Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

Viewings: New York | London | Cork | Dublin
MORGAN O’DRISCOLL
Irish & International Art
Monday 29th April 2019 at 6pm

23
Frank McKelvey RHA RUA (1895-1974)
FigurEs by thE shorE (1921)
oil on canvas
Front Cover (detail of Lot 48)
Louis Le Brocquy HRHA (1916-2012)
goldFish (508), (1984)

Licence No. PSRA: 002720
IRISH & INTERNATIONALART
VENUE: RDS (Royal Dublin Society)
Minerva Suite,
Merrion Road,
Ballsbridge,
Dublin 4,
Ireland
Auction: Monday 29th April 2019 at 6pm
Viewings: New York | London | Cork | Dublin
w w w . m o r g a n o d r i s c o l l . c o m
Index of Artists by Lot Number
Kroner, Sven 85
LaChapelle, David 116
Lavery, Sir John 33
Lawlor, Stephen 105
Le Brocquy, Louis 48,58,129
Leech, William John 41
Lohan, Mary 49
MacIntyre, James 139
Maccabe, Gladys 118,120,122
Maderson, Arthur K. 11,19,132
Maguire, Cecil 7,24,124,127
Maguire, Brian 128
Massouras, Alexander 156
McAuley, Charles J. 13,20
McDonnell, Hector 135
McGuinness, Norah 60,110
McKelvey, Frank 23,27
McSweeney, Sean 134
Middleton, Colin 64
Minihan, John 112
Miro, Joan 89
Moynan, Richard Thomas 38
Nietsche, Paul 26
O’Connor, Sean 125
O’Conor, Roderic 61
O’Donoghue, Hughie 77,97
O’Malley, Tony 76,93,95
O’Neill Collins, Majella 153
O’Neill, Daniel 59
O’Neill, Ken 157
O’Neill, Mark 30,154
O’Reilly, Patrick 68,99,100
Pye, Patrick 136
Rakoczi, Basil Ivan 131,143
Reid, Nano 45
Roberts, Thomas 40
Robinson, Markey 108,113
Roybet, Ferdinand 36
Scott, Patrick 51,86
Scott, Anthony 70
Scully, Sean 75
Shawcross, Neil 81,133
Sheridan, Noel 84
Shinnors, John 92
Stafford, Simeon 2
Summers, Michael 88
Sutton, Ivan 17
Treacy, Liam 10,159
Tyrrell, Charles 91
Vallely, John Brian 87,119
Warhol, Andy 115
Webb, Kenneth 29,151
Wilks, Maurice Canning 14,21
Yeats, Jack Butler 46,47,53,111
Yeats, John Butler 126,161

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NEW YORK viewing highlights
O’Sullivan Antiques
51 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003, USA
Tuesday 2nd April 2019: 2pm - 5.30pm
Wednesday 3rd April 2019: 11am - 5.30pm
london viewing highlights
La Galleria Pall Mall
30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 4UY, United Kingdom
Monday 15th April 2019: 10am - 6pm
Tuesday 16th April 2019: 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 17th April 2019: 10am - 2pm
Cork Viewing
Our Offices
1 Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, P81 P021, Ireland
Saturday 20th April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Sunday 21st April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Monday 22nd April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Dublin Viewing
RDS (Royal Dublin Society)
Minerva Suite, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland
Friday 26th April 2019: 1pm - 7pm
Saturday 27th April 2019: 11am - 6pm
Sunday 28th April 2019: 11am - 6pm

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london viewing highlights
La Galleria Pall Mall
30 Royal Opera Arcade, Pall Mall, London SW1Y 4UY, United Kingdom
Tuesday 16th April 2019: 10am - 6pm
Wednesday 17th April 2019: 10am - 2pm
NEW YORK viewing highlights
O’Sullivan Antiques
51 East 10th Street, New York, NY 10003, USA
Tuesday 2nd April 2019: 2pm - 5.30pm
Wednesday 3rd April 2019: 11am - 5.30pm

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Cork Viewing
Our Offices
1 Ilen Street, Skibbereen, Co. Cork, P81 P021, Ireland
Saturday 20th April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Sunday 21st April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Monday 22nd April 2019: 12noon - 5pm
Dublin Viewing
RDS (Royal Dublin Society)
Minerva Suite, Merrion Road, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4, Ireland
Friday 26th April 2019: 1pm - 7pm
Saturday 27th April 2019: 11am - 6pm
Sunday 28th April 2019: 11am - 6pm
Monday 29th April 2019 at 6.00pm

