Gorry Gallery

Gorry Gallery

Gorry Cover.indd 1 22/02/2005 02:16:04 pm GORRY GALLERY

requests the pleasure of your company at the private view of

An Exhibition of 18th, 19th and 20th Century Irish Paintings

on Wednesday, 2nd March, 2005

Wine 6 o’clock

This exhibition can be viewed prior to the opening by appointment and at www.gorrygallery.ie Kindly note that all paintings in this exhibition are for sale from 6.00 p.m.

2nd March – 12th March 2005

13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 3 16/02/2005 09:12:18 am 5. ROBERT CRONE, c.1718 – 1779 ‘A view of the Roman Campagna from the Temple of Vesta at Delphi with a view of Rome in the far distance’

Oil on canvas 95.6 x 132.7 Signed, inscribed ‘Roma’, and dated 1765

Travelling in Italy in 1764, John Martin noted an expatriate group of Irish artists: ‘Mr Crone, Mr Delane and Mr Forrester the only persons from our part of the world who practice landscape painting are all Irish’. Indeed this group of artists defined a remarkable branch of the eighteenth-century landscape school, mixing native influence with their exposure to both the Roman Campagna and the incipient neo-classical movement. The work of all three artists is extremely rare, but has been the subject of much recent scholarly enquiry. Crone was born in, or about 1718, thus making him at least ten years older than artists of Barret’s generation. After studying in Dublin with Robert Hunter and his kinsman Phillip Hussey, Crone went to Italy where he was to spend some twelve years. He is first documented in Rome in 1755. By Easter of that year he was sharing a house with his fellow Irish artist James Forrester and Jacob Ennis in the Strada della Croce. In Rome Crone studied with Barret’s great rival, Richard Wilson, who was to greatly influence his stylistic formation. Their manner of landscape drawing was almost identical, and one signed drawing by Crone has allowed the reattribution to the Irish artist of many sheets previously thought to be by Wilson. Like many of his fellow countrymen, Crone supplemented his income by buying works of art for collectors back in Ireland. As well as for its beauty as a painting, the present work is of scholarly significance as it is signed, and dated 1765 the year after Crone had attracted Martin’s attention. Executed, then towards the end of his stay in Italy and showing a very classical view of Delphi, the painting demonstrates Crone’s early assimilation of the Italian classical tradition. This was noted by Martin who wrote that Crone ‘was very clever in his profession and must have great natural genius… He has chiefly studied Claude Lorrain and I believe is reckoned to have a good deal of his manner’. If some Claudean motifs are repeated here in a slightly undigested manner, the overall composition is strongly conceived, the colour vibrant and the figures lively and well ntegrated into the landscape. The light which infuses the pictures is very much that of Italy, making a pleasing contrast to the damp, verdant landscapes that Barret was executing in Dublin and London at this very date. The two tracks of the Irish landscape school, the native tradition, of Barret, Ashford and Roberts and the emigré strand of Crone, Forrester and Delane show the different directions in which landscape painting could develop in the 1760’s. This, one of the finest of Crone’s works to have survived, is an important document in that dialogue. Unfortunately his artistic development was affected by his poor state of health. Crone was hunchbacked and was unkindly described by one contemporary as a ‘little crooked Irishman’. As a youth he had also suffered from epileptic fits which recurred after a fall from scaffolding while copying in the Barberini Palace. Crone left Italy, in 1767 settling in London where he exhibited at both the Royal Academy and the Society of Artists and attracted Royal patronage. He also sent work for exhibition in Dublin. Martin concluded his remarks on Crone with a tribute that deserves to be repeated, ‘He is Irish and does honour to his country not only as a fine painter but as a very honest man.’ The rediscovery of the present signed work by Crone is a welcome addition to his small oeuvre and it is to be hoped that other works can be attributed to the artist on the basis of this securely dated work.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 4 16/02/2005 09:12:23 am 12. GEORGE BARRET R.A., 1732 – 1784 ‘The Entrance to the Dargle Gorge’

Oil on canvas 71 x 47 Signed, also signed and dated 1763 on old relining canvas, almost certainly transcribed from the original by the artist.

It is interesting to note that Barret first went to London in 1763 bringing several works with him including a ‘View in the Dargle’ which he exhibited at the Society of Artists in 1764. Few of Barrets paintings are signed and the picture exhibited here is not a particularly large work hence it seems reasonable to suggest that this signed ‘Irish’ landscape may have been one of those brought to London by the artist.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 5 16/02/2005 09:12:27 am 10. WILLIAM VAN DER HAGEN fl. 1720 – 1745 ‘The Cabragh House Capriccio’

Oil on canvas, 110 x 143 Signed and dated 1733

Provenance: Henry Seagrave d.1739 Cabragh House, County Dublin

Although born in Holland, van der Hagen worked extensively in Ireland, and is of fundamental importance to the establishment of the great landscape school that arose here from the mid-eighteenth century. He clearly travelled extensively before settling in Ireland. Views are known of Gibraltar, Sicily and even North Africa although it is not certain that all of them are based on first hand experience. Van der Hagen initially settled in England but moved to Ireland in, or about 1722. His presence is first noted by Harding’s Impartial Newsletter in 1722 where he is recorded as “lately arrived from London” and as painting sets for the Theatre Royal. Some ten years later he is recorded as painting the scenery for a staging of Cephalus and Procris, which was described at the time as “finer painted than ever seen in this kingdom”.

In addition to his work in the theatre, van der Hagen was busy with other commissions from his earliest days in Ireland. Two years after his arrival he painted an altarpiece for St. Michan’s Church, Dublin which has not survived nor has the “painted glory” for St. Patrick’s in Waterford. In 1728 he was commissioned in his View of Derry (formerly Derry City Council) and The Landing of King William at Carrickfergus (Ulster Museum).

Given his scene painting background and facility for composition it is not surprising that he also found work as a decorative painter. One eighteenth-century source notes “he painted many houses in this kingdom”; for example at Curraghmore, County Waterford he completed a trompe d’oeil scheme with the staircase decorated with “beautiful paintings by Van der Egan (sic) such as columns, festoons, etc., between which are several landscapes” while the ceiling was “painted in perspective and represents a dome, the columns seeming to rise, through a flat surface”. Given the temporary nature of these decorative schemes which were so often redone as taste changed, it is remarkable that one of van der Hagen’s grisaille rooms has survived almost intact, although now dismantled. This was completed for the Christmas family of Whitfield Court, County Waterford and comprises eighteen panels of gods and goddesses. Van der Hagen clearly had close ties of patronage with the Waterford area. In addition to these house decorations and the work at St. Patrick’s Church he was commissioned to paint a large view of the city of Waterford for which, in 1736, he was paid £20 by the Corporation. Based on stylistic similarities with this work it is possible to attribute to him the painting of the Duke of Dorset’s State Ball in Dublin Castle and possibly a bird’s eye view of Carton.

However, van der Hagen’s true importance lies in his capriccio landscapes of which this is a fine example. Van der Hagen painted a series of these, several of which served as overmantles. Perhaps the finest of these is the example from Kilsharvan House, County Meath (private collection) which is preserved in a remarkably elaborate rococo frame. However, van der Hagen also fulfilled similar commissions for patrons surrounding Dublin notably William Pallister, from Pallister House (later Loreto convent) in Rathfarnham. Likewise the present work was commissioned by Henry Segrave, for Cabragh House, County Dublin, where it hung in the main hall

An accompanying capriccio also by van der Hagen hung in the house’s boudoir. The composition is typical of van der Hagen’s capriccios with a pleasing combination of landscape, architectural elements and figures. These are nicely integrated by the spacing of the figures throughout the picture plane, and tied together by a subtle use of related colours. Unlike the case in some capriccios, for example by followers of Vernet, the landscape is not dominated by the architectural elements, indeed it is as much of an exercise in pure landscape as a capriccio. The group of the lower left of a woman riding a horse while talking to a traveller is particularly finely painted, demonstrating the artist’s fluid and scintillating brush technique. The picture is signed and dated 1733, a date consistent with his other capriccio landscapes. The picture evinces the key role of van der Hagen’s capriccios in Irish art which as Crookshank and Glin note ‘simply cannot be overstated’. Almost single-handed, in works such as this, he created the eighteenth-century Irish landscape school, one of the greatest glories of our country’s art.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 6 16/02/2005 09:12:27 am 13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 7 16/02/2005 09:12:35 am 13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 8 16/02/2005 09:12:38 am 10. WILLIAM VAN DER HAGEN (detail)

13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 9 16/02/2005 09:12:42 am 9. DANIEL GARDNER c.1750 – 1805 ‘Portrait of Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough’, (1745-1815), c.1780

Pastel and gouache on paper 22.5 x 21.5 Framed in an eighteenth century oval gilt frame. Inscribed on the reverse: “Lord Wellesborough” Provenance: Collection of the late Dr Joan Buchanan Mitchell.

Gardner was an English pastellist who specialised in painting small scale portraits. He was taught by Romney before entering the Royal Academy Schools in 1770. He assisted Reynolds in his studio c.1773. Gardner painted several Irish sitters and a collection of his work from the Castle Leslie Collection was sold recently at auction.

Thomas Noel was created Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough of Leicestershire. On his death in 1815 the viscountcy became extinct (see Cokayne, G.E. The Complete Peerage, London 1910-59, vol. 12, pp. 451, 511-2).

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 10 16/02/2005 09:12:48 am 11. NATHANIEL BERMINGHAM b.c.1720, fl.c.1736 – 74 ‘Portrait of Mrs Farmer’, c.1775

Pastel on paper, 25 x 20 Framed in an eighteenth century oval gilt frame. Inscribed on the reverse: “Mrs Farmer”

Provenance: The La Touche family, Bellevue, Co. Wicklow; Collection of the late Dr. Joan Buchanan Mitchell.

Literature: Strickland, W.G., A Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin 1913, vol I, pp. 59-60.

Nathaniel Bermingham was apprenticed to a herald painter in Dublin. He was a good draughtsman and specialised in making a form of pastel portrait which presented the sitter in profile. To achieve a crisp outline these portraits were in fact drawn on a separate piece of paper and the profile was cut out and pasted down on a dark black background. The edges were then shaded in pastel. Bermingham’s well drawn and attractive portrait of the young Mrs Farmer is a superb example of his idiosyncratic pastel portraiture. The National Gallery of Ireland has a comparable profile portrait of a young boy (NGI Catalogue Number 19,236).

Bermingham also produced elaborate portraits, landscapes and coats of arms cut out in paper or vellum which were sometimes finished in pencil or chalks. Bermingham left Ireland for London in 1744. An exquisite example of his paper cutting is a portrait of Frederick, Prince of Wales now on display in the new British Galleries at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He exhibited five of his works at the Free Society of Artists exhibition in London in 1774. His awkward appearance and manner are recorded in the notorious Memoirs of Mrs Laetitia Pilkington, written by Herself (1776, vol. II, p. 171). Bermingham sold his work in Pilkington’s London print shop. In an attempt at increasing sales they pretended the cut out work was by Mrs Pilkington.

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 11 16/02/2005 09:12:51 am 2. HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON 1740 – 1808 ‘Mrs David La Touche of Marlay’, (b.c.1771) c.1795

Pastel on paper Oval 24.5 x 20 Framed in an eighteenth century gilt frame with the trade label of Hulbert [George William and Robert Hulbert] carver and gilder of 12 Camden Street, Dublin, on the reverse of the frame. There is also a label of Harris & Sinclair, 47 Nassau Street, Dublin with an inscription.

Provenance: Collection of the late Dr Joan Buchanan Mitchell

Literature: Strickland, W.G. A Dictionary of Irish Artists, 1913, vol. I, pp. 427-45. Crookshank, A. and Glin, the Knight of, The Watercolours of Ireland, 1994, pp. 66-72.

Hugh Douglas Hamilton was the son of a wigmaker who had a business in Crow Street, Dublin. He was placed by the Dublin Society at Robert West’s academy in George’s Lane from c.1750-c.1758. He was awarded several prizes for drawing and began his career as a portraitist in Dublin. By 1764 he was in London where he was established as a successful pastellist, executing small oval portraits on paper. He exhibited at the Free Society of Artists (1764-72), Society of Arts (1766-75) and at the Royal Academy (1786 and 1791).

In c.1778 Hamilton went to Rome with his wife and young daughter. In Italy he was an influential figure among artists and became a friend of the sculptors Canova and Flaxman. Hamilton lived in Rome, spent two years in Florence, visited Venice, Naples and Pompeii. He received commissions from distinguished grand tourists who greatly admired the accuracy of his portraits. In 1792 he returned to Ireland. Hamilton lived in Clare Street (at the corner with Merrion Square) where he had a studio.

This oval portrait exemplifies Hamilton’s technique of loosely drawing the sitter in pastel on grey paper and then adding white highlights with chalk. Few of his pastels from this period are signed and dated.This superb pastel portrait was probably done c.1795. Mrs David LaTouche of Marlay, County Dublin was born Lady Cecilia Leeson, daughter of the Joseph Leeson, 1st Earl of Milltown by his 3rd wife Elizabeth French. Her portrait as an infant is included in a family group portrait painted c.1772 (National Gallery of Ireland). On Christmas Eve 1789 she married David La Touche, colonel of the Carlow militia and M.P. for County Carlow.

