 Courtesy of Caxton Illustrated page 14 Illustrated below 17. WILLIAMTEULON BLANDFORDFLETCHER 1858-1936 ‘Feeding Time’ Oiloncanvas 50.5 x30.8 Signedwith monogram Although borninLondon BlandfordFletcher has been includedinstudiesofIrishart becauseofhis close association and friendship withWalter Osborneover many years. They bothstudied in Antwerp and painted together in Brittany and England in asimilar style and techniqueparticularly in the 1880’s. Illustrated below
10.JAMES BARRY 1741-1806 Ticket of Admission for Horace’s “Carmen Seculare” 1779 Etching after his owndesignwiththe signatures of the composerPhilidor and organiser and close friend of BarryGiuseppe Baretti, 17 x12.5 cm Refs: Pressly 15 I/II (previously known in only five impressionsofthis state) CourtesyofCaxton Illustrated Page 30
11.HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON 1740-1808 Illustrated page 11
12. ROBERTCRONEc.1718-1779 Illustrated page 8
13. ROBERTFAGAN1761-1816 Illustrated page 6
14. JOSEPH HAYNES 1760-1829 JamesCaulfield, EarlofCharlemont Etching after William Hogarth published1782, 24 x18cm CourtesyofCaxton
26 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 27
18. CUTHBERT EDMUND SWAN 1870-1931 20. EDWIN HAYESR.H.A.R.I. 1820-1904 ‘Rabbiting’ ‘Lugger entering Calais’ Oilonboard 23 x31 Oiloncanvas 26.3 x40.8 Signed Signed, also inscribed on reverse Provenance: John A.Cooling, London, original Illustrated below labelonreverse Born in Ireland, Swan was aleading painter of wild animals,especially tigers,leopards,etc. He livedinLondonexhibiting frequentlyatthe Royal Academyand also worked in India. His brother Edwin, aportrait painter,was born in Ballyragget, Co. Kilkenny. Illustrated below
21. ERSKINE NICOL R.S.A.A.R.A.1825-1904 Illustrated page 17 GALLERYII
22. HENRYTRESHAM1751-1814 Illustrated page10
19. JAMESFRANCIS DANBY 1816-1875 23. JAMESBARRY1741-1806 ‘Fort, Port of Boulogne from Nature’ Queen Isabella, Las Casas and Magellan Oiloncanvas 25 x44 Etching and engraving published 1800, 71.3 x15 Signed, alsosignedinscribed and dated July 1871 Refs: Pressly 31 II/II on reverse Courtesy of Caxton Illustrated below 24. CHRISTOPHERCAMPBELL 1908-1972 Illustrated page24
25. HOWARD HELMICK R.B.A. 1845-1907 Illustrated page21
26. HOWARD HELMICK R.B.A. 1845-1907 Illustrated page20
27. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY1853-1936 Illustrated frontcover and pages 2, 3and 4
28. HELEN MABEL TREVOR 1831-1900 Illustrated page 22
27 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 28
29. NORMAN GARSTIN, 1847-1926 31. GEORGE PETRIE 1790-1866 ‘A Corner by the Church’ ‘Turk Lake, Killarney,fromthe Ascent to Watercolour heightened with white on card Mangerton’ 26 x17.5, signed also inscribed on original label on Pen and ink and wash on paper21x33 reverse. FramedbyJohnPeak, Penzance Engraved and reproduced in G.N.Wright, AGuide Illustrated below to the Lakes of Killarney (1822) Literature:Peter Murray, George Petrie,1790-1866, TheRediscovery of Ireland’sPast (Exhibition Catalogue, CrawfordArt Gallery (Cork 2004) 200. This fine sheet is apreparatory drawing executed by Petrie in the early 1820s for AGuide to the Lakes of Killarney by the Rev.George Newham Wright. A large group of drawingsdonebyPetrie for Wright’sguidestoIreland arepreserved in the RoyalIrish Academytowhich they were presented by the Marquis of Kildare in 1866 while asepia drawing TheReeks from Aghadowey survives in the National Gallery of Ireland. Illustrated below