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BUYERS
A full list of conditions of sale are available from our offices or on our website
at www.morganodriscoll.com
BID NUMBER
Intending purchasers must register for a paddle before the auction. Potential purchasers should allow time for
registration. We recommend registering on viewing days.
BIDDING FOR PEOPLE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AUCTION IN PERSON
We are pleased to offer Absentee, Telephone and Live On-Line Bidding on our website www.morganodriscoll.com
PRE-SALE ESTIMATES
These are shown beneath each lot in this sale and they are intended merely as a guide and may be subject to change.
Amounts given in foreign currencies are approximate and are for convenience only. They are subject to fluctuation. The
legal amount due is always the Euro sum €. The auction shall be conducted in Euro.
BUYERS’ COMMISSION
The Purchaser shall pay the hammer price together with a buyers’ premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% inc. VAT). For
Live Online bidding there is a further 5% service charge.
VAT Regulations
All lots are sold within the auctioneers VAT margin scheme. Revenue Regulations require that the buyers premium must
be invoiced at a rate which is inclusive of VAT. This is not recoverable by any VAT registered buyer.
ARTIST RESALE RIGHTS
No artist resale rights shall be paid by the purchaser, it is the responsibility of the vendor.
PAYMENT
All purchases must be paid for in Euro in full within 7 days of the sale. We accept cash, cleared personal cheques,
bankers drafts, bank transfers, Visa card, Mastercard and Debit cards. The auctioneers and house agents act under which
we are licensed to hold public auctions, only allows for lots to be handed over to purchasers when paid for in full.
COLLECTION OF LOTS
In some circumstances small or portable lots may be collected during the sale on production of a purchasers’ sale
receipt. Our staff are here to help, but please remember that the smooth conduct of the sale has to be their first
consideration at all times.
Purchasers are requested to remove their lots from the saleroom after the sale on Monday 29th April 2019 or on
Tuesday 30th April between 9.30am and 1pm at our Dubin office. Alternatively, items can be collected from
our office in Dublin or West Cork by prior appointment.
DELIVERY
We can recommend a number of couriers who will deliver purchases for you at a reasonable charge payable by you.
This agreement is solely between the purchaser and the courier and no responsibility is held by the auctioneer.
International deliveries can be arranged, please contact us for details.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR BUYERS
A Full List Of Conditions Of Sale Are Available From Our Offices Or On Our Website
at www.morganodriscoll.com
BID NUMBER
Morgan O’Driscoll’s operate a buyer bid number system. Persons bidding at the auction must register and receive a
bidding number on arrival. Proof of identity is required from new clients.
BIDDING FOR PEOPLE UNABLE TO ATTEND THE AUCTION IN PERSON
We are pleased to offer Absentee, Telephone and Live On-Line Bidding on our website www.morganodriscoll.com
PRE-SALE ESTIMATES
These are shown beneath each lot in this sale and they are intended merely as a guide and may be subject to change.
BUYERS’ COMMISSION
The Purchaser shall pay the hammer price together with a buyers’ premium of 20% plus VAT (24.6% inc. VAT).
For Live Online bidding there is a further 3% service charge.
ARTIST RESALE RIGHTS
No artist resale rights shall be paid by the purchaser, it is the responsibility of the vendor.
PAYMENT
All purchases must be paid for in Euro in full on the day of the sale. We accept cash, cleared personal cheques,
bankers drafts and Laser debit cards (Visa and Mastercard credit cards are accepted subject to a service charge of
2.00%). The auctioneers and house agents act under which we are licensed to hold public auctions, only allows for
lots to be handed over to purchasers when paid for in full.
COLLECTION OF LOTS
In some circumstances small or portable lots may be collected during the sale on production of a purchasers’ sale
receipt. Our staff are here to help, but please remember that the smooth conduct of the sale has to be their first
consideration at all times.
Purchasers are requested to remove their lots from the saleroom after the sale on Monday 14th September or no later
than 1pm on Tuesday 15th September 2015. Alternatively, items can be collected from our office in Dublin or West Cork
office by prior appointment.
DELIVERY
We can recommend a number of couriers who will deliver purchases for you at a reasonable charge payable by you.
This agreement is solely between the purchaser and the courier and no responsibility is held by the auctioneer.
International deliveries can be arranged, please contact us for details.
Amounts given in foreign currencies are approximate and are for convenience only. They are subject to fluctuation.
The legal amount due is always the Euro sum €. The auction shall be conducted in Euro.
Any bids submitted must be given in Euro only.
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AT 6.00PM
OIL & ACRYLIC PAINTINGS
WATERCOLOURS
D
S
RAWINGS
CULPTURES
Auction Commences
OIL & ACRYLIC PAINTINGS
WATERCOLOURS
D
S
RAWINGS
CULPTURES
CONTENTS
Lots 1-161 page 10-171
Conditions of Sale page 172 & 173
Bid Forms page 174 & 175
Index of Artists page 176 & 177

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1
Aidan Bradley (b.1961)
Dublin Street Scene (2009)
signed lower left and dated (20)’09
oil on board
50 x 50cm (19.75 x 19.75in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist
€500-€750 ($561-$842) (£423-£635)
2
Simeon Stafford (b.1956)
Donkeys by the Sea
signed lower right and titled verso with
artist’s archive No:16.21
oil on canvas
81 x 81cm (32 x 32in)
Provenance: Private Collection
€800-€1,200 ($898-$1,348) (£677-£1,016)