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 10 16/02/2005 09:12:55 am 20. ADAM BUCK 1759 – 1833 ‘Tambarina’, c.1798

Watercolour on paper, 21 x 30.5

Provenance: Abbott and Holder, London.

Literature: Caffrey, P., “Adam Buck (1759-1833), miniature and portrait painter” Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004. Caffrey, P., Treasures to Hold, Irish and English Miniatures 1650-1850 from the National Gallery of Ireland, 2000, pp. 106-08. Crookshank, A. and Glin, the Knight of, The Watercolours of Ireland, 1994, pp. 125-26. Engraving of Tambarina by Wright and Ziegler, 1799. Adam Buck was born in Cork, the elder son of Jonathan Buck, a silversmith In gay content a sportive life she led, of Castle Street. Unlike his brother Frederick, he did not attend the Dublin The Child of Industry by Labour bred, Society Schools. He worked as a miniaturist in watercolours on ivory and Her Light companions, Innocence and Ease Her hope was pleasure and her wish to please. painter of small whole-length portraits in Cork where he evolved his own decorative neoclassical style. In 1795 Buck moved permanently to London where Tambarina would have been painted. Buck was seriously interested in Antique Greek and Roman vase painting. He published a prospectus for a book on Greek vase painting in 1811. It was intended to be a continuation of Sir William Hamilton’s Collection of Engravings from Ancient Vases (1791-7). Only one instalment of ten etched outlines was issued in 1812.

Buck specialised in painting in watercolours on card or paper. These were sometimes known as “fancy figure subjects” showing young girls in classical poses or as personifications and sentimental themes. These decorative pictures were engraved and the prints were highly popular. They were usually framed and displayed in pairs. Buck’s work was often used as a source for decoration on furniture and book illustrations. In this example Buck shows, a young woman “Tambarina” playing a tambour or small drum. This personification was a suitably classical theme. The playing of drums by women formed part of the rites of Dionysus in ancient Greece. A Maenad or Bacchante, a devotee of Bacchus, is usually shown with a tambourine in the Bacchanalia or rite of Bacchus. The companion picture for Tambarina is Triangulina (a girl holding a triangle also published in 1799). Buck carefully painted the details of dress and hair which is fashionably classical for 1799.

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 11 16/02/2005 09:13:01 am 15. RICHARD BRYDGES BEECHEY

4. JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 12 16/02/2005 09:13:07 am 16. JOSEPH HEARD, 1799 – 1859 ‘The Belfast Paddle Steamer Victoria off the Perch Rock Fort and Lighthouse, Liverpool, en route to Ireland’

Oil on canvas 66 x 91.5 Signed with initials and dated 1838 The famous dual landmark on the left of the painting marks the western bank of the Mersey entrance, the fort and lighthouse being completed only about seven years before the date of the painting. Beyond is the unspoiled, sparsely populated, northern Wirral coast. The central steamer is identified by the name at the bow, and the full-length regal figurehead. Recognition at a distance relies on the Watson Code hoist at the main masthead, reading 1800, 8, 3 (that is 1883) signifying “Victoria, Steamer”. Despite the boisterous conditions there are quite a few passengers on deck, probably interested in the nearby pilot cutter whose distinctive sail bearing the number 8 is visible just above the foredeck. D.B. McNeill’s “Irish Passenger Steamship Services” volume 1 page 120, states that in the winter of 1837-8 the County Down & Liverpool Steam Boat Co. ran the Victoria between Ardglass and Liverpool. Passengers from Belfast were informed that if they took the mail car for Downpatrick they would reach Ardglass “in proper time to proceed to Liverpool by this packet every Saturday at seven”. Later in 1838 the steamer was advertised to sail from Clarence Dock, Belfast, calling at Ardglass and Newry en route to Liverpool. Fares charged were 11s and 4s. The service also accommodated local passengers coastwise between Belfast, Ardglass, and Newry. According to the appended Fleet Lists, page 208, Victoria 205 net tons, of wooden construction, was built at Belfast in 1837, and fitted with a simple steam engine. Apparently she was in service only about 5 years, the company folding after a short period of local service between Belfast and Newry. Toward the right margin of the painting is an incoming sailing ship, the Sherbrooke. Between this sailing ship and p.s. Victoria is an outward bound steamer fitted with auxiliary schooner rig: this represents a conventional “second view” as the name Victoria is visible across the stern. According to Lloyd’s Register 1839-43, Victoria was registered in Belfast. Initially she was owned by Johnston & Co. of Belfast, then from 1842 by Coates & Co: the master throughout was Capt. Aberdeen. Sherbrooke, in the distance, was a barque of 505 tons, built in 1834 for Greggs & Co. of Saint John, New Brunswick. In 1836 she was bought by Johnson of Liverpool, who employed her sailing between Liverpool and New York. In 1838, the year of the present painting, she was re-registered in Cork. From May to September 1838, Sherbrooke was under Capt. George Aberdeen, before he moved to command the paddle steamer Victoria. In this painting, one can therefore see both of Capt. Aberdeen’s ships, the new and the old, passing each other. Joseph Heard was born in Egremont, Cumberland in 1799 and brought up in nearby Whitehaven, at the time one of the busiest ports in England. Known primarily as a marine artist, in 1833/34 Heard and his young family moved 70 miles down the coastline to the burgeoning city of Liverpool, where he was to rank second only to Samuel Walters. After a prosperous 25 year career in Liverpool, Heard died in November 1859 at the age of 59. The Merseyside Maritime Museum has 14 of Heard’s paintings in their collection, and in many other public galleries in Britain and the United States, his work is well represented. A painting of the wooden paddle steamer Falcon is in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 13 16/02/2005 09:13:10 am 7. JOHN HENRY CAMPBELL

8. JOHN HENRY CAMPBELL

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 14 16/02/2005 09:13:15 am 6. THOMAS JAMES MULVANY R.H.A. 1779 – 1845 ‘The Devil’s Punch Bowl”, Killarney, looking towards the Glen of the Horse’

Oil on canvas 53 x 69 Original R.H.A. catalogue entry verso

Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy, 1837, number 7

James Fraser in his Hand Book for Travellers in Ireland of 1854 states “– the Devil’s Punch Bowl, a small ovalshaped lough; its area is about 28 acres, and its level above the Lower Lake 1,141 feet. Situated in this sequestered spot, surrounded, except on one side, with high and bold cliffs, its deep waters contrasting with the dark heath-clad surface of the mountain, and unexpectedly bursting on the view, this lough never fails to arrest the attention of the tourist. A distinct reverberating echo is produced from the rocks, which, in this dreary solitude has a powerful effect. It is reported that the late celebrated Charles James Fox (1749 – 1806), English Statesman when on a visit with Lord Kenmare in 1772, swam round the Punch Bowl”.

Mulvany was born in Dublin in 1779 and studied art under Francis R. West in the Dublin Society’s School. He began his career as a miniature painter before concentrating on landscape and figurative work. He was one of the original Members of the Royal Hibernian Academy, became Keeper and was a frequent exhibitor all of his life. He was the younger brother of John George Mulvany R.H.A. (1766 – 1838) and father of John Scipton Mulvany R.H.A., architect, and of George F. Mulvany R.H.A. (1809 – 1869).

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 15 16/02/2005 09:13:17 am 19. JOHN LAPORTE 1761 – 1839 ‘Killarney Lake from Lord Kenmare’s Park’

Watercolour on paper 35 x 52 Signed and dated J. Laporte 1831

Exhibited: Royal Academy, 1832, No. 565 A West view of Killarney Lake from Lord Kenmare’s Park, Ireland

John Laporte’s birthplace seems unclear but there is a suggestion that he may have been born in Dublin. There was a strong Huguenot community in Dublin at the time. Among those born of Irish Huguenot parentage were the brothers John James and John Malchoir Barralet. Laporte’s earliest known address given in the Royal Academy catalogue is at ‘Mr Barralet, No 3 Orange Street, Leicester-Fields, London’. This was the home of John Malchoir Barralet who was also his teacher. If Laporte had come from Dublin, it would have been natural for him to stay with a fellow compatriot who he had known from home.

Laporte became acquainted with Dr Munro the well-known collector and teacher. Munro had one of the most important collections of watercolours in England. He would show these watercolours to his students and in return they would make drawings which they would give to their patron. Within a short time Laporte had set himself up as an art teacher and also became skilled in the art of engraving. He published several small books of engravings intended as teaching aids, showing various techniques of drawing. These prints are mostly soft ground etchings and a few aquatints published between 1798 -1801.

Laporte made his first painting trip to Ireland in 1795. But for a short visit to Killarney, he stayed mainly around Dublin visiting the beauty spots around the city. In 1796 he produced a fine set of views including ‘The Scalp’, ‘The Salmon Leap, Leixlip’, ‘Bray’ and ‘Dublin Bay’ amongst others.

In 1797 and subsequent years up until 1834 Laporte made frequent visits to Killarney as evident from the many exhibited works of the Royal Academy and other exhibitions. From 1801 to 1813 Laporte published a series of Killarney views (now quite rare). One of these views titled ‘Killarney Lake from Lord Kenmare’s park’ shows the same view as the exhibited watercolour.

This signed and dated watercolour shows an extensive panoramic view of Killarney Lake, the town of Killarney and Ross Castle to the right of the picture. A group of deer shown in the foreground, which were kept by Lord Kenmare. Painted in the evening light the setting sun makes long shadows across the landscape. Executed in watercolour with small amounts of body colour for highlights. A strong yellow predominates the sky so typical of Laporte’s work. The watercolour is in remarkably good condition for its age, showing little sign of fading.

Christopher Ashe

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 16 16/02/2005 09:13:22 am 13. NATHANIEL HONE THE ELDER R.A. 1718 – 1784 ‘Portrait of a Girl with a Cat’, c.1780

Oil on canvas 49 x 40

Nathaniel Hone was born in Dublin, the son of a merchant descended from Dutch goldsmiths.1 In 1742, he married Molly Earle, an heiress, in York Minster. Nothing is known of his artistic training but he must have been apprenticed to an enamellist who would have taught him the difficult technique of painting portraits on enamel. From c.1740 until the 1760’s he worked as enamellist and miniaturist in watercolour on ivory. By 1748 Hone had moved to London. Hone occupies an important place in the history of Irish and English miniature portrait painting during the eighteenth century.2 From 1746 onwards, Hone succeeded Christian Friedrich Zincke (1683/5-1767) as the foremost enamel miniaturist of his day. Hone’s naturalistic approach to painting miniature portraits owed much to William Hogarth (1697-1764), and to Thomas Hudson (1701-1779). These early miniatures anticipate his later development as an oil painter and portraitist.

Hone’s reputation is as an oil painter and founder member of the Royal Academy (1768).3 He exhibited at the R.A. up to the year of his death. However he was a difficult man and he was greatly irritated by Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-92), the president of the R.A., whom he satirized in his painting The Conjuror (NGI). In 1775 Hone held the first one-man retrospective exhibition. Hone was greatly influenced by Dutch and Italian old master painting. He experimented with styles of painting and approaches to portraiture in self-portraits and portraits of his family.

Hone painted ‘fancy portraits’ of children which unlike so many of his contemporaries show the sitter as a child rather than as a miniature adult. This portrait relates to the portraits of a young girl with a Pomeranian dog (Gorry Gallery: February 2003) and that of a girl holding a cantaloup melon (Gorry Gallery: November 2003) which are part of a series of portraits Hone painted of his children and grandchildren. In this group of pictures painted during the 1760s and 1770s the sitters are set against a dark uncluttered background which focuses the eye on the sitter as Hone did in his earlier portraits in miniature. In these oil portraits all of the children have slightly glazed expressions, bright fresh faces and pink lips. Hone captures the charm of the children and emphasises this by introducing a favourite device such as a cat, dog, fox or rabbit.

One of Nathaniel Hone’s greatest contributions to art in the eighteenth century was his invention of this new type of picture during the 1760s which was a combination of the ‘fancy picture’ with the portrait.4 This is exemplified in his numerous portraits of his children and grandchildren.5 His Portrait of a Boy Sketching (NGI) and David the Shepherd Boy (exhibited R.A. 1771) are portraits of his son Horace Hone. A Piping Boy (NGI), A Boy Deliberating on his Drawing (Ulster Museum) and The Spartan Boy (exhibited R.A. 1775) are portraits of John Camillus Hone.6 In The Spartan Boy the subject conceals a fox under his coat and suffers a mortal bite rather than give it up to their pursuers. These genre pictures were reworkings of the old master classical tradition of depicting pastoral imagery and allegorical figures from antiquity. The fact that they are also portraits, full of character and conveying the individuality of the sitters, gives great freshness to work. Hone also painted similar portraits of his daughters and granddaughters. His elder daughter Lydia Hone (1760-1775) was the subject of a portrait in which she holds a white rabbit which she saved from a fox (engraved 1771).