32. IRISH SCHOOL c.1820 ‘From the corner of Sackville Street, Dublin’, looking to the Custom House 30. EDWIN HAYES R.H.A.R.I. 1820-1904 Pencil on paper 16.3 x26.5 ‘Yarmouth Roads’ with original inscription Watercolour heightened with white on paper Illustrated below 32.5 x48 Signed Illustrated below
28 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 29
33. JOHN HENRYCAMPBELL 1757-1828 35. MAURICE CANNING WILKSR.U.A. A.R.H.A. ‘Winter Landscape with Figures’, probably in the 1910-1984 Dublin mountains ‘CottageatRockport,Cushendun’ Watercolour on paper 30.5 x47.7 Oil on canvas laid down on board30x40 Illustrated below Signed, also inscribed on reverse Illustrated below
36. HELENA J. MAGUIRE 1860-1909 GALLERYIII DOWNSTAIRS ‘Hide and Seek’ Watercolouronpaper 20 x16 34. EVIE HONE 1894-1955 Signed ‘Cubist Composition’ 1923 Illustrated below Gouache on paper19x19 Signed and dated 1923 with original labelon reverse“Miss E. Hone c/o MissJellet, 36 Fitzwilliam Square,Painting Gouache” Price £3.3.0 Provenance: TaylorGalleries, Dublin Illustrated below
37. BRIAN BALLARDR.U.A.B.1943 ‘Tulips in avase’ Oil on canvas 50.5 x76 Signedand dated 2007 Illustrated below
38. PATRICK HENNESSY R.H.A.1915-1980 Illustrated page 23 29 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 30
ACOLLECTIONOF18th, 19thAND 20thCENTURYPRINTS From Caxton Antique Prints,63Patrick Street,Dublin 8 in conjunction with the Gorry Gallery.
10. JamesBarry
he followingexhibitionofprints includes aselection of flourishedinEnglandwiththe arrival of King William of T18th century mezzotints by agroup of Irish engravers Orange and his court painter Sir GodfreyKneller who known as “TheDublin Group”. worked hand in hand withJohnSmith(fl.c.1685-1730) and Isaac Beckett(fl.c.1680-88).By1730 mezzotint wasvery Always regarded as aparticularly English print process, much on thedecline in England.The establishment of a mezzotint reached its highest level of technical and artistic Britishschoolofpainting and the arrival of the “Dublin perfection in England in the 18th century through“The Group”in1746 wasthe beginning of the golden ageof Dublin Group”. After learning their skills in Dublinthey mezzotint. migrated to London to practicetheir art, changing the fortuneofBritishprintmakingforever. Work in mezzotint had been doneinDublinbefore 1740, but it was withthe return of an Irish engraver JohnBrooks Mezzotint, atonal processideally suited to the reproduction from London that adistinctly Irish School was established. of oil painting was invented in the mid 17th century.It He had several pupilsincluding James McArdelland 30 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 31
Richard Houston, buthis ambitious schemes in Dublin The referencescited in thecatalogue entriesare as follows. came to nothing so he took himself and his ablest pupils off CS: British MezzotintoPortraits by JohnChalonerSmith, 1883 to London initiating arenaissance in the art of mezzotint, a Goodwin: BritishMezzotinters,James McArdell by Gordon changethat would last to the end of the century.His most Goodwin, 1903 talented pupil James McArdell (c.1728-1765) had by 1750 Russell:English Mezzotint Portraitsand theirStatesbyCharles set up on hisown establishing his reputation by producing Russell, 1926 prints in tandem with Joshua Reynoldswho is on recordas Whitman: BritishMezzotinters Valentine Green by Alfred saying “bythis man Iwill be madefamous”. Whitman, 1902 Meyer: Allgemeines Kunstler-Lexicon by JMeyer,1872 Included in this exhibition areworksbyBeard, Brooks, BM Satires: Catalogue of PoliticalSatires in theBritish Ford, McArdell, Fisher,Houston and Dixon. Museum by George &Stephens ,1870 Also included in this exhibition is avery rareetching by Johnston: Roderic O’Conor 1870-1940 Catalogue of Prints by James Barry,(illustratedpage 30)anadmission ticket Roy Johnston 1999 which was commissioned andsigned by hisgreat friend, Wright: The etchings and lithographs of PFGethin by HJL Wright, PCQ,XIV,1927 the writer Giuseppe Baretti. This print had previously only been known in five impressions,all in public Elmes: RevisedCatalogue of Irish Topographical Prints and Drawings,1975 collections. Hake: Pond &Knapton’s Imitations of Drawing by HMHake, The work of twoIrish amateurartists, Richard St.George PCQ,IX,4,1922 Mansergh and Capt.William Baillie areworth noting Pressly: The Life&Art of James Barry by William L as they areseldomexhibited. Pressly,1981
39. THOMAS BEARD fl.1710-1730’s 41. JAMES McARDELL 1729-1765 ‘Rt. Rev.JohnLordBishop of Clogher’ ‘LadyFortescue’ Mezzotint after Thomas Carlton, 34.4 x25 Mezzotint after Joshua Reynoldspublished 1757, Refs: CS 6 35.7 x25.3 Refs: CS 70 40. JOHN BROOKS c.1710-1756 AFTER Illustrated below ‘HisExcellency Henry Boyle’ Mezzotint published 1742 by John Brooks, 34.8 x24.6 Refs: CS 7III/IV Illustrated below
31 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 32
42. MICHAEL FORD C.1740-1765 52. WILLIAMHUMPHREY c.1742-1814 ‘Maria Countess of Coventry’ ‘The Spartan Boy or John CamillusHone’ Mezzotint after Francis Cotes,32.4 x22.2 Mezzotint after Nathaniel Hone published 1775, Refs: CS 5II 37.8 x27.6 Refs: CS 9(underHumphrey) ,Russell 43. RICHARDHOUSTON c.1721-1775 85a.III(underJRSmith) ‘Henry BilsonLegge’ 53.WILLIAMDICKINSON 1746-1823 Mezzotint after William Hoarepublished by RichardHouston, 39.5 x27.8 ‘Lady Charlotte Bertie’ Refs: CS 70 II Mezzotint after Matthew William Peters published 1778, 38.1 x28 44. JAMES McARDELL1729-1765 Refs: CS 8I/II ‘Daniel LockEsq.’ Illustrated below Mezzotint after William Hogarth, 35.1 x25.3 Refs: CS 120 II/II
45. JAMES McARDELL1729-1765 ‘JohnBlachford, Chancellor of St. Patricks & Minister of St. Werburghs, Dublin’ Mezzotint, 32.7 x22.4 Refs: CS 20, Goodwin 134
46. JOHN DIXONc.1740-1811 ‘William Robertson’ Mezzotint after JoshuaReynolds published 1773, 50.9 x35.3 Refs: CS 30 II
47. EDWARD FISHER 1722-1785 ‘Edwin from Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield’ Mezzotint after his own design published 1776, 25.3 x19.3 Refs: CS 64
48. RICHARDHOUSTON c.1721-1775 ‘Tasting’ Mezzotint after RichardPyle,15.2 x11.3 Refs: CS undescribed, Russell undescribed
49. RICHARDHOUSTON c.1721-1775 ‘Smelling’ 54. JAMES WATSON1740-1790 Mezzotint after RichardPyle,15.3 x11.3 ‘Lady Beauchamp Procter’ Refs: CS 145 Mezzotint after Benjamin West published 1779, 50. VALENTINE GREEN 1739-1813 37.8 x28 ‘VenusAnadyomene’ Refs: CS 121.II Mezzotint after James Barry published 1772, 55. CHARLESHODGES 1764-1837 64 x39.5 ‘William, Duke of Leinster’ Refs:CS 146 ,Whitman 173 Mezzotint after Charles Gilbert Stuartpublished 51. ROBERTWILLIAMSfl.1680-1704 1792, 38 x27.3 ‘CountessofKildare’ Refs: CS 23 I/II Mezzotint after Wissing, 19.2 x14.9 Refs: CS 30
32 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 33