11
3
Diana Copperwhite (b.1969)
Disappearing Into 1 (2015)
signed, titled and dated verso
oil on canvas
30.75 x 25.5cm (12 x 10in)
One of the most highly regarded painters of her generation, Diana Copperwhite has consistently returned to the
image of the human head. Where le Brocquy’s head studies are concerned with “an archaeology of the spirit”,
you could say that Copperwhite’s heads, just as specific and characterful, and beautifully painted, are at home in
an era of social media, digital technology and image overload. Each head painting embodies an individual as a
repository of memories, dreams and interconnections, dynamically poised between past and future.
€1,000-€1,500 ($1,123-$1,685) (£847-£1,271)

12
4
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Hens in the Street, Connemara
signed lower left
watercolour
30.5 x 46cm (12 x 18in)
Provenance: The Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

13
5
Liam Belton RHA (b.1947)
Pewter, Nude and Bottles (2018)
signed lower left, titled and dated 2018 verso
oil on canvas
43.25 x 56cm (17 x 22in)
Provenance: Peppercanister Gallery, Dublin where purchased by the present owner
In Liam Belton’s still life paintings, there is often a dialogue between the nude figure (usually a depiction within the
painting, an image within an image, rather than a figure per se) and an arrangement of inanimate objects. His high
precision, almost austere realism provides a factual record of things, but the image is layered with implications. Here,
the smooth, taut, tactile quality of skin and musculature, and the body’s curves, are evoked in the eggs and pewter pot
in the foreground, while the phallic candlestick surely suggests the male gaze.
€4,000-€6,000 ($4,494-$6,741) (£3,389-£5,084)

14
6
Harry Aaron Kernoff RHA (1900-1974)
Study of James Joyce
signed top right
pastel on paper
35.5 x 26cm (14 x 10in)
Provenance: De Vere’s, Dublin, 29th November 2006, Lot 95;
Private Collection
Harry Aaron Kernoff was born in London in 1900 of English/Russian extraction. Having moved to Dublin,
Kernoff became a leading figure in Irish modernism. Influenced by Se·n Keating, Kernoff painted the Irish
landscape, genre scenes, and portraits and is primarily remembered for his sympathetic interest in Dublin and its
people as seen here in his depiction of James Joyce. He painted street scenes, as well as Dublin landmarks with
sympathy and understanding. Kernoff spent the vast majority of his life unappreciated and made little or nothing
from his paintings until a few years before his death, when he began to be appreciated by contemporary critics.
€3,000-€5,000 ($3,370-$5,617) (£2,542-£4,237)

15
7
Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
The Twelve Bens from Roundstone
signed lower right and titled verso
oil on board
51 x 71cm (20 x 28in)
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

16
8
George Campbell (1917-1979)
The Turf Cutters
signed lower left
oil on board
35.75 x 46cm (14 x 18in)
Born in Wicklow and raised in Belfast, George Campbell’s two great sources of subject
matter were the West of Ireland and, especially later on, Spain. The poised harmony
of this fine Cubist composition, with its blocky forms and spaces, muted browns, deep
shadows and bold tonal contrasts also recalls his considerable musical abilities.
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

17
9
John Doherty (b.1949)
Trailer with Accessories, Farmyard, Dingle Peninsula (1985)
signed, titled and dated (19)’85 verso
acrylic on canvas
43.25 x 70cm (17 x 27.5in)
Provenance: Taylor Galleries, Dublin (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: Important Irish & British Master Prints, Merrion Hotel, November 2008 - Solomon Fine Art, Dublin
John Doherty is a photorealist painter but, unlike many photorealists, his interest extends way beyond the dazzling mimetic
potential of paint in the hands of a gifted practitioner. Having trained as an architect he went to Australia and became a painter
there. Back in Ireland, he focused on the vernacular built landscape - docklands, small towns, rural infrastructure - in a state of
decline, seemingly bypassed by history. In doing so he illuminated the value of what is at risk of disappearing but, more, he has
made numerous excellent paintings.
€8,000-€12,000 ($8,988-$13,483) (£6,779-£10,169)

18
10
Liam Treacy RHA (1934-2005)
Lifeboat in the Harbour
signed lower right
oil on canvas
30.5 x 41cm (12 x 16in)
€700-€1,000 ($786-$1,123) (£593-£847)
11
Arthur K. Maderson (b.1942)
Poplars
signed lower right
oil on board
80 x 61cm (31.5 x 24in)
€800-€1,200 ($898-$1,348) (£677-£1,016)

19
12
Gerard Dillon (1916-1971)
Loving Pierrot
signed lower right
crayon on paper
55 x 42cm (21.75 x 16.5in)
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

20
13
Charles J. McAuley
RUA ARSA (1910-1999)
Harvesting in the Glens of Antrim
signed lower left and titled verso
oil on canvas
41 x 61cm (16 x 24in)
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)
14
Maurice Canning Wilks
ARHA RUA (1911-1984)
Landscape at Ballyconneely,
Connemara
oil on canvas
51 x 41cm (20 x 16in)
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