Endnotes 1. See generally: Anthony Pasquin, Memoirs of the Royal Academicians being an attempt to improve the national taste, London 1796, pp. 9-10; Edward Edwards, Anecdotes of Painters, London 1808, pp. 99-103; Walter G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists, London 1913, vol. I, pp. 515-23; Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin, Irish Portraits 1660-1860, London 1969, pp. 47-9 and 78.

2. Basil Long, British Miniaturists, London 1929, pp. 219-20; Paul Caffrey, John Comerford and the Portrait Miniature in Ireland c.1620-1850, Kilkenny 1999, p.22; Paul Caffrey, Treasures to Hold Irish and English Miniature 1650-1850 from the National Gallery of Ireland Collection, Dublin 2000, pp. 58-61.

3. Anne Crookshank and The Knight of Glin The Painters of Ireland, London 1978, pp. 86-9.

4. Martin Postle, Angels and Urchins The Fancy Picture in 18th Century British Art, London 1998, p. 64.

5. Adrian Le Harivel, Nathaniel Hone the Elder 1718-1784, Dublin 1992, pp. 28-30.

6. Nicola Figgis and Brendan Rooney, Irish Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin 2001, vol. I, pp. 222-6.

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 17 16/02/2005 09:13:24 am 31. JOHN JAMES BARRALET, 1747 – 1815 ‘Portrait of an Irish Miller’

Watercolour on paper 47.5 x 37 Signed and dated 1786

‘As fresh and vibrant as the day it was painted’ is a description that can aptly be applied to this watercolour portrait by John James Barralet (1747-1815), which was published in a recent issue of Ireland of the Welcomes magazine. Barralet was born in Dublin of French parents, so that his name would presumably have been pronounced as in ‘Barralay’. After his initial training in the Dublin Society’s Schools, he went to London where he founded two Academies in addition to exhibiting successfully at the Royal Academy and the Society of Artists there in the 1770s. Recalled to his native city at the end of the decade to take over temporarily the teaching duties of James Mannin, the ailing Drawing Master of the Dublin Society’s Schools, Barralet was bitterly disappointed at not being named his permanent successor. Nevertheless, Barralet, as far as we know, stayed on in Ireland for a further sixteen years, founding his own Drawing Academy in Dublin, and doubtless finding consolation in seeing his drawings engraved in Milton’s Seats and Demesnes of the Nobility and Gentry of Ireland in the 1780s and in Grose’s Antiquities in the first half of the following decade. His atmospheric engraving of the Rutland Fountain in Merrion Square, is among the finest to depict the city’s elegance before Malton’s masterpieces appeared during the last years of the eighteenth century. Barralet sailed to America in 1795, settling in Philadelphia, where he excelled in illustrating allegorical and patriotic themes, and painted American naval victories over the British in the years prior to his death in 1815.

His engravings of actors on the London stage were quite numerous in the 1770s, but very few Irish portraits of his are known. As we have no evidence of Barralet sojourning in England in 1786, the year this watercolour was painted, it is presumed here that the sitter was an Irishman, reclining with bemused self-satisfaction on his well-carpentered barrow which, though seemingly out of character with his colourful clothing, must have been an emblem of his trade. Behind him is the rounded rim of a waterwheel, suggesting that he was probably a miller – whose identity has yet to be established, but whose likeness is one of the most striking Irish watercolour portraits of the period.

Dr. Peter Harbison

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 18 16/02/2005 09:13:28 am 31. JOSEPH PATRICK HAVERTY R.H.A. 1794 – 1864 ‘Portraits of the children of John J. Blake Esq. painted for that gentleman by J. Haverty A.D. 1844’

Oil on canvas 60.5 x 51 Signed, inscribed and dated on the two labels verso

Provenance: Sotheby’s Slane Castle, 1979

The Blake family, long prominent in Connacht, are descended from Richard Blake, Portreeve of Galway in 1290. By the date of this painting, the Blake family owned many fine estates in the West, including Renvyle (purchased in about 1677), Annefield, Windfield, The Heath, Ballyglunin Park (purchased 1671), Ardfry, Tower Hill, Merlin Park and Ballinafad, amongst other properties. Despite the grandeur of such mansions as Ardfry, near Oranmore, we’ve been unable to identify the fine house in the background of the present painting.

The sitters may be somewhat easier to identify. There was a John J. Blake, who died in 1866, of the Tower Hill branch of the family: however, we think the more likely person to have commissioned the present portrait was John Joseph Blake of Ballyglunin Park. He married Elizabeth Bodkin, of Annagh, Co. Galway in 1829. The couple had three children. The eldest was a son who died in infancy. They then had two daughters, who might well be the girls in the present picture: Harriett, the elder, who became a nun, and Olivia, the younger, who married John Taaffe of Smarmore Castle, Co. Louth in 1867.

Joseph Patrick Haverty was born in Galway city in 1794. The artist maintained his Galway connection throughout his life, though at various times he lived and exhibited from Rosstrevor, Limerick, London and Dublin addresses. Haverty, mainly a portrait painter, is now best known through his pictures of Daniel O’Connell, and from his famous subject painting, “The Limerick Piper”.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 19 16/02/2005 09:13:32 am 17. EDWIN HAYES

28. EDWIN HAYES

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 20 16/02/2005 09:13:36 am 18. EDWIN HAYES

3. WILLIAM Le MESURIER

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 21 16/02/2005 09:13:42 am 32. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY, 1853 – c.1941 ‘Mass in a Connemara Cabin’

Watercolour on paper 42 x 57 Signed

Provenance: A New York Rectory by bequest to the present owner

Literature: Niamh O’Sullivan, Re-orientations. Aloysius O’Kelly: Painting Politics and Popular Culture, Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, 1999; ‘The Priest and the People: Mass in a Connemara Cabin’ in From the Edge: Art and Design in Twentieth Century Ireland’, a CIRCA Special, Summer 2000, pp. 16-18

The recent discovery of this remarkable watercolour on paper, another version of Aloysius O’Kelly’s chef d’oeuvre, Mass in a Connemara Cabin (1883), is of considerable artistic and historical importance. Quite apart from the exceptional quality of these paintings, the execution of this series of images, at a moment when radical Fenianism and land agitation sought a rapprochement with the Catholic Church, makes these very interesting images indeed. Born into a pronounced nationalist family in Dublin in 1853, O’Kelly’s extended family was steeped in both the art world and the world of militant republicanism. His older brothers, James, Charles and Stephen, were all Fenians, as well as artists, and his sister, Julia, married another Fenian, Charles Hopper, brother-in-law of James Stephens, the founder of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Aloysius’s relationship with his daredevil brother, James, gives us glimpses of his own attitudes to politics, painting and religion. While it could be folly to ascribe the beliefs of one brother to another, in this instance, in so many respects the two brothers acted in tandem. We know that James set out to become an sculptor, was a self-professed atheist, was elected a member of parliament for Roscommon in 1880 (despite his underground Fenian and gun-running activity) and was Parnell’s most loyal supporter, even when he fell from power. Not to be outdone, Aloysius sought to have himself proposed for election in the adjoining constituency of South Roscommon in 1897. The close relationship between the two brothers extends to a bigamous marriage, which James sought to conceal by blurring the identities of the two. The underworld of republican politics - secret addresses, disappearances, invisible ink, false passports, dual identities, false names, destroyed letters - were all part of a pattern of pathological secrecy which were part of O’Kelly’s mercurial life. O’Kelly returned to Ireland from France in the early 1880s, to the highly coveted position of Special Artist to the Illustrated London News. His illustrations of the Land League give vivid expression to the harsh realities of life in the west as it hurtled towards a massive social crisis. He systematically charted the formation of the National Land League, which harnessed growing agrarian unrest, as tenant farmers resisted evictions, refused to pay rent, and clamoured for legislative changes, concerning ownership and occupation of the land. It was at this time that he painted Mass in a Connemara Cabin.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 22 16/02/2005 09:13:46 am But what is the nature of the ceremony performed in the Connemara cabin? Known as the stations, the celebration of the sacraments in a rural and/or domestic setting was developed in times of repression when secrecy was necessary, until the mid nineteenth century when the continuation of the practice was challenged by the Church itself. The practice of conducting sacraments in cabins generated considerably more income for the priest than those performed in chapels, and it was this that led to an underlying tension between the priest and the faithful. Not surprisingly, being their chief form of support, the clergy were wont to confine the stations to those who were relatively well off, as the host was also expected to offer the welcome of the house to neighbours. But whether people travelled from far-flung farms to attend religious services, either in each others’ houses or in the nearest chapel, the Church provided the locus for the forging of social bonds which were, in turn, the foundation of political ones - the holding of mass frequently provided the forum for political meetings. The social aspects of the stations were such that it almost seamlessly facilitated the transition from socialising to politicising. In the knowledge that such religious practices lingered beyond the tolerance of their religious leaders, the version of worship portrayed in Mass in a Connemara Cabin hints at a subversive emphasis on community solidarity and priest-people relations. The position of the church on Fenianism elicited virulent reactions both within its own clerical ranks and among its flock. As an oath-bound secret society, the Irish Republican Brotherhood, in which James J. O’Kelly was a high-ranking activist, was condemned by the Catholic Church. Those priests that did support the associated Land League did so for the very reason that others did not - fear that the radicalism of the movement would develop ideologically independent of the church and organisationally independent of the clergy. Wary of involvement and resistant to exclusion, the church played hot and cold in relation to the issue of land agitation, although in the West, apprehension about loss of influence resulted in a clergy increasingly more politically engaged than not. Fearing exclusion more than inclusion, what really alarmed the clergy was Fenian control of the hearts and minds of the peasants of Ireland, the consequences of which, the clergy was in no doubt, was a godless, socialist Ireland. In the interests of maintaining their influence, therefore, it was vital to maintain the active allegiance to the people and, indeed, provided they gained the upper organisational hand, they became enthusiastic Land League supporters. When O’Kelly first exhibited Mass in a Connemara Cabin in the important Paris Salon, he used both the secret address of his unreformed Fenian-MP brother, James, and the known address of the infamous Communard, Henri Rochefort, in Paris – not only a coup de théâtre informative of his connections but revealing of his own dangerous whereabouts at the time. Drawn to the news of the phenomenal victories of the Mahdi, Aloysius and James were in the Sudan with an entourage of French socialists (including Rochefort’s son) in an effort to connect Irish militancy, French socialism and Sudanese nationalism. Here, in many respects, O’Kelly replicated the critical position he had adopted in Ireland, by taking the stance of an independent witness (by virtue of assuming the perspective of the colonised culture) unlike most war artists who acted, in effect, as public relations personnel for British colonial activities overseas. Mass in a Connemara Cabin was the only painting of an Irish subject ever shown in the Paris Salon, the most prestigious venue of its epoch, when it was exhibited there in 1884. In addition to the Salon and the Royal Academy, the oil painting was also shown some years later in London in 1888, at the Irish Exhibition at Olympia. Although, as the catalogue asserts, the exhibition was devised to ‘moderate prejudices... at the very root of misunderstanding between people and people’, the exhibition was in some quarters more successful in fanning the flames of dissension than dampening them. And, when it was later exhibited in the Royal Hibernian Academy in February and March 1889, its exhibition coincided precisely with James J. O’Kelly’s examination by the Special Parliamentary Commission, set up to investigate the association of Parnellism with Crime alleged by The Times in 1887 – a connection which did not go unnoticed at the time. In 1899, the almost identical watercolour version was exhibited in New York where it was highly acclaimed. Not only were the various versions of Mass in a Connemara Cabin exhibited in all the important venues of its day, but it was also reproduced in line form in Henry Blackburn’s Academy Notes for 1883, where it was captioned Life in Ireland: Celebrating Mass in a Cabin, as well as being selected by T.P. O’Connor to illustrate his book, Gladstone-Parnell - further evidence of its contemporary impact.1 In her Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) review of 1889, the novelist, Rosa Mulholland bemoaned the fact that ‘the works of art produced in Ireland of which we can be very proud are few’. But she exempted this painting from her criticism. ‘Here there is some warmth and colour’, she remarked, ‘and we see that the kneeling figures are faithfully taken from life’. A certain hardness and clean-sweptness, and a severe determination not to idealise or even notice the grace that often lurks about the rugged truth, forbid us to love the picture’, she continued, ‘but it gives evidence of power, and the artist, Mr. Aloysius O’Kelly, ought yet to do excellent service to his country after time has somewhat mellowed his method and softened his dealings with the positive fact.’2 Paradoxically, the negative aspects of Mulholland’s comments - concerned as they are with the realism and ruggedness of his style - were probably the most stylistically innovative aspect of O’Kelly’s work in the context of the 1880s. The discovery of this painting in New York, where it has been since its exhibition in the late nineteenth century, gives us the opportunity to marvel at the quality of watercolour painting so evidently demonstrative here, at which O’Kelly increasingly excelled in the second half of his life. Described by the Freeman’s Journal (2 June 1888) as being amongst ‘the most important of modern artists’, O’Kelly’s Mass in a Connemara Cabin was singled for particular attention where it was described as ‘exceptional’. The Irish Daily Express (25 February 1889) acclaimed it as ‘admirable’, noting that the figures were ‘finely grouped and carefully drawn’ but doubted whether the painting was set in a cabin ‘in the Connemara we read about, for it is cleaner than a Dutch burgomaster’s house and almost as comfortable.’ And, indeed, the costumes are not only well observed but denotative of relative prosperity, and the cottage is clearly capacious enough to hold at least twenty people. But this does not give lie to O’Kelly’s rendition as we can read the cleanliness as a moral allegory for decency, dignity and industriousness. Commonly described as blighted, stunted, and brutal, ‘their huts’, Punch insisted ‘were monuments to national idleness’, while according to Blackwood’s Magazine, squalidness, filth and raggedness were ‘national tastes’.3 It is typical of O’Kelly to make subtle, corrective adjustments to prevailing characterisations that portray the Irish so negatively. Niamh O’Sullivan 1. Henry Blackburn, Academy Notes, London:, Chatto & Windus, 1883; T.P.O’Connor, Gladstone - Parnell and the Great Irish Struggle, Philadelphia: Hubbard Brothers, 1886.