56. WILLIAM BAILLIE1723-1810 Etching after his owndesignpublished by ‘Portrait of Mrs. Dou’ Mary Darly 1772, 25 x35.4 Softgroundetching printed in colourafter Gerrit 66. RODERICO’CONOR 1860-1940 Dou published 1775, 32.8 x22.7 ‘Landscape with Trees near an estuary’ Refs:Meyer 26 Etching after his owndesign1893, 2nd Edition 57. WILLIAMBAILLIE 1723-1810 Refs :Johnston 12 ‘Woman Reading’ 67. MICHAELFARRELL 1940-2000 Etchingand drypointwith surface tone after ‘Miss O’Murphy’ Gerrit Dou,25.3 x18.3 Lithographprinted in colourafter his own Refs: Meyer59.III design published 1978 number 99/160, 52 x72 58. WILLIAM BAILLIE1723-1810 Signed and dated ‘Landscape’ 68. RODERICO’CONOR 1860-1940 Soft ground etching after Pieter Mulier published ‘The Orchard’ 1773, 22.7 x32.5 Etching after his owndesign1893, 2nd Edition Refs: Meyer87 Refs: Johnston 15 59. WILLIAM BAILLIE1723-1810 69. PERCY FRANCISGETHIN1874-1916 ‘SofonisbaAngusciola Pittrice’ ‘The Musicians 1912/13’ Mezzotint after SofonisbaAnguissola, 35.6 x25.4 Etching after his owndesignsignedand numbered18/40,25,4 x22.7 Refs: CS 1, Meyer22.II Refs: Wright 13 60. WILLIAM BAILLIE1723-1810 70. ANONYMOUS ‘ManSmoking aPipe’ ‘Head of aCheetah’ Mezzotint with drypoint after VanOstade published 1774, 29.4 x23.9 Lithographpublished by MH&JWAllen 38 DameStreet Dublin c.1830 Refs: CS undescribed ,Meyer 64 71. AFTER ERSKINE NICOL 61. WILLIAM BAILLIE1723-1810 ‘Paddy atHome’ ‘Peasants around aTable’ Lithographpublished by Henry Graves &Co. Mezzotint after VanOstade, 31.5 x26.3 London and William Stevens &Williams New Refs:CSundescribed,Meyer68 York 1856
62. WILLIAMBAILLIE1723-1810 72. AFTER ERSKINE NICOL ‘Battlescene’ ‘Outward Bound’ Etching withdrypoint published 1762, Lithograph publishedbyHenry Graves &Co. 21.5 x36.1 London and William Stevens &Williams New Refs:Meyer 42 York 1856
63. WILLIAMBAILLIE 1723-1810 73. AFTER ERSKINE NICOL ‘PeasantsinCottageInterior’ ‘HomewardBound’ Etching with platetone and stipple after Van Lithographpublished by Henry Graves &Co. Ostade published1768 ,28.7 x22.8 London and William Stevens &Williams New Refs:Meyer70 York 1856
64. ANONYMOUS 74. AFTER ERSKINE NICOL ‘Timothy Tallow and his Wife going to ‘The FlowerofConnemara’ Graves Hall on aSunday’ Lithographpublished by Henry Graves &Co. Etching withengraving after RichardSt.George London and William Stevens &Williams New Manserghpublished 1772 by MDarly, York 1856 24.8 x34.8 75. JONATHANFISHER fl.1763-1809 Refs: BM Satires 4640 ‘Remains of the AbbeyatFerns Co.Wexford’ 65. RICHARD ST.GEORGE MANSERGH Aquatint after his own design from “Scenery of c.1750-1798 Ireland” published in Dublin by Fisher 1793 ‘The Macaroni Duellists’ Refs:Elmes 2034.44
33 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 34
76. JONATHAN FISHER fl.1763-1809 79. ARTHUR POND 1701-1758 ‘Secretary of States House at Palmerston’ ‘William Conolly’ Aquatintafter his owndesignfrom“Scenery of Etching after Pier Leone Ghezzi from adrawing Ireland”published in Dublin by Fisher 1792 by him in the Collection of the Rt.Hon. the Lord Refs:Elmes 2034.4 Duncannon c.1740, 36.3 x24.2 Refs: Hake 81 77. JONATHAN FISHER fl.1763-1809 ‘Hayesbridge on the River Avonmoreat 80. JOHNBOYNEc.1750-1810 Avondale’ ‘Banditti’ Aquatint after his owndesign from “Scenery of Etching after his owndesignpublished 1783, Ireland” published in Dublin by Fisher 1792 26.1 x33.6 Refs: Elmes 2034.17 Refs: BM Satires6281 Illustrated below 81. JOHN BOYNE c.1750-1810 ‘The Meeting of the Legion Club’ Etching and engraving,32.8 x43.8 Refs: BM Satires7132
82. JOHN BOYNE c.1750-1810 ‘Britain’sHopeorThe Political Nobodies’ Etching published byGeorge Humphrey1784, 33.7x23 Refs: BM Satires6458
78. JONATHANFISHERfl.1763-1809 ‘Jerpoint Abbey Co. Kilkenny’ Aquatint after his owndesign from “Scenery of Ireland” published in Dublin by Fisher 1794 Refs: Elmes 2034.38 Illustrated below
34 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 35
NOTES
35 83770 Gorry Gallery Catalogue 16/05/2011 16:52 Page 36
NOTES
36