21
15
James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944)
Fairhead, Ballycastle, Co Antrim
signed lower right
oil on board
38 x 51cm (15 x 20in)
Provenance: Roy Edwards Fine Arts Limited (framing label verso);
Private Collection
The Irish landscape painter James Craig was born in Belfast but spent his youth in the countryside of County Down. Craig briefly
attended Belfast College of Art where he studied drawing and fine art painting. He took all his inspiration from the scenery, people
and culture of Ireland - above all, from what he saw with his two eyes. He never attempted to embellish or distort nature. His job,
as a landscape painter was to reflect nature as it was. Despite this fidelity to nature, Craig was not above dramatising his landscape
painting in the style of Paul Henry. Also, despite his indifference to Barbizon landscape art, Craig’s plein air painting method was
similar to that of the Impressionists, as he was at his happiest out-of-doors either painting or fishing. Many of his colour schemes
are consciously sober and the raw beauty of the landscape is expressed in rugged paintwork. He painted in many different loca-
tions, including the Glens of County Antrim, as well as the more inhospitable coastal landscapes of Donegal and Galway. A suc-
cessful painter of his day, Craig exhibited regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1915 and was elected to both the Royal
Hibernian Academy (RHA) and the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA).
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

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16
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
Roundstone Harbour, Connemara
signed with initials lower left
oil on canvas
51 x 61.5cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (framing label verso);
Private Collection
€15,000-€20,000 ($16,853-$22,471) (£12,711-£16,949)
In the early nineteenth century, George Petrie and other artists began to explore the West of Ireland, including the coast of
Connemara, in a search for a ‘real’ Ireland, one relatively untouched by modern technology and urbanisation. The village
of Roundstone, with its pier and backdrop of mountains and sea, became a favourite destination for landscape and genre
painters. Nowadays, Roundstone is easily accessible by road, but even in nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the
railway terminus at Clifden, and a branch line to Recess, placed it within reach for holidays and painting trips. Tourism
became an important part of the local economy—as it is today—and a market developed for landscape paintings, notably
views of Roundstone itself. Many artists were attracted to the area; In the late 1940’s, George Campbell and Gerard Dillon
shared a cottage on Inishlackan Island, near Roundstone. Arthur Armstrong and Nano Reid were also visitors, while
Maurice MacGonigal, President of the RHA, regarded it as his favourite part of Connemara. His funeral in 1979 was held in
Roundstone, with William Orpen’s palette placed on the coffin. Having studied under Orpen, at the Metropolitcan School of
Art in Dublin, Hamilton’s love of Roundstone is another link in this chain. Other artists who painted in the village include
Hilda Roberts and Cecil Maguire; the writer Kate O’Brien lived nearby, while in more recent years, cartographer Tim
Robinson has lived and worked, with a studio on the pier.
Hamilton’s depiction of Roundstone captures the atmosphere of an ideal Irish country village, with a donkey and cart, no
motor traffic whatsoever and the sun shining on the white-painted houses. In the background, looking north, the Twelve
Bens are visible across Cashel Bay. Another view by Hamilton, this time showing the village in rainy weather, Soft Day
at Roundstone, is in the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead. She painted many views of Roundstone; the earlier ones
characterised by an almost conscious naivety and hesitant approach, while later examples are joyous celebrations of the
material substance of oil paint, with the artist mixing colours and applying them to the canvas with skill and controlled
abandon. This painting probably dates from the 1950’s, when Hamilton was at her most confident.
Born in 1878 in Hamwood House, Dunboyne, county Meath, Letitia Marion Hamilton was the younger sister of the portrait
painter Eva Hamilton, and a cousin of the watercolourist Rose Barton. Both she and Eva started out by exhibiting with
the Watercolour Society of Ireland. In 1907, aged twenty-nine, Letitia enrolled at the Metropolitan School of Art, where
her tutor was William Orpen. She went on to further studies, firstly at London Chelsea Polytechnic in London, and then
Belgium, under Frank Brangwyn. She was awarded a Board of Education silver medal in 1912, for an enameled metal
panel. In addition to exhibiting regularly at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1909 onwards (she was elected a member
in 1944), Hamilton was a founder member of the Dublin Painters Gallery in 1920. Two years later her painting Bog of Allen
was exhibited at the Irish Exhibition in Paris. Hamilton lived for a time in Sligo, before moving back to Dublin, firstly to
Palmerston, and later to Dunsinea House in Castleknock. In 1923, she and Eva made the first of several painting trips to Italy
and the Adriatic coast. In Ireland, most of her landscapes are of scenes around Roundstone in Connemara, Dunmanus Bay in
West Cork, and County Donegal. She also painted fair days in midland towns such as Castlepollard, and hunting scenes. Her
style was influenced by Raoul Dufy and French artists of the 1930’s, and her paintings are characterized by thick impasto,
and a delicate sense of tone and colour. She had also studied with Anne St. John Partridge in France, where she developed
her light Impressionist palette and expressive use of paint.
PeterMurray, March 2019

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24
17
Ivan Sutton (b.1944)
Roundstone Harbour, Co Galway
oil on board
51 x 76.25cm (20 x 30in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by
the current owner
€1,500-€2,000 ($1,685-$2,247) (£1,271-£1,694)
18
Alexey Krasnovsky
(1945-2016) Russian
Peach and Concorde Pears (2004)
signed lower right, titled and dated 2004 verso
oil on linen
40.5 x 40.5cm (16 x 16in)
Provenance: Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin (label
verso);
Private Collection
€800-€1,200 ($898-$1,348) (£677-£1,016)