2. Rosa Mulholland, ‘Irish Painters in this Present Year’, The Irish Monthly, September 1889, p. 484.

3. Punch, X1V, 1849; Blackwood’s Magazine, L1X, 1846.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 23 16/02/2005 09:13:47 am 30. WILLIAM J. HENNESSY N.A., R.O.I., 1839 – 1917 ‘Le Crepuscule’

Oil on wood 33.5 x 18.5 Signed and dated 1888 The mysterious hour between day and night, when the land is growing dark, but there is still a glowing light in the sky, when a man and his dog are trudging home from the fields, the trees are bare and wintry and the shadow of the moon begins to appear in the heavens – this is just a kind of mysterious, crepuscular scene that Hennessy loved. Such a rustic subject, with its sombre tonality, was favoured by the Barbizon painters in France, and a similar evening mood was conveyed by other Irish artists of the 1880’s, for example, Frank O’Meara and Egerton Coghill. The bare, wintry trees and pale rising moon are motifs which Hennessy especially favoured, and which appear in several of his paintings. There is a symbolic twilight mood to some of his paintings, perhaps derived from his Irish heritage. The picture is dated 1888, and could have been painted in the Calvados region of Normandy, which inspired many of his subjects, or in countryside near St. Germain-en-Laye, close to Paris, where he was living after 1886. The dog looks rather like a pet animal, but perhaps is the countryman’s faithful hunting hound. The narrow, upright format of the panel is one that Hennessy used in several landscapes. But here the picture is divided into several horizontal layers in a striking way. The top half of the picture is filled with a pale turquoise sky. Below is a strip of land of delicate mauve. Between this and the sombre areas of foreground is a flat, newly mown field which shines with a pale apricot hue in the last light of the setting sun, delicate small haystacks, casting delicate blue shadows, glowing like a mysterious molten lake within the winter landscape. Thus, as well as being a characteristic landscape of Northern France, Hennessy’s feeling for light adds a surprising Nordic mood to the painting, with echoes of Friedrich and German Romanticism, of Christian Kobke and the Golden Age of Danish painting, and of the Northern light of contemporary Scandanavian artists. With its austere winter landscape and evening mood, its careful delineation of forms, and its clarity of light, pale blues and turquoise, pinks and violets, there are affinities with Caspar Friedrich’s haunting landscapes. For example, the bare upright tree is reminiscent of paintings by the German artist, where the steeple of a church, or the mast of a ship, rise against a glowing evening sky. Although Hennessy’s intention is more naturalistic, in Friedrich’s paintings the motifs: wiry wintry trees, the little well, and the rough wooden footbridge over the stream, would take on more symbolic overtones. Hennessy’s picture is painted on a heavy wood panel, with bevelled edges at the back, perhaps a French painting board of fine quality, or a panel from an old oak cabinet or wardrobe. William John Hennessy was born in Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny on 11th July, 1839, the son of John Hennessy and Catherine (neé Laffin).1 Thomastown, a beautiful market town of the River Nore and south of Kilkenny, was noted for its archeological and ecclesiastical associations, for example Jerpoint Abbey, the finest Cistercian ruins in the country,2 and Kells Priory to the West. The history and beauty of such surroundings must have made a deep impression upon the young Hennessy. His father John was a follower of the Young Ireland movement. Initially a non-violent group of patriots, after the split in their organisation, and inspired by the 1848 Insurrection in France, they held an uprising in Co. Tipperary that same year. After its failure, some members were arrested and transported, while others such as John Hennessy emigrated to Canada. He then moved to New York, and became an American citizen. In 1849 Catherine, along with William, aged ten, and his brother, left Thomastown, and joined Hennessy in New York. William Hennessy began to draw in 1854, and entered the National Academy of Design in 1856. He commenced exhibiting with the Academy in 1857, becoming an associate in 1862, and an academician in 1863. He had a studio in New York for fifteen years working intensively at painting: sentimental genre scenes, and landscapes; and at wood engraving, illustrating the works of many poets, for example, Tennyson and Longfellow. He was an honourary member of the American Society of Painters in Watercolours. Hennessy married Amelia Charlotte Mather in June 1870.3 One of his early paintings was entitled ‘The Honeymoon’. Images of elegant and beautiful women, perhaps based on his wife appear in paintings throughout his career. The lure of Europe was strong, and in 1870 Hennessy and his wife moved to London. He quickly established himself in the British art scene, exhibiting at the Royal Academy, London, and at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition from 1871 onwards. Some of his earliest exhibits in both venues were of American subjects. He showed at the R.H.A. for the first time in 1879, with one picture ‘Evening on the Thames’. Many of his most important paintings were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, London from 1878 onwards.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 24 16/02/2005 09:13:49 am From c.1874 Hennessy began to make regular visits to France, spending the summers in Normandy, particularly the Calvados region. He rented a manor house near Honfleur. There was a colony of landscape painters at the nearby St. Simeon farm. Many of his most important paintings are of Normandy landscapes and rustic peasant scenes. He was fascinated by Nature through the seasons, for example, in spring and winter; or at different times of the day, at morning and evening. Often he showed a wintry landscape in Calvados under crepuscular light, or with a pale moon rising, evoking a mysterious, other-worldly atmosphere. Many of his paintings were of Normandy subjects, showing his interest in rustic life, customs and religious observance. They feature scenes of women apple gathering, children returning from school, people gleaning or gathering wood, fishermen waiting upon the beach, and harvest or religious festivals. Amongst the first such paintings was ‘The Votive Offering’, exhibited at the R.A. in 1875: “Many picturesque chapels along the coast of Normandy are dedicated to Notre Dame des Flots, and thither resort the simple and devout Norman sailor and his family with prayers for a prosperous voyage, or thanks for dangers past, frequently bearing as an offering a carefully-fashioned model of his ship.”4 One of Hennessy’s largest and most magnificent French canvases is ‘Fête Day in a Cider Orchard, Normandy’ 1878. This includes many peasant figures and a village priest relaxing beneath the Trees, with a game of bowls on a wooden ramp in progress. The painting is remarkable for its treatment of sunlight and shadow, and its wealth of anecdotal detail. It was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery in 1878, and a small pen and ink illustration of it was included in ‘Grosvenor Notes’ of that year (p.43). The painting is now in the collection of the Ulster Museum Belfast.5 In 1879 Hennessy exhibited ‘Waiting for the Boats’ at the Grosvenor. This “… is a quiet evening landscape on the north coast of Normandy, fishermen and women resting in a group, waiting for the boats to come in with the tide. A lantern is hoisted to guide them”.6 ‘Winter – Calvados’ was an upright canvas, showing a man up a tree pruning branches. ‘Twixt Day and Night’ (38 x 53 ins.) portrays two peasant women in dark dresses wandering by a pond, with a silvery moon in the background. The older woman holds a child in blue in her arms, the younger woman a basket under her arm. The title of the painting, and autumnal mood, are reminiscent to Frank O’Meara’s contemporary peasant paintings, for example, ‘Towards Night and Winter’, 1885 (Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin). Hennessy’s picture was exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, and in Liverpool, in 1884, and illustrated in ‘Grosvenor Notes’.7 As well as painting these Peasant pictures, Hennessy also painted a series of elegant wealthy women in society dresses, relaxing in the French countryside. His wife and family may have served as models. This was a genre that Hennessy appears to have made his own, and for which he found a good market. These pictures were exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, and commanded high prices. For example, ‘La Gloire de Dijon’ 1879, shows a man and woman standing on a Veranda, overlooking a garden. ‘A Visit to the Peacock’, 1880, features two children and a peacock in a summery garden, under high trees. ‘A Spring Fantasy’, 1880, shows a girl standing on a terrace, with a peacock in a garden, ‘With the Birds’ 1883 (31 x 21 ins.) is a sentimental study of a girl seated on the branch of a tree, while ‘The Flowers of May’ (1885) (31 x 50 ins.) shows two girls in long white and pink dresses running in a meadow of buttercups, beside apple trees in blossom. From 1886 Hennessy lived in St. Germain-en-Laye, (Seine-et-Oise) close to Paris, for a period. His address was at Pavilion Montespan, Rue de Fournaux, St. Germain-en-Laye.8 From there he sent a watercolour ‘Etude’ to the Paris Salon in 1887. Interestingly, in the Salon catalogue, the artist was described as ‘HERMESSY (sic), John-William, né à Thomastown, Irlande, de parents Americains.9 This may suggest a confusion over his nationality or heritage due to the disruptions of his childhood; or like Aloysius O’Kelly, efforts to cover over traces of his Nationalist family. Furthermore, when Hennessy was represented in the prestigious fourth Exposition Universal (World Fair) in Paris in 1889, he was included in the American section. His two exhibits were of French peasant subjects: ‘Les Pêcheur de Crevettes en Normandy’ (no. 160), and ‘Pelerinage d’expiration, Calvados’ (no. 161).10 In 1891 Hennessy travelled to Italy, painting figures and landscapes at Bordighera and San Remo. Three of these paintings: ‘Water carriers, San Remo’, ‘Winter Sunshine, Bordighera’, and ‘A Winter Morning on The Beach, Bordighera’, were exhibited at the Liverpool Autumn Exhibition in 1893. ‘La Feu de Joie, A Calvados Custom’, exhibited in Liverpool in 1899, was priced at the remarkable sum of £500–, indicating the standing which Hennessy held in the contemporary art market. This painting shows him moving away from the sombre realism of his earlier work, to a lighter style of paint handling. Hennessy settled in Sussex in 1893. But he did not lose touch with his Irish heritage. Between 1902-1906, he exhibited several pictures at the R.H.A. in Dublin, including some Normandy subjects, such as ‘The Farm Yard, Marlay’, ‘Le Pelegrinage Expiation’, ‘The Enchanted Lake’, and ‘A Shady Corner, Calvados’. He was acknowledged as an Irish artist in the Guildhall exhibition of Irish painters, organised by Hugh Lane in London in 1904. His exhibit there was ‘Twixt Night and Day’ of 1884, lent by Mr. T. H. Maher (no. 67). Hennessy died in Sussex on 26th December, 1917.11 In recent years his work has appeared increasingly on the market, and he has been re- discovered as a significant Irish artist of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. His large canvas ‘Feu de Joie, A Calvados Custom’, 1899, was exhibited in ‘The French Influence, Irish, British and French Paintings’, at the Gorry Gallery in May 2004.12 Julian Campbell 1. ‘Dictionary of American Biography; New York, 1932, p. 541-542; and Theo Snoddy, ‘Dictionary of Irish Artists, Twentieth Century; p. 182-183. 2. ‘The Shell Guide to Ireland’, by Lord Killanin and Michael V. Duignan, Shell, 1962. Second edition. Revised by Peter Harbinson, Gill and MacMillan, p. 291-292. 3. Dictionary of American Biography’, op. cit. 4. Catalogue of Royal Academy, 1875, no. 431. 5. See Ted Hickey, ‘W. J. Hennessy’, in ‘Eire – Ireland’, and J. Campbell, ‘Onlookers in France. Irish Realist and Impressionists’, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 1993. 6. ‘Grosvenor Notes’, by Henry Blackurn, 1879, no. 178. 7. ‘Grosvenor Notes’, 1884, no. 87, Ill. p. 20, 21. 8. Address given in catalogue of Autumn Exhibition, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, 1886. 9. Catalogue of Paris Salon, Société des Artistes Français, 1887, no. 3032. 10. Catalogue of Exposition Universal, 1889. 11. Dictionary of American Biography’, op. cit. 12. See also ‘The Flower Seller’, 1874, Irish sale Christie’s 22 May 1998, no.99; and ‘Figures on a Path, Normandy’ and ‘Farmyard, Marly’, Milmo-penny Fine Art, 2001, no.1 & 2.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 25 16/02/2005 09:13:50 am 29. HARRY JONES THADDEUS R.H.A., 1859 – 1929 ‘Pension Interior, Brittany’

Oil on canvas 43 x 59 Signed T. Harry Jones and dated 1881

Provenance: Private collection, Brittany

Harry Jones Thaddeus spent a brief period in the picturesque village of Pont Aven in Brittany in the summer of 1881 before moving on to Concarneau, where he remained for many months. While in Pont Aven, he stayed at the Pension Gloanec, a hostelry popular among artists during this period and later patronized by such illustrious artistic figures as Paul Serusier, Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin. Thaddeus wrote with fondness and enthusiasm of his brief stay in the Pension Gloanec, remembering that ‘the buxom daughters of the house, in their white coifs and picturesque Breton costumes, did the service, whilst their more amply-proportioned mother superintended the cooking’.1 Many artists and visitors to Pont Aven wrote of this hostelry, commenting on the accommodation, which was extremely good value and included the provision of plentiful supplies of cider and good wholesome food. Thaddeus’ lodgings at the Grand Hotel in Concarneau were altogether more modern but, it seems from the artist’s own testimony, lacked the Pension Gloanec’s homeliness and singular ambience.