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19
Arthur K. Maderson (b.1942)
September Evening towards Pic Saint-Loup, France
oil on board
120 x 150cm (47.25 x 59in)
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

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20
Charles J. McAuley
RUA ARSA (1910-1999)
Feeding the Ducks
signed lower left
oil on canvas
40.5 x 50.5cm (16 x 20in)
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)
21
Maurice Canning Wilks
ARHA RUA (1911-1984)
Above Cushendun, Co Antrim
oil on canvas
36 x 46cm (14 x 18in)
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

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22
Percy French (1854-1920)
Cottage and Peat Stacks, Connemara
signed lower left
watercolour
12 x 17cm (4.75 x 6.75in)
Provenance: Combridge Fine Arts Ltd, Dublin (framing label verso);
Private Collection
William Percy French was born in Co. Roscommon in 1854. He grew up in Derby before being sent to school in Derry as prepara-
tion for entering Trinity College, Dublin. There he studied engineering and for seven years he worked as an engineer spending his
spare time sketching and composing songs. He then abandoned his chosen career to pursue his artistic interests and in addition to
painting he wrote stories, verse and libretti for a musical comedy, a comic opera and a full opera, all of which were produced in
Dublin. He is best remembered for his atmospheric watercolour paintings of Irish bogs and skies, typically painted using a ‘wet-
on-wet’ technique. His work as both an artist and popular entertainer is commemorated by the Percy French Society, which was
formed in the 1980s, and which has a collection of some eighty watercolours by French on permanent display in the North Down
Heritage Centre.
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

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23
Figures by the Shore (1921)
signed lower left and dated 1921
oil on canvas
38 x 51cm (15 x 20in)
€20,000-€30,000 ($22,471-$33,707) (£16,949-£25,423)
In this delightful lakeside scene, two figures, a woman and a young girl—perhaps mother and
child—stand by the edge of a lake, looking out at a distant boat on the water. The outlines of two
figures can be seen in the boat, they are probably enjoying a day’s fishing on the lake. The figures of
the woman and child are highlighted where the evening sunlight falls on their dresses and hair. Their
bright clothing contrasts with the dark foliage of the trees in the middle distance. The reflection of
the blue sky on the waters of the lake again evoke a summer’s day. It is an idyllic, peaceful scene,
and one of McKelvey’s most evocative paintings, representing a pastoral ideal; one far removed
from the noise and bustle of cities, and the clamor of politics. But as always with McKelvey, there is
a sense of something unstated. The woman and child watch and wait patiently—most likely it is the
woman’s husband who is out in the lake boat. McKelvey had his own way of observing the social
realities of life in Ireland in the mid-twentieth century, and of making a quiet commentary on the
roles of men and women, as in this apparently innocuous and purely Impressionist scene.
One of Ireland’s most popular painters, McKelvey was born in Belfast in 1895, the son of a painter
and decorator. He trained as a poster designer with David Allen & Sons, before, in 1911, enrolling
as a student in the Belfast School of Art. Six years later he won a bronze medal in the Taylor Art
competition. In 1918 McKelvey exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, and thereafter showed
with the Academy every year until 1973. Along with Paul Henry and James Humbert Craig, he
became identified with a particular approach to landscape painting, one that emphasized the natural
beauty of the Irish countryside and coastline. Early in his career McKelvey was commissioned by
Thomas McGowan to paint a series of views depicting the older parts of Belfast city. These are now
in the collection of the Ulster Museum. In 1920 he established a studio in Royal Avenue and over
the following years became a member of the Belfast Art Society, the Ulster Society of Painters and,
in 1930, the Royal Hibernian Academy. In 1924, he married and settled in Co. Down, but two years
later moved back to Belfast. Although he was a leading member of the Northern landscape painters,
there are ten portraits by him in Queen’s University, and thirteen portraits of US presidents of Ulster
extraction, in the Ulster Museum. In New York McKelvey was one of a number of Irish artists
shown at the Hackett Gallery, while in Dublin, in 1937, he had his first exhibition at the Victor
Waddington Gallery. A founder member of the Royal Ulster Academy in 1930, he last exhibited with
the RUA in 1969. His favourite locations for painting landscape were Co. Armagh, the Antrim Coast
and, in later years, Co. Donegal. In this painting, one of McKelvey’s finest, nothing is out of place.
It is an exercise in light and shade, fluently painted.
Peter Murray, March 2019

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30
24
Cecil Maguire RHA RUA (b.1930)
Shires Ploughing (1977)
signed lower left and dated (19) ‘77
oil on board
36 x 46cm (14 x 18in)
€4,000-€6,000 ($4,494-$6,741) (£3,389-£5,084)