Thaddeus’ detailed description of the interior of the Pension Gloanec corresponds closely, though not exactly, with this picture. It reads:

‘You crossed the threshold, and found yourself in a large spacious room, with red-tiled flooring; an enormous fireplace, with seats inside, occupying most the wall space at one end.

‘The projecting top of the fireplace was covered with brass and copper cooking-utensils, polished like mirrors, and over the log fire was nearly always suspended, by a hook and heavy chain, an enormous iron pot.

‘This was the stockpot containing the daily potage, which, constantly replenished, remained always simmering over the fire. Down the sides of the room ran massive oak tables, black with age, at which the meals were served, to the accompaniment of large jugs of cider.

‘The walls were covered with studies and pictures presented to the popular landlady (who was a kind of adopted mother to them all) by her artist guests.’2

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 26 16/02/2005 09:13:53 am Just as Thaddeus describes, vessels and other cooking utensils hang on the walls, an assortment of heavy wooden furniture lines the room and a large cider keg sits prominently on a table in the foreground. However, the massive wooden tables to which the artist refers are absent and the floor appears to be have been composed of grey stone rather than red tiling.

The distinctive headdress of the young woman sitting in the glow of the fire is typical of the area around Pont Aven and is consistent with the attire worn by one of Madame Gloanec’s daughters in a photograph of 1892. The young woman is hand spinning with a distaff and spindle, a skill that was also employed in Ireland, particularly before the arrival of the big wheel.3

Randolph Caldecott’s illustrations of Pont Aven of 1880 and contemporaneous photos demonstrate that at the time Thaddeus was in Pont Aven the site to the left of the Pension Gloanec was vacant. This would be consistent with the fenestration on the left hand side of Thaddeus’ painting. These pictorial sources also record that the chimney was on the left hand side of the building, as suggested by the fireplace in the picture. However, this evidence is far from conclusive.

While fraternising and socialising with fellow artists and members of the local communites, Thaddeus would undoubtedly have become familiar with hostelries other than those in which he had stayed himself in Pont Aven and Concarneau,

An old label on the back of the frame, which reads ‘No. 2 Interior Bretagne/T. Harry Jones/Gran Hotel Concarnau [sic]/Finistere/£2’ may be misleading. The handwriting, the mixture of English and French, and the indifferent spelling indicate that the label was not written by the artist, while the price suggests that the picture was on sale in Britain. Thaddeus was indeed staying at the Grand Hotel in Concameau, but this may well just have been the address from which he had sent the picture for exhibition. Unfortunately, there is no evidence of where the painting was shown.

Significantly, the signature on the painting reads ‘T. Harry Jones 1881’. In the early years of his career, Thaddeus’ signature took a number of forms, including ‘H. Jones’ (with the capitals conjoined), ‘thaddeus jones, ‘thad jones’, and ‘t harry jones (again with capitals conjoined). The style of the signature in this case is identical to that of his signature on Young Breton Fisher Boy, another of Thaddeus’ more loosely painted Breton pictures, which he painted in Concarneau. Thaddeus changed his name by deed pole to Harry Jones Thaddeus in June 1885 and, it seems, returned to a number of the early paintings to which he had access to change the signature.4

In terms of technique, the picture is a curious mixture of the familiar in Thaddeus’ work and the apparently experimental. His rendering of the wall to the left (achieved with the liberal use of a palette knife) calls to mind areas of a number of his early paintings including On the Sands, Concarneau and On the Beach, while the distinctive blue used at the bottom of the steps in the background and elsewhere anticipates the limited but unorthodox palette in a number of his landscapes and portraits. Much of the detail, however, is uncharacteristically broadly painted, and contrasts markedly with the more academic, highly finished detail in Thaddeus’ successful exhibition pictures of this period. In particular, the highlights on reflective surfaces, such as the dark wood furniture and the earthenware bowls, are unusual in Thaddeus’ oeuvre.

The setting of the picture also reflects the artist’s interest in depicting dark interiors, an interest that found fuller expression in his later An Irish Eviction – Co. Galway, Ireland and Christ before Caiaphas.

1. H.J. Thaddeus, Recollections of a Court Painter, (London 1912), p.33.

2. Ibid.

3. This process involved winding wool or flax loosely around the distaff, which was held in the left hand, twisting it skilfully into a thread and winding it onto a spindle as it spun.

4. These pictures includes Market Day, Finistère and On the Beach.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 27 16/02/2005 09:13:53 am 44. WILLIAM TEULON BLANDFORD FLETCHER, 1858 – 1936 ‘The Village of Blewbury, Oxfordshire’

Oil on canvas 51 x 69 Signed

Blandford Fletcher was one of an important generation of British artists of the 1880‘s, who studied in Antwerp, painted in Brittany and in villages in England, and was associated with the Newlyn School. He was a comrade of Stanhope Forbes at Newlyn, and was a close friend of Walter Osborne, with whom his career closely parallels: studying in Antwerp, painting at Pont-Aven and Quimperlé in Brittany, and in many villages in England in the 1880’s. Among his finest paintings are his ‘plein-air’ paintings of English village scenes, showing cottage gardens, village streets in which people are chatting, village greens on which men and boys are playing cricket, and red-bricked houses, painted in a sunny, brightly-hued style. One of his Breton pictures is in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.

William Teulon Blandford Fletcher was born in London in 1858. He was educated at St. John’s College, Hurstpierpoint. He studied at the Royal College of Art in London from 1875-1879. He won a Queen’s prize in 1879.l ln that year he also exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time.

In the summer of 1879 or spring 1880 he made his first visit to Brittany, painting at Dinan perhaps in the company of Ralph Todd, and a group of other English & Irish artists: Edmund Aubrey Hunt, Charles Radcliffe, and William Spread from Queenstown (Cobh) Co. Cork. He painted watercolours of street scenes and landscapes around Dinan. Two of these were exhibited at the Royal Society of British Artists in London in 1880.

From 1880-1882 Fletcher was a student at the Academic Royale des Beaux Arts in Antwerp, the institution at which many leading British and Irish artists of the day studied. He attended four sessions there. He enrolled initially in the ‘Antiek’ class on 19 May 1880, but transferred to the popular ‘Natuur’ (Life) class of Charles Verlat on 27th May. He commenced another session with Verlat on 13th October 1880.2

In 1881 Fletcher travelled to Paris, and met Stanhope Forbes there.3 The two artists travelled back to London. Fletcher enrolled for a third session in Antwerp on 3rd May 1881, and a fourth one on 26th October.4 Whilst at Antwerp Fletcher met many British and Irish artists who were later to paint in the artists’ colonies in Brittany and Cornwall. One of his closest friends was Walter Osborne, and the two artists were to paint together at several locations in Brittany and England. Fletcher exhibited watercolours of Antwerp at the R.S.B.A.

He spent the summers of 1882 and 1883 in Brittany. He joined Forbes in Quimperlé and is said to have met the celebrated French Naturalist painter Bastien-Lepage in Concarneau.5 He stayed in Pont-Aven in 1883, lodging at the Pension Gloanec (where Gauguin,

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 28 16/02/2005 09:13:56 am Roderic O’Conor, Harry Jones Thaddeus, and many other celebrated artists had stayed or were later to stay), from 14th May - 24th October. He paid about 55 francs/month for board and lodging.6 Fletcher shared the company of Osborne in Pont-Aven and Quimperlé. He moved to the latter in late October or November. He probably lodged there at the farmhouse of Mme. de Mutier. in the Rue de 1’Hopital near the station.7 Here he painted ‘The Kitchen Garden in November’ (National Gallery of Ireland no. 4492). This is a characteristic ‘plein-air’ scene of the period, showing a girl in a cabbage patch in front of a farm house, rendered under grey light. Meanwhile Osborne was painting ‘Apple Gathering, Quimperlé’ (N.G.I.) at the same time, perhaps in the same garden. In January 1884, Osborne gave a small painting of the square in Quimperlé on a rainy day, which he had painted in December, to Fletcher.8 Fletcher’s picture, and another major Breton subject ‘Waiting to go to the Pardon, First Arrivals’, and two other canvases, were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1884. ‘Kitchen Garden’ was also exhibited in Birmingham, Liverpool, and at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. Upon returning to England Fletcher stayed at Enfield in summer 1884. He moved to Newlyn in August, and remained there for seven months, until March 1885. He re-established contact with Forbes, one of the leading members of the Newlyn School, and may have lodged in the same house. In spring 1885 he painted at Steventon, Berkshire with Chevalier Taylor9 and then at Amberley, Sussex with Edward Stott. Fletcher and Walter Osborne retained their friendship, painting together at several villages: for example at Newbury in 1887, and Uffington in 1888. On 23rd November 1888, Osborne made a small drawing of Fletcher seated, smoking his pipe.10 The two artists also worked at Rye and Steventon. Both artists favoured represented rural English scenes, village streets with groups of people talking, red-brick houses and church towers, and village greens, painted in a naturalistic, ‘plein-air’ style, with grey skies, or on a sunny day, emphasizing the warm reds and greens. Osborne gave a small panel of the quay at Rye, Sussex on a sunny day, painted in 1889, to Fletcher.11 Fletcher also painted genre or historical subjects, for example, ‘Evicted’ (Queensland Art Gallery, Australia), exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1887. Some of his later work became more sentimental. Fletcher married and had children. The family settled near Dorking, Surrey. Fletcher enjoyed collecting antiques. His daughter Rosamund became a noted sculptor. A revival of interest in Fletcher’s life and work began in the mid-1970’s. An exhibition ‘Paintings and Watercolours by Blandford Fletcher’ was held at the Maas Gallery, London in 1975. This was followed by the exhibition: ‘Father and Daughter - Blandford Fletcher, Painter, Rosamund Fletcher, Sculptor’, held at the Ashmoleon Museum, Oxford in 1979. Fletcher was also represented at the highly influential show ‘Artists at the Newlyn School’, held in Newlyn in 1979. During her researches on Walter Osborne, Jeanne Sheehy befriended Rosamund Fletcher and her family. Rosamund generously presented ‘A Kitchen Garden in November’ to the National Gallery of Ireland in 1984. This painting was included in the exhibition ‘Peintres Britanniques en Bretagne’, held at the Musee de Pont- Aven in summer 2004. Fletcher was at his happiest and most accomplished painting English village scenes: with country men and women conversing, children playing, red bricked houses, church towers and gardens with trees in leaf. This painting comes from his finest, most colourful period in the 1880’s. The picture is set in Blewbury, Oxfordshire. As in popular cottage garden paintings of the Victorian period, a woman with a bonnet and an elderly man are shown conversing by a wicket gate in the foreground. But the treatment is realistic. Their faces are half in shadow, and are left generalised, while their figures are painted realistically. The woman wears a white bonnet and an apron, and carries a basket and a rolled green umbrella or sunshade. The figures of the children: girl and boy in straw hats, carrying a pail and stick (or fishing rod), walking along the earth track, are delightful. Viewed from behind, they could easily come out of a Walter Osborne painting. Fletcher and Osborne worked in some of the same villages in the late 1880’s, and their paintings feature similar scenes with figures, red brick houses and tiled roofs and vivid green trees, evoking a similar atmosphere of roseate light and summer warmth. The two artists influenced one another in their treatment of ‘plein air’ subjects. For example, Fletcher’s representation of the sky: soft clouds against duck-egg blue is the same as that of Osborne’s. Fletcher also makes use of the popular ‘square-brush’ style, for example in the bonnet and dress of the woman, in the man’s coat, and in areas of the sky. Even, suprisingly, in the ribbon that hangs down the woman’s chest. Instead of representing this in a simple downward stroke, Fletcher renders it carefully with combed horizontal strokes. Julian Campbell 1. Adrian Le Harival and Michael Wynne, ‘National Gallery of Ireland. Acquisitions 1984-86.’ p.4 . 2. Jeanne Sheehy, ‘The Flight from South Kensington. British Artists at the Antwerp Academy, 1877-1885’. ‘Art History’, Vol. 20, no. 1, March 1997. 3. Caroline Fox and Francis Greenacre, ‘Artists of the Newlyn School, 1880-1900’, Newlyn Art Gallery, 1979, p. 249. 4. J. Sheehy, 1997, op.cit. 5. J. Sheehy, ‘Walter Osborne’, National Gallery of Ireland, 1983, p.21. 6. Receipts of Pension Gloanec, May-Oct. 1883 (copies in Archives, Musee de Pont-Avon). 7. Label on reverse of painting. See Le Harival and Wynne, op.cit. 8. Inscription on reverse of panel of ‘The Grand Place, Quimperlé’, lot 166 in ‘Irish Art, Sotheby’s, 18 May, 2001. 9. ‘Fox and Greenacre’, 1979, op.cit. 10. J. Sheehy, 1983, op.cit. p.23, 76. 11. Inscription on reverse of panel of ‘The Quay at Rye, Sussex’, lot 165 in ‘Irish Art Sale, Sotheby’s, 18 May, 2001.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 29 16/02/2005 09:13:56 am 38. PAUL HENRY R.H.A. 1876 – 1958 ‘Landscape’, c.1928-32

Oil on board, 12.5 x 15.3 (illustrated actual size)

Provenance: Private collection, Belfast. Gorry Gallery, 1996 Private collection, Dublin.