31
25
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964)
A View in Dunmanus Bay, West Cork
signed with initials lower left
oil on canvas
51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: Artist’s original label verso;
Private Collection
€15,000-€20,000 ($16,853-$22,471) (£12,711-£16,949)
In this painting of a country road, on the edge of Dunmanus Bay, looking north towards the Sheep’s Head peninsula,
a woman, dressed in the traditional black ‘Kinsale’ cloak, walks beside a donkey. There are other figures on the road,
in the distance. Deep shadows, bright hills and blue cloudy skies speak of a summer’s day in West Cork, with lush
vegetation and the red dash of fuschia flowering by the wayside. Hamilton’s keen sense of colour is evident in the
delicate tonalities of the blue mountains and clouds, contrasting with the rich brown and green fields in the foreground.
Hamilton often stayed with her niece Honor, who lived at Ahakista, a village on the northern shore of Dunmanus Bay,
about four miles west of Durrus. The area is one of great natural beauty; the climate is sub-tropical and there are a
number of famous gardens in the area, including Garnish Island. Staying with her niece enabled Hamilton to make
painting trips in the surrounding area, including Bantry and Glengarriff.

32
26
Paul Nietsche RUA (1885-1950)
Chrysanthemums
signed lower left
oil on board
61 x 51cm (24 x 20in)
Provenance: Phipps & Co Fine Art, London (label verso);
Private Collection
€1,500-€2,500 ($1,685-$2,808) (£1,271-£2,118)

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27
Harvesting (c.1930)
signed lower left
oil on canvas
46 x 61cm (18 x 24in)
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)
A consummate, if conservative, exercise in Academic Realism, with more than a touch of Impressionism, Frank
McKelvey’s The Hay Wagon is a depiction of work in progress on a farm, in a summer’s day in Ulster. In the
foreground, two figures watch the hay-makers at work. The figures, two girls, are in shadow but the clouds have
parted to allow sunshine to illuminate the work going forward in the field. In the distance, a man piles hay on top of
the wagon. The brushwork is inspired; quick dabs of colour suggesting sky, clouds, trees and grass. The composition
is understated; a series of diagonal light and dark areas in the foreground contrast with the sinuous vertical trunks of
trees rising to the left of the hay wagon. Although seen from a distance, the workers and wagon, bathed in light, are
the focal point of this work.

34
28
Ann Primrose Jury RUA (1907-1995)
Still Life - Flowers in a Vase
signed lower right
oil on canvas
63.5 x 76.25cm (25 x 30in)
€1,500-€2,500 ($1,685-$2,808) (£1,271-£2,118)

35
29
Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
Summer Poppies
signed lower right
oil on canvas
51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: Ballinaboy Studio, Co Galway (label verso);
Gladwell & Patterson Gallery, London (label verso);
Private Collection
As a student, colour made a deep impact on Webb, colour in nature and in natural forms, the form itself being of less interest.
Since those early days he has been experimenting with his own free romantic ideas and concepts, using direct colour in a subjec-
tive expressionist manner. Colour is an all-embracing experience which pervades the whole of the painting. Throughout his career,
Kenneth has been fascinated by a variety of themes. He gets hooked onto an idea, becomes almost obsessional in exploring it,
and has to paint his way out of it. “Whenever I am taken by a theme, I seem to have to start all over and invent my own pictorial
structure”.
These pictures are deeply personal, evocative of his remarkable garden in Connemara, and of the blanket bog around his home
there. We see the wild flowers, the pools, the rocks, the turf banks, the textures and shapes and moods of an ever-changing land-
scape. There is a real sense of place about his work, the place being Ballinaboy which is for him magical, full of mystery, sensual-
ity and colour. The artist needs an emotional element in his paintings which gives them an atmosphere and a mood.
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

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30
Mark O’Neill (b.1963)
A Quiet Place
signed lower left and dated 2019, titled verso
oil on board
49 x 59cm (19.25 x 23.25in)
Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist
€4,000-€6,000 ($4,494-$6,741) (£3,389-£5,084)
31
George K. Gillespie RUA (1924-1996)
Glendun River, Cushendun, Co Antrim
signed lower left
oil on board
30.5 x 41cm (12 x 16in)
€700-€1,000 ($786-$1,123) (£593-£847)

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32
William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
Shawlie with Red Haired Girl
signed lower left and top left
wax crayon and charcoal
45 x 36cm (17.75 x 14.25in)
William Conor was a Belfast-born artist celebrated for his warm and sympathetic portrayals of working-class life in Ulster. His
artistic talents were recognised at the early age of ten when a teacher of music, Louis Mantell, noticed the merit of his chalk draw-
ings and arranged for him to attend the College of Art.
He initially worked as a commercial artist, before being commissioned during WWI by the British government to produce official
records of soldiers and munitions workers.
He moved to London in 1920 and there met and socialised with such artists as Sir John Lavery and Augustus John. He exhibited at
the RA in 1921 and in Dublin at the RHA from 1918 to 1967.
Conor was one of the first Academicians when the Belfast Art Society became the Ulster Academy of Arts in 1930. He became an
Associate RHA in 1938 and a full member in 1946. He exhibited at the Victor Waddington Galleries in 1944 and 1948. In 1952 he
was awarded the OBE and in 1957 he was elected President of the RUA - an office he held until 1964. More than 50 works of his
in crayon and watercolour are in the permanent collections of the Ulster Museum.
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