Although it is impossible to say where this composition represents, it is almost certainly a scene in Connemara. The low horizon line, with a band of blue mountains to halt the recession of the eye while the principal action of the scene is played out in the sky, is a quintessential ‘Paul Henry’ compositional device which lends a theatrical sense of drama to the scene. The handling of paint, which has been applied throughout in carefully descriptive strokes of a small brush is also characteristic of Henry’s art, as is his ability to reduce forms to their essentials, thus revealing a deceptively skilful command of concept, materials and execution. It is in areas such as these that, as an artist. Henry stands head and shoulders above his many imitators. In this delightful composition, the clouds are finely and sensitively modelled and are imbued with a sense of animation as they move across the sky, while the clearness of the blue sky at the top right is echoed in the gentle burst of sunlight that catches the immediate foreground to the bottom right. Even the rocks in the foreground are only lightly modelled, yet in the clarity of the brushwork the artist well conveys the nature of the semi-barren terrain.

While Henry usually signed his paintings, he did not invariably do so; the absence of a signature on this work is therefore of no significance. Dated c.1928-32 on stylistic grounds, the fluid paint, heavily laden with linseed oil, contrasting with the drier paint that typifies Henry’s earlier years. Landscape is provisionally numbered 0317 in S. B. Kennedy’s on-going catalogue of Paul Henry’s complete oeuvre.

Dr. S.B. Kennedy December 2003

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 30 16/02/2005 09:13:59 am 41. PAUL HENRY R.H.A. (1876 – 1958) ‘Western Skies’, c.1919

Oil on canvas 51 x 61 Signed: ‘PAUL HENRY’ b.1.

Provenance: Oriel Gallery Dublin, 1990, Private collection; Oriel Gallery, 2003

Exhibited: Paintings by Mr. & Mrs. Paul Henry, Magee’s Gallery, Belfast, from 14 April 1919; Pictures by Paul and Grace Henry, Mills’ Hall, Dublin, 12-24 May 1919; Paintings by Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) and Frank McKelvey RHA (1895-1974), Oriel Gallery, Dublin, 11 December 1990-26 January 1991 (32 reproduced in colour)

The composition, typography, handling of the paint and the general mood established in Western Skies is similar to that in a number of other pictures by Paul Henry, such as An Antrim Bog, 1919, A Western Landscape, c. 1919 and The Bog Cutting, c. 1919. An Antrim Bog is known to have been painted in the spring of 1919 when Paul Henry and his first wife, Grace, visited Cushendun in County Antrim, so it seems likely that Western Skies also dates from around that time and that the setting is also County Antrim, If that is the case. then the precise location is almost certainly a stretch of bogland situated near Glarryford and close to the present A26 main road, an area famed for the two stretches of pine trees that form a sort of archway over the road. The narrow strip of land at the bottom of the picture plane is common to all these pictures, as is the flat terrain and the band of purple hills in the distance that halts the eye’s recession. In each case, too, the landscape is sodden and is further threatened with rain – indeed in Western Skies rain already intrudes – from the menacing cumulous clouds. The range of colours is restrained in each picture, although Western Skies is lighter in mood than is the case in the other compositions.

Western Skies was painted at a difficult time in Henry’s life. While he was enchanted with Achill Island (where he had lived since 1910), Grace loathed it. They had hoped to find somewhere to live around Cushendun (hence their visit there earlier that spring) but had no luck, and so they decided to settle instead in Dublin. Henry was uneasy about the move, principally because of the extra burden of living expenses involved, and he agreed to it really in the hope that it would bring stability to the deteriorating relationship between him and Grace at that time. Writing to a mutual acquaintance, Jimmy Good, a friend and columnist on the Freeman’s Journal, commented that Paul was ‘finding it rather an uphill fight in Dublin.‘ But, he said, ‘he is clinging on grimly,’ although he was ‘much more jumpy’ that he used to be. His lack of ease, brought about by his domestic difficulties, are almost certainly reflected in the dark tones that permeate Western Skies and these other pictures. Much of Paul Henry’s work of the 1920s and early 1930s is coloured by his personal circumstances, for the decade began for him with financial problems and ended with the break up of his marriage to Grace. It is in this context that Western Skies should be seen. It is a fine painting in its own right, full of understanding for the topography of the landscape, and the prevailing mood, as with the weather depicted, is a mixture of uncertainty, hope and expectation.

Western Skies is provisionally numbered 0269 in S. B. Kennedy’s ongoing catalogue raisonné of Paul Henry‘s oeuvre.

Dr. S.B. Kennedy

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 31 16/02/2005 09:14:02 am 42. WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT

43. WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 32 16/02/2005 09:14:06 am 14. ALOYSIUS O’KELLY (1853 – c.1941) ‘In a Breton Orchard’

Oil on canvas 64 x 53.5 Signed

Literature: Niamh O’Sullivan, Re-orientations. Aloysius O’Kelly: Painting Politics and Popular Culture, Dublin: Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modem Art, 1999

The response of some late nineteenth-century painters to the pressures of modernism was to selectively apply style to subject matter, employing impressionist techniques, for example, to outdoor subjects while retaining more academic methods for indoor genre scenes. It is in this context that we can reconcile Aloysius O’Kelly’s stylistic acrobatics. One of the most remarkable aspects of O’Kelly is his stylistic eclecticism. He experimented with styles as diverse as realism, naturalism and orientalism, as well as his more vaunted impressionist and post-impressionist leanings. Chameleon-like, O’Kelly sought to adapt himself to local styles and conditions: realist in Ireland, naturalist in France and orientalist in North Africa. While such adaptability is now bewildering, it was prized as versatility at the time. Moreover, notwithstanding various sub-texts, evident in Mass in a Connemara Cabin, for example, O’Kelly’s indoor scenes tended to revert to an erstwhile academism, while his outdoor scenes were simultaneously increasingly modern. Although he did not commit himself fully to impressionism for any length of time, around the mid 1880s, he came closest to it in style and technique. This painting is clearly related to the exuberant, impressionistic painting ‘Respite from the Midday Sun’, probably originally titled ‘Noonday in the Fields’, which was exhibited in the Royal Society of British Artists, London, in 1886. In this version, O’Kelly displays an advanced understanding of impressionism - the figures are dramatically simplified and handled in a remarkably bold, confident and modern manner. While many of his later, somewhat repetitive harbour scenes emerge with regularity, it is rare for a French work of this date, size and quality to appear.

Niamh O’Sullivan

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 33 16/02/2005 09:14:09 am 39. & 40. JACK B. YEATS R.H.A. 1871 – 1957 ‘Two Illustrations to “The Woman of Three Cows” by James Clarence Mangan’

Pen, ink and watercolour, each 11.5 x 16 Both signed bottom left, the first with the artist’s monogram, the second in full

Exhibited: 19 February – 4 March 1921, Stephen’s Green Gallery, Dublin Jack B. Yeats: Drawings and Pictures of Life in the West of Ireland nos. 21 and 25

Provenance: Sold by the artist after the exhibition to John Lynes, Lanarkshire; James Adam Sale 10 December 2003; private collection

Bibliography: A Broadside no. 4 seventh and last year (September 1914); Pyle, H., The Different Worlds of Jack B. Yeats (Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1994), p. 270, nos. 1969, 1970

Jack B. Yeats first became involved in the Arts and Crafts movement when he lived in Devon, publishing A Broad Sheet and some little illustrated books for children with Elkin Mathews, the London publisher. About the same time his sisters set out to Dublin to establish an Arts and Crafts co-operative with textile artist Evelyn Gleeson, marketing handcrafted embroideries for which Jack provided some designs, and establishing the Dun Emer private press for which he designed bookplates and prints. The sisters left Dun Emer in July 1908 to form their independent company – the Cuala Industries. This was one month after Elizabeth Yeats had issued the first number of Jack Yeats’s new illustrated monthly publication from Dun Emer, A Broadside, which was to prove such a success under the Cuala imprint – running for seven years – and is today a much coveted collectors’ item. W.B.Yeats would revive A Broadside nearly twenty years later – first with F.R. Higgins in 1935 and then with the writer Dorothy Wellesley in 1937 – where the emphasis was on contemporary English as well as Irish poetry, and sometimes music was included. Jack Yeats, along with other artists, was to contribute illustrations to this later more specialised, still monthly publication.

Jack B. Yeats’s Broadside (1908-15) breathed the spirit of the Irish Renaissance. Original in its art and presentation, it looked back to traditional Irish broadsheets and broadsides of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, where a sheet of popular verse was enlivened with a pictorial woodcut in black ink. A Broad Sheet (1902-3) which he published with Pamela Colman Smith, had consisted of a single large sheet of paper, but for A Broadside he adopted a smaller format, a folded sheet with one or two illustrated poems on the first two pages and one large uncoloured picture on the third page. Patrons received individual issues in plain blue envelopes, and handsome blue portfolios issued later enabled regular subscribers to store complete sets. Yeats published poems by modern writers such as Pádraic Colum and James Stephens, as well as old ballads and patriotic songs appropriate to the times. He did all the illustrations himself, and watercolour tinting was applied by hand under his instruction by the women assistants at the Cuala Press.

39. ‘The Woman of Three Cows’ (1)

Mangan’s poem ‘The Woman of Three Cows’ appeared in A Broadside in September 1914, in the seventh and last year of the set, when the subscription was 12/- a year, post free. James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849) was the essence of romanticism to lovers of Irish literature.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 34 16/02/2005 09:14:11 am ‘Born to unhappiness, dowered with a melancholy temperament and a drifting will, he never found natural joy save, like Thomas à Kempis, “in a nook with a book” and in the exercise of his art,’ scholars wrote later, lamenting that ‘like sundry other unhappy poets, he found joys less natural and sane in opium and alcohol.’ He worked sporadically in the Ordnance Survey Office, and as a cataloguer in Trinity College Library, encouraged in his writing by intellectuals of his day such as Petrie and Todd; and he is remembered particularly for his recreations of traditional Irish poems such as ‘Róisín Dubh’ (‘My Dark Rosaleen’), and ‘The Woman of Three Cows’, both of which appear regularly in anthologies of Irish verse. Yeats made two illustrations for the poem – the third (uncoloured) illustration in this issue of A Broadside, is a fair scene, entitled ‘Hoopla’.

Yeats seems to have gone to The Cabinet of Irish Literature for his version of the poem. The collection of volumes of the 1880s had been revised recently and republished in the new extended edition of 1909 by his brotherís friend, Katharine Tynan Hinkson. Yeats included all nine verses printed there, and in this first illustration conveys the gist of the main part of the poem. A shabby man, whose attentions have been rebuffed, grasps his blackthorn and clutches his coat lapels at the same time as giving the stand-offish woman a piece of his mind (she meantime keeps a tight hand on the lid of her basket). He leans towards her, looking up into her haughty eyes, exclaiming – ‘you it seems are big with vain ideas’ (she is also much better fed than he is). He exhorts her not to be so arrogant, for ‘worldly wealth soon melts away, and cheats the very miser.’ If Lord Clare’s sons, O’Donnell of the Ships, and other illustrious Irishmen (in his ranting the loquacious man gives a verse to each of the heroes he describes) were forced to bow to Fate ‘as every mortal bows, Can you be proud, can you be stiff, my Woman of Three Cows?’ The drawing which captures the tension of sexual confrontation superbly, is coloured simply and skilfully with an ultramarine wash on the tinker’s scarf and on the neck of the woman’s dress, with added touches of burnt sienna.

40. ‘The Woman of Three Cows’ (2)

In the second illustration the woman has managed to extricate herself from her unwanted suitor, and is seen departing in the distance, while the man broods fierily on their conversation, the final verse on his lips:

‘Now there you go! You still, of course, keep up your scornful bearing, And I’m too poor to hinder you: but, by the cloak I’m wearing, If I had but four cows myself, even though you were my spouse, I’d thwack you well to cure your pride, my Woman of Three Cows!’

The itinerant’s blackthorn stick is propped significantly against the stone wall which the Woman of Three Cows is passing.

Though Jack Yeats executed countless drawings for illustration, he never repeated himself. The personalities peopling the world of his imagination have all been observed from life and appear as individuals appropriate to whatever setting they are in. In these two striking examples illustrating Mangan’s poem, Yeats captures the characters and their emotional conflict to perfection, creating economic, animated, humorous images of great beauty.

Hilary Pyle, January 2005

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 35 16/02/2005 09:14:14 am 36

13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 36 16/02/2005 09:14:15 am 24. JAMES DOYLE PENROSE R.H.A., 1862 – 1932 ‘The Punishment of Loki’

Oil on canvas 127.5 x 92 Signed and dated 1894, also signed and inscribed on reverse

Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1894, number 450 Royal Hibernian Academy, 1895, number 61 Irish International Exhibition, Dublin, 1907, number 220

According to Scandinavian myth, Loki, or Loke, son of the giant Farbute, resided in Asgard. He amused himself by playing tricks on the gods, one of which led to the death of Balder, the most loved of their number and son of Oden, head of the gods and chief of all that lived. Loki deceived Hoder, Raider’s blind brother, into poisoning Balder with mistletoe, the only substance that could harm him.

As punishment for his actions, Loki was bound to three boulders, one under his shoulders, another under his loins and one at his knees, and had a snake placed above his head. Loki’s wife Sigyn held a bowl over his face to catch the venom that dripped from the serpent’s teeth, but when she had to empty the bowl, the poison fell with agonizing effect into Loki’s eyes. Loki’s pain was to continue until the day of Ragnarok (‘Doom of the Gods’), when he would break free from his bondage and lead the giants into battle against the gods.

James Doyle Penrose’s choice of this Norse subject reflects an interest in Northern European subject matter that was prevalent among Irish and British artists throughout the nineteenth century. For example, while Irish painters such as George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson and Bartholomew Colles Watkins painted Norwegian landscapes, others including Frederic William Burton depicted subjects from Scandinavian mythology.

This picture and two similar subjects by Penrose, Freyja and the Necklace and Iduna‘s Apples, all of which had featured at the Royal Hibernian Academy, were used to illustrate Donald A. Mackenzie’s Teutonic Myth and Legend of 1912. Other melodramatic subjects by the artist include Jacob Wrestling with the Angel and Margaret of Anjou and the Robber.

Though Penrose exercised a degree of artistic license in his representation of the detail of the myth, he succeeded in capturing its gruesome drama. Significantly, he presented Loki alone with the serpent, rather than attended by his wife Sigyn, and in a hostile, mountainous environment, perhaps in order to emphasise the giant’s dreadful predicament. Compositionally and atmospherically, the picture resembles a number of representations of dramatic classical, mythological and Old Testament subjects popular during nineteenth century, including Andromeda, Elijah and particularly Prometheus.1

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1894 and the Royal Hibernian Academy the following year, accompanied by the text ‘Loki, the personification of evil in the Northern Mythology, after causing the death of Baldur the Beautiful, was punished by being tied to a rock overhanging the sea, while a serpent, like an accusing conscience, dropped venom from its fangs upon his shuddering face’.2 The picture was also shown at the Irish International Exhibition of 1907, on the committee of which Penrose served.

Penrose was born in Mitchelstown, north Dublin in 1862, the son of a Quaker farmer and landowner of the same name. Moving to England at a young age, he was educated at Kendal School before undertaking his artistic training at South Kensington, St John’s Wood and the Royal Academy Schools, where he was awarded the first silver medal. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1904, and showed ten works at the Royal Academy between 1889 and 1904. Though he exhibited a significant number of subject pictures, Penrose is associated most closely with formal portraiture. He married Elizabeth Josephine Peckover, daughter of the Quaker banker Lord Peckover of Wisbech, who he had met while painting portraits of her family at their home Bank House (now Peckover House).

According to his obituary in the Times, Penrose was ‘a man of outdoor tastes, interested in rural amenities, his recreations being gardening, shooting and golf’. He lived for many years at Oxhey Grange, near Watford and died in Bognor Regis on 2 January 1932. One of his four sons, Roland (1900-84), also became an accomplished and well connected artist, who trained in Paris, exhibited Cubist and Surrealist works, organized the first International Surrealist Exhibition in London in 1936, published Picasso: His Life and Work in 1958, and was knighted in 1966.

1. See also Francis Danby’s The Climber of Helvellyn, Sotheby’s British Paintings 10 July, 1985.

2. The text was slightly different when the picture was shown at the RA. it read ‘Loki, the Scandinavian personification of Evil, was bound to a rock overhanging the sea, while a snake, like an accusing conscience, dropped venom from its fangs upon his face’.

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 37 16/02/2005 09:14:15 am 23. JOHN BUTLER YEATS R.H.A. 1839 – 1922 ‘Portrait of William Stewart Esq.’, (1819 – 1898) 1885

Oil on canvas 91.7 x 71.2

Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition in 1885 (catalogue no. 218)

Provenance: By descent in the family of the sitter

John Butler Yeats was born at Tullylish, County Down. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin and at the King’s Inns. Yeats was called to the Bar in 1866. He attended Heatherley’s Academy and at the Slade School of Fine Art in London and went on to become a talented portrait painter. He is best known for his drawings and his oil portraits of members of his family, Irish writers and those associated with the Abbey Theatre. Yeats went to live in New York in 1907 never to return to Dublin. He was the father of the poet W.B. Yeats, the artists Jack Yeats, Elizabeth `Lolly’ and Susan `Lily’ Yeats.

This portrait was painted in Dublin in 1885 when Yeats had a studio at 7 Saint Stephen’s Green. Yeats’s well posed and skilfully executed portrait of William Stewart of Rathdonnell, County Donegal shows how adept Yeats was at capturing the character of his sitters. The Stewarts of Rathdonnell were friends of the Yeats family and the artist shared an interest in sailing with William Stewart’s son Vyvyan. The Stewarts settled in Dublin and remained in contact with the Yeats children. Vyvyan Stewart and John Butler Yeats kept up a lifelong correspondence which included accounts of the vicissitudes of artistic life in London, of their children’s work and episodes on the yacht “La Vague”. William Stewart died at his house at Charlemont Terrace, Kingstown and is buried at Dean’s Grange Cemetery.

Dr Paul Caffrey

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 38 16/02/2005 09:14:18 am 49. AUGUSTUS EDWIN JOHN R.A., 1878 – 1961 ‘A woman in a garden, barefoot with a shawl over her head’, c.1908

Pen and ink and wash on paper, 46.5 x 30 Signed lower left and bearing the studio stamp for June 1963 bottom right

Provenance: Christies’ studio sale, 21 June 1963 (62) Amaryllis Fleming

Exhibited: The Fine Art Society, London, 2000 Amaryllis Fleming’s Collection of works by Augustus John, Gwen John and others (13) illustrated

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 39 16/02/2005 09:14:22 am 47. THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER

48. THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 40 16/02/2005 09:14:27 am 56. ARTHUR DAVID McCORMICK

45. J. JOHNSTON INGLIS

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 41 16/02/2005 09:14:32 am 63. BERNARD McDONAGH

53. HENRY ROBERTSON CRAIG

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 42 16/02/2005 09:14:38 am 64. MAURICE C. WILKS

65. MAURICE C. WILKS

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 43 16/02/2005 09:14:49 am 59. ARTHUR ARMSTRONG R.H.A. 1924 – 1996 ‘Landscape I’

Oil on board, 91.5 x 76.5 Signed

Provenance: The Richie Hendriks Gallery

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 44 16/02/2005 09:14:52 am 60. ARTHUR ARMSTRONG R.H.A. 1924 – 1996 ‘Landscape I’

Oil on board, 101.5 x 76.5 Signed

Provenance: The Richie Hendriks Gallery

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 45 16/02/2005 09:14:56 am 68. HENRY ALBERT HARTLAND

21. GEORGE GRATTAN

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 46 16/02/2005 09:15:02 am 35. ROSE BARTON R.W.S., 1856 – 1929 ‘Parks Place, Knightsbridge, London’

Watercolour on paper heightened with white, 35.5 x 25.5 Signed and dated 1916

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 47 16/02/2005 09:15:06 am Measurements in centimetres, height precedes width. ROBERT CRONE c.1718 – 1779 5. ‘A view of the Roman Compagna from the Temple of Vesta at Delphi with a view of Rome in the far distance’ GALLERY I Oil on canvas 95.6 x 132.7 Signed, inscribed “Roma” and dated 1765

ROBERT RICHARD SCANLAN fl. 1826 – 1864 Illustration and text on page 4 and front cover 1. ‘Two figures drinking’ Pen with brown washes on paper 18.3 x 13 THOMAS JAMES MULVANY R.H.A. 1779 – 1845 Signed with initials and dated 1836. 6. ‘The Devil’s Punch Bowl, Killarney, looking towards the Glen Illustrated below of the Horse’ Illustration and text on page 15

JOHN HENRY CAMPBELL 1757 – 1828 7. ‘Anglers on the River Dargle, Co. Wicklow’ Oil on board 23.4 x 35 Illustrated on page 14

8. ‘On the River Dargle, Co. Wicklow, with the Sugar Loaf Mountain beyond’ Oil on board 23.4 x 35 Illustrated on page 14 In original Irish frames

DANIEL GARDNER c.1750 – 1805 9. ‘Portrait of Viscount Wentworth of Wellesborough’ Illustration and text on page 8

WILLIAM VAN DER HAGEN fl. 1720 – 1745 10. ‘The Cabragh House Capriccio’ Illustration and text on pages 6 & 7

NATHANIEL BERMINGHAM [b.c.1720, fl.c.1736 – 74] 11. ‘Portrait of Mrs. Farmer’, c.1775 Illustration and text on page 9

GEORGE BARRET R.A. 1728 – 1784 1. ROBERT RICHARD SCANLAN 12. ‘The entrance to the Dargle Gorge’ Illustration and text on page 5 HUGH DOUGLAS HAMILTON 1740 – 1803 2. ‘Mrs. David La Touche of Marley [c.1771 c.1795]’ NATHANIEL HONE THE ELDER R.A. 1718 – 1784 Illustration and text on page 10 13. ‘Portrait of a Girl with a Cat’, c.1780 Illustration and text on page 17 WILLIAM ABRAHAM Le MESURIER c.1785 – c.1845 3. ‘Rocky landscape with waterfall and angler’ ALOYSIUS O’KELLY 1853 – c.1941 Oil on board 30.5 x 35.5 Signed, with initials and dated 1830 14. ‘In a Breton Orchard’ It has been suggested that this view may be on the River Illustration and text on page 33 Dargle at Enniskerry from the Tinnehinch Estate. Le Mesurier was a landscape painter of considerable merit RICHARD BRYDGES BEECHEY H.R.H.A. 1808 – 1895 yet little is known of his artistic career due to his long service 15. ‘Bringing home the turf, County Kerry’ in the army which took him to many parts of the world. He Oil on canvas 63.5 x 91.5 served in the Peninsula Campaigns, then in India and later Signed and dated 1887 paintings are recorded in Italy, England, Wales and Ireland. Illustrated on page 13 Illustrated on page 21

JOSEPH HEARD 1799 – 1859 JAMES ARTHUR O’CONNOR c.1792 – 1841 4. ‘Wooded landscape with figures on a road’ 16. ‘The Belfast Paddle Steamer Victoria off the Perch Rock Fort Oil on canvas 45.5 x 61.5 and Lighthouse, Liverpool, en route to Ireland’ Signed and dated 1826 Illustration and text on page 13 Illustrated on page 12

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 48 16/02/2005 09:15:08 am GEORGE GRATTAN 1787 – 1819 21. ‘Interior with Classical Figures’ Watercolour on paper 40.5 x 64.5 Originally inscribed on the reverse: “This fine original drawing from the collection of William Grattan Esq.” (The Artist’s brother) Illustrated on page 46

WILLIAM BINGHAM MCGUINNESS R.H.A. 1849 – 1928 22. ‘Venetian Quayside’ Watercolour on paper 54 x 91.5 Signed Provenance: Newman Gallery, London Illustrated below

JOHN BUTLER YEATS R.H.A. 1839 – 1922 23. ‘Portrait of William Stewart Esq.’ Illustration and text on page 38

JAMES DOYLE PENROSE R.H.A. 1862 – 1932 24. ‘The punishment of Loki’ Illustration and text on pages 36 & 37