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33
Sir John Lavery RA RHA RSA (1856-1941)
Nightfall, Tangier (1912)
signed ‘J Lavery’ lower right and titled verso
oil on canvas laid on board
25 x 35.5cm (10 x 14in)
Provenance: Mr Kingman (?);
Gorry Gallery, Dublin, c.1980s; to the present owner
€15,000-€20,000 ($16,853-$22,471) (£12,711-£16,949)
For John Lavery, still, cloudless evenings in the ‘white city’ of Tangier were magical. Some of the earliest,
painted on hotel rooftops in the Kasbah show the sleeping city, while others, painted after 1904, reveal the
landscapes to the west.1
When not visiting friends or attending evening receptions in the Legation, the artist
would in these years, like his Moroccan neighbours, repair to the flat roof of Dar-el-Midfah, his house on Mount
Washington.2
From his hilltop retreat Lavery could survey the surrounding slopes, gaze out to sea or concentrate
on the dramatic skies that often swept the Straits of Gibraltar. This unusual open-air studio was even used for
portrait sessions and figure subjects.
The present view of the hilly hinterland to the west of the city is thus, one of a small series. At least four others
are known, and all are painted at different times, from slightly different angles on 10 x 14 inch canvas-boards. As
a contemporary photograph indicates, these fitted into the open lid of a portable paint-box that could be adjusted
to support the picture while it was being worked.3
Of the group, the earliest date from c. 1911, and the final
example appears to have been executed in c. 1920.4
Lavery’s stay in Tangier in 1912 was particularly notable for two principal reasons. He, his wife, Hazel and step-
daughter, Alice, arrived in December 1911 and remained until the following April. Firstly, their stay coincided
with the French invasion of Morocco under Marshal Lyautay.5
Although life in the protectorate city remained
as normal for other nationals, French influence was inevitably set to increase.6
Secondly, in the New Year, the
Laverys were joined by the artist’s daughter, Eileen, and her fiancé, the Liverpool solicitor, James Dickinson, who
were married in March at the villa on Mount Washington – in what was to be the principal social event of the
season for the international community.7
Despite the round of socializing connected with the wedding, Lavery was busy, as always, and a number of
important seascapes and other works were painted during these months. He had for instance conceived In
Morocco (National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne), a large family portrait to be completed in London as a
complement to The Artist’s Studio, 1910-13 (National Gallery of Ireland). However it was in small sketches such
as Nightfall. Tangier, that he relaxed. Of the group, the present example is the simplest and most direct. A finely
gradated sky takes the eye through grey-blues and pale pinks to a hilltop on which neighbouring houses glow in
the evening sun. Before them, paths zig-zag down the scrubby slope and trees are swiftly dotted into place. One
senses pure pleasure, and expects, as with other examples of this type, that the canvas-board might, if the moment
arose, become a souvenir - a present to a friend.
Professor Kenneth McConkey, March 2109
1
Of the first type, Tangier from the Continental Hotel, 1891 (Private Collection) is a salient example, while the later type, painted from Lavery’s housetop, are typified by Evening, Tangier, c.1907 (Birmingham
Museums); for further reference see Kenneth McConkey, John Lavery, A Painter and his World, 2010 (Atelier Books), pp. 54-6, 95-6.
2
The precise date of Lavery’s acquisition of this property remains obscure. It is presumed to have been bought around 1904.
3
Lady Lavery’s scrapbook, Private Collection.
4
Precise dates for these informal sketches are uncertain. Lavery frequently signed and dated them at the point when they were given to a friend or exhibited.
5
Lyautay’s troops occupied Fez in March 1912 from neighbouring Algeria – allegedly to restore order in the increasingly lawless country.
6
Following the Kaiser’s sudden visit to Tangier in March 1905, Britain and France, with Spain, signed a secret treaty at Algeciras in 1906, under which Tangier would become a neutral protectorate. However,
following the Great War, many of the old non-French nationals began to leave the city, Lavery among them.
7
McConkey 2010, p. 116.