25. J. NUTTALL RYND

EDWIN HAYES R.H.A., R.I. 1820 – 1904 17. ‘Ship on the Goodwin Sands’ Oil on canvas 25.2 x 38.5 Signed also inscribed on reverse Illustrated on page 20

18. ‘Yarmouth Lugger, Dublin Bay’ Oil on canvas 25.5 x 38.5 Signed also inscribed on reverse Illustrated on page 21 22. WILLIAM BINGHAM McGUINNESS

GALLERY II J. NUTTALL RYND EX. 1869 – 71 25. ‘Malahide’ JOHN LAPORTE 1761 – 1839 Oil on canvas 33 x 28 19. ‘Killarney Lake from Lord Kenmare’s Park’ Signed with initials and dated 1868 also inscribed and dated verso Illustration and text on page 16 J.N.R. exhibited 5 works at the R.H.A. between 1869 and 1871 of Malahide and Howth subjects from his address at 2 ADAM BUCK 1759 – 1833 Upper Ely Place, Dublin. A view of “The Bailey Lighthouse, Howth” was also shown at the Irish Exhibition of Arts and 20. ‘Tambarina’ Manufactures, Dublin in 1882. Illustration and text on page 11 Illustrated above left

THOMAS J. PURCHAS fl. 1879 – 1891 26. ‘The Rocky Valley, Kilmacanogue, Co. Wicklow’ Oil on canvas laid down on board 15.5 x 30.5 Signed and dated 1884 Illustrated left Landscape Painter, Royal Academy Exhibitor

26. THOMAS J. PURCHAS

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 49 16/02/2005 09:15:17 am ALOYSIUS O’KELLY 1853 – C.1941 32. ‘Mass in a Connemara cabin’ Illustration and text on pages 22 & 23

JOSEPH PATRICK HAVERTY R.H.A. 1794 – 1864 33. ‘Portraits of the children of John J. Blake Esq.’ Illustration and text on page 19

GALLERY III (DOWNSTAIRS)

HELEN COLVILL 1856 – 1953 27. WILLIAM SADLER II 34. ‘A Haslemere Cottage, sketched from nature’ Watercolour heightened with white on paper 27 x 37 WILLIAM SADLER II 1782 – 1839 Signed also signed and inscribed on reverse 27. ‘Rocky Landscape with Banditti’ Illustrated below Oil on wood 45 x 68.5 Illustrated above It is interesting to note that although this classical composition with Banditti draws heavily in influence from Salvator Rosa (1615 – 73), Sadler has introduced a Martello tower in the distancce in order to add a local flavour to the work.

EDWIN HAYES R.H.A., R.I. 1820 – 1904 28. ‘Dublin Bay’ Oil on canvas 40.5 x 61 Signed and dated Illustrated on page 20

HARRY JONES THADDEUS R.H.A. 1859 – 1927 29. ‘Pension interior, Brittany’ 34. HELEN COLVILL Illustration and text on pages 26 & 27 ROSE BARTON R.W.S. 1856 – 1929

WILLIAM J. HENNESSY N.A., R.O.I. 1839 – 1917 35. ‘Parks Place, Knightsbridge, London’ Illustration and text on page 47 30. ‘Le Crepuscule’ Illustration and text on pages 24 & 25 DARIUS JOSEPH MacEGAN 1856 – 1939

JOHN JAMES BARRALET 1747 – 1815 36. ‘Poor Children’ Watercolour on board 27 x 20.5 31. ‘Portrait of an Irish Miller’ Signed and dated 1917 also signed and inscribed on original label verso Illustration and text on page 18 Exhibited: Watercolour Society of Ireland 1919, no.12 The MacEgan studied art in Dublin and London. He commenced to exhibit at the R.H.A. in 1881 showing portraits of Dublin politicians, Lord Mayor’s and clerics as well as landscape and figure subjects in pencil, watercolour and oils. A memorial exhibition was held in this gallery in 1940 in aid of his widow. Illustrated right (detail)

ROSE BARTON R.W.S. 1856 – 1929 37. ‘Piccadilly, London’ Watercolour on paper 14 x 17.5 Signed Illustrated left

PAUL HENRY R.H.A. 1876 – 1958 38. ‘Landscape’, c.1928 – 32

37. ROSE BARTON Illustration and text on page 30

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 50 16/02/2005 09:15:23 am JACK B. YEATS R.H.A. 1871 – 1957 EUGENE J. McSWINEY 1866 – 1936 39. ‘The woman of three cows’ (1) 46. ‘For ye it’s work’ Oil on canvas 45.5 x 81 Illustration and text on pages 34 & 35 Signed, also signed and inscribed on original label verso Born in Cork, he studied at the Cork School of Art, and later 40. ‘The woman of three cows’ (2) became assistant master at the Crawford School of Arts. He Illustration and text on pages 34 & 35 exhibited 38 works at the R.H.A. between 1890 and 1930 and also showed at the R.A. He lived for many years in London where he died in 1936. PAUL HENRY R.H.A. 1876 – 1958 Illustrated below 41. ‘Western skies’, c.1919 Illustration and text on page 31

WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT 1858 – 1932 42 ‘Unloading the Turf Boat’ Watercolour on paper 25.5 x 35.5 Signed Provenance: William Rodman & Co., Belfast Original lable verso Illustrated on page 32

43. ‘Off to the Fair (Rutland Island, off Burton Port)’ Watercolour on paper 25.5 x 39.5 Signed 46. EUGENE J. McSWINEY Provenance: William Rodman & Co., Belfast Original lable verso THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER fl. 1848 – 1888 Illustrated on page 32 47. ‘Still life of plums and redcurrants’ Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 WILLIAM TEULON BLANDFORD FLETCHER 1858 – 1936 Signed and dated 1875 44. ‘The village of Blewbury, Oxfordshire’ Illustrated on page 40 Illustration and text on pages 28 & 29 48. ‘Still life of apples and grapes’ J. JOHNSON INGLIS R.H.A. fl. 1885 – 1903 Watercolour on paper 28 x 38 Signed and dated 1875 45. ‘Balscadden Bay, Howth’ Oil on canvas 61.5 x 92 Illustrated on page 40 Signed Landscape and still life. Studied at the R.D.S. Schools from Exhibited: Royal Hiberinan Academy 1896, no.128 1848 and exhibited at the R.H.A. from 1850 to 1888 and also at the R.A. in 1856 and 1857. From 1853 he taught at the Cork Illustrated on page 41 School of Design becoming Headmaster in 1860, a successor to Robert Richard Scanlan.

WILLIAM BINGHAM McGUINNESS R.H.A. 1849 – 1928 49. ‘Village scene with figures’ Pencil with watercolour heightened with white on paper 34.5 x 58.5 Signed and dated 1885 Illustrated below

36. DARIUS J. MacEGAN 49. WILLIAM B. McGUINNESS

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 51 16/02/2005 09:15:32 am HARRY ROBERTSON CRAIG R.H.A. 1916 – 1984 53. ‘In the Louvre I’ Oil on canvas laid down on board 18 x 25.5 Signed and inscribed on reverse Illustrated on page 42

THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER fl.1848 – 1888 54. ‘Pansies’ Watercolour on paper 19 x 27.5 Signed Illustrated top right

55. ‘Still Life of Plums and Strawberries’ Watercolour on paper 27.5 x 38.5 Signed, also signed and inscribed on reverse Illustrated below 50. MOYRA BARRY

MOYRA BARRY 1885 – 1960 50. ‘Rhododendrons’ Oil on canvas 40.5 x 50.5 Signed, also signed on original label verso Illustrated above

AUGUSTUS EDWIN JOHN R.A. 1878 – 1961 51. ‘A woman in a garden, barefoot with a shawl over her head’ Illustration and text on page 39

ERNEST C. HAYES R.H.A. 1914 – 1978 52. ‘A Study from Life’ Charcoal and pastel on paper 36 x 24 Signed and dated 1935 also signed on original label verso 55. THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER Illustrated below

ARTHUR DAVID McCORMICK R.B.A., R.I., R.O.I., 1860 – 1943 56. ‘A Huntsman’s Tale’ Oil on canvas 51 x 76 Signed, also signed and inscribed on original label verso Coleraine born figure painter and illustrator. He studied in Belfast before settling in London where he contributed drawings for illustration in several publications. His paintings of historical subjects and sea faring men were highly sought after and he was a regular exhibitor at the main galleries and institutions in London as well as the R.H.A. in Dublin throughout his career. The famous John Player cigarette packet cover of the ‘Sailors Head’ was by him. Illustrated on page 41

WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT 1858 – 1932 57. ‘Coastline, County Donegal’ Oil on board 19 x 26 Signed and dated 1910 Illustrated bottom right

58. ‘Arranmore Burton Port, County Donegal’ Oil on board 18 x 23.5 Signed dated 1910, also inscribed on reverse Illustrated bottom right

52. ERNEST C. HAYES

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 52 16/02/2005 09:15:42 am ARTHUR ARMSTRONG R.H.A. 1924 – 1996 59. ‘Landscape I’ Illustration and text on page 44

60. ‘Landscape I’ Illustration and text on page 45

61. ‘Rock and Low Tide’ Oil on board 51 x 61 Signed, also inscribed on reverse Illustrated below

54. THOMAS FREDERICK COLLIER

MAURICE C. WILKS R.U.A., R.H.A. 1910 – 1984 64. ‘Cliffs of Moher and O’Brien’s Tower, Co. Clare’ Oil on canvas 61 x 45.5 Signed, also signed and inscribed on reverse Illustrated on page 43

65. ‘Silver light, Cliffs of Moher, Co. Clare’ Oil on canvas 45.5 x 61 Signed, also signed and inscribed on reverse Illustrated on page 43 Maurice Wilks was commissioned to paint these two pictures in the early 1980’s when the artist and his wife holidayed there. 61. ARTHUR ARMSTRONG

PATRICK SCOTT H.R.H.A. b.1921 62. ‘Design for wall hanging, A.B.N. Bank, St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin’ Mixed media on card 18.6 x 24.2 Signed Illustrated inside back cover

BERNARD McDONAGH b.1924 63. ‘College Green’ Oil on canvas laid down on board 35.5 x 45.5 Signed Provenance: Private collection, London

Illustrated on page 42 57. WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT We are grateful to the artist for pointing out that he painted this picture in 1947 in situ with his contemporary David Hone P.P.R.H.A., who painted a similar view. They were both teachers at the National College of Art at the time. Bernard McDonagh was born in Sligo in 1924. He studied at the National College of Art. He won several scholarships and awards and became a teacher there. He later studied the art of fresco painting in Rome and carried out many commissions in this media, and also painted portraits at the Vatican. Later he founded a School of Landscape painting in America and in 1972 his major exhibition of portraits at the R.D.S. was opened by Séan Keating R.H.A. Living in Sligo he has exhibited at the Oireachtas, R.U.A., R.H.A. and the Watercolour Society of Ireland and is a council member of the Sligo Art Gallery.

58. WILLIAM HENRY BARTLETT

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 53 16/02/2005 09:15:55 am FRANCES KELLY fl. from 1929 HENRY ALBERT HARTLAND 1840 – 1893 66. ‘Flower Piece’ 68. ‘A Broody Day – Towards The Purple Mountain’ Oil on canvas 50.5 x 40 Watercolour on paper 49 x 58.5 Signed Signed and dated 1870, also signed and dated on reverse Illustrated below Illustrated on page 46

WILLIAM BROCAS R.H.A. c.1794 – 1868 69. ‘Portrait of a young boy holding a bow and arrow’ Watercolour on paper, heightened with white 37 x 25.5 Signed and dated 1837 Illustrated below

66. FRANCES KELLY

ANTHONY CAREY STANNUS 1830 – 1919 67. ‘Glenariffe, Co. Antrim’ Watercolour heightened with white on paper 23.5 x 45 Stannus was born in Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim. He studied in Belfast, London and Wales, exhibiting his watercolours regularly at numerous exhibitions during his long career. He travelled widely and many of his works were engraved and published. The Ulster Museum, Belfast, and the V. & A., London have works by him. 69. WILLIAM BROCAS Illustrated below

67. ANTHONY CAREY STANNUS

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13513 Gorry Gallery.indd 54 16/02/2005 09:16:02 am 62. PATRICK SCOTT

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

Christopher Ashe Dr. Paul Caffrey 5. ROBERT CRONE (Detail) Dr. Julian Campbell Patrick Flood Dr. Peter Harbison H.R.H.A. Dr. S.B. Kennedy William Laffan Bernard McDonagh

Michael Olohan Dr. Niamh O’Sullivan Dr. Brendan Rooney Sothebys, Dublin

GORRY GALLERY LTD., 20 MOLESWORTH STREET, DUBLIN 2. TELEPHONE and FAX 6795319 FRONT COVER: Robert Crone c.1718 - 1779 The Gallery is open Monday – Friday 11.15 a.m. – 6.15 p.m. Catalogue Number 5. Saturday (during Exhibition only) 11.15 a.m. – 2.15 p.m. www.gorrygallery.ie © GORRY GALLERY LTD. Origination and Printing by Brunswick Press Ltd.

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