39

40
34
Mildred Anne Butler RWS (1858-1941)
Springtime (1896-98)
signed ‘Mildred A. Butler’ lower left
watercolour with touches of white heightening
73.5 x 53cm (29 x 21in)
Provenance: From the Estate of the artist’s niece, Mrs Doreen
Archer-Houblon, Kilmurry House, Co Kilkenny;
Christie’s, London, Watercolours by Mildred Anne Butler, 13th
October 1981, Lot 13, where purchased by the present owner
Exhibited: Old Water-Colour Society, Winter 1898, No.180;
Dublin and Kilkenny, Mildred Anne Butler, 1981, no.27
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)
In this large watercolour by Mildred Anne Butler—one of her finest works—three girls pick flowers
in a meadow by a river. In the background is a stand of trees.
Although Butler’s paintings are timeless, there is an essential Edwardian quality to her art; a sense of
peaceful summer pastures, peacocks on lawns, and evening mists in winter woodlands. Spanning the
nineteenth and twentieth centuries, her watercolours embody classic elements of Victorian culture,
such as an interest in gardens, trees and animals—the latter frequently assigned anthropomorphic
roles—but transcend the conventionality and sentimentality of much Victorian art. In later years she
produced sensitive depictions of cattle grazing, walled gardens and herbaceous borders, often in the
setting of Kilmurry, near Thomastown in County Kilkenny, the house where she was born in 1858,
and died in 1941.
Grandson of the 11th
Viscount Mountgarret, Butler’s father, Captain Henry Butler, was also an artist.
He wrote and illustrated a book on big-game hunting, South African Sketches, published in 1841. Her
mother, Ciara Butler (née Taylor), had come to Ireland from Leicester. The youngest in the family,
Mildred Anne had two siblings, Walter and Isabel. She studied art first under Frederick Brown, at the
Westminster School of Art. Then, in 1885, she and a relative, Lady French, toured France, Switzer-
land and Italy. Her work from this period reveals the influence of another tutor, Paul Naftel, who ran
a school in London, and gave correspondence courses. Butler was a dedicated student, studying the
technique of watercolour painting with Naftel, the depiction of animals with William Frank Calderon,
and absorbing a French Realist aesthetic from Henri Gervex in Paris. In 1894, along with May Guin-
ness, she travelled to Newlyn in Cornwall, where Norman Garstin was teaching a style of Northern
European Impressionism. First exhibiting in 1888 with the Dudley Gallery, Butler enjoyed both com-
mercial success and popularity. She showed regularly with the Watercolour Society of Ireland, and the
Royal Academy. In 1891 her painting Morning was purchased by the Chantrey Bequest, and that same
year Out in the Open attracted favourable comment from Queen Victoria. Two years later she was
asked to contribute to a portfolio, to be presented to Princess May. She also contributed to a presenta-
tion to King Edward VII, and in 1910 Queen Alexandra purchased one of her paintings.

41

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35
Sir Gerald Festus Kelly (1879-1972)
Portrait of a Seated Lady
signed lower right
oil on canvas
104 x 83.5cm (41 x 33in)
€6,000-€9,000 ($6,741-$10,112) (£5,084-£7,627)
Of Irish descent and educated at Eton College and Cambridge, Gerald Festus Kelly’s great skill as a
portrait painter brought him fame and success in Britain in the early twentieth century. To describe
him as a society portrait painter is to underestimate his artistic talent, although most of his sitters
were from wealthy upper-class families. The identity of the sitter in this portrait by Kelly is not
known. A woman her twenties, perhaps younger; she is depicted wearing a white silk dress, with
a fur stole draped about her shoulders, seated in a grey-painted chair. The setting is classical, with
the textures of silk, skin and fur rendered with great skill—the hands are particularly finely painted,
their languid elegance reminiscent of Anthony Van Dyck. As with most of Kelly’s portraits, the
background is plain; in this case a green panelled wall. What surprises is the freshness and unaffected
natural presence of the sitter; she wears little make up, her dark hair is not elaborately coiffeured,
and her expression might be encountered in an everyday setting, rather than a grand salon. What
shines through is her individual personality, and Kelly had a genius for capturing this essence of
personality; as in his other portraits of women, such as Marie Stopes, Eleanor Constance Lodge
and Esther Ella Lawrence, Principal of Froebel College. The majority of his portraits however are
of men; dressed in suits, academic gowns, or robes of office. He painted judges, chancellors of
universities, leading business figures and actors. Among his notable works are state portraits of King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth II. He also painted portraits of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Harold
Macmillan and T. S. Eliot.
However, Kelly is perhaps best-known for his many portraits depicting women dancers in Burma
(Myanmar). In 1901, aged 22, Kelly moved to Paris to study art. He was friendly with John Singer
Sargent and Walter Sickert, met Monet and Renoir and was greatly influenced by James McNeill
Whistler. Seven years later, a love affair with a Montmartre dancer ended badly, and Kelly went
through an emotional crisis. His friend, the novelist Somerset Maugham, who had based several
characters in his books on Kelly, gave him money and recommended that he go to Burma. While
there, Kelly painted landscapes, views of temples and portraits of traditional Burmese dancers.
Although he returned to Britain where he pursued a successful career as a portrait painter, he made
several more trips to Burma, living in the house of a district judge and made painting trips along the
Irawaddy river. He liked to paint night views of temples in Mandalay, the dark blue skies and moonlit
buildings adding a sense of mystery and exoticism to these works. In 1936 he spent time painting in
Cambodia. An energetic and popular president of the Royal Academy from 1949 to 1954, Kelly was
also a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy, exhibiting with the RHA between 1905 and 1969.
He received many awards during his lifetime, and was a favourite of the British art establishment,
being described by Kenneth Clark as ‘the most reliable portrait painter of his time’.

43

44
36
Ferdinand Roybet (1840-1920)
Le Griet-Apens
signed lower left
oil on canvas
97.5 x 68.5cm (38.5 x 27in)
€1,500-€2,500 ($1,685-$2,808) (£1,271-£2,118)

45
37
Vincenzo Irolli (1860-1942/49)
Canal in Venice
signed lower left
oil on canvas
47.5 x 37cm (18.75 x 14.5in)
€1,500-€2,500 ($1,685-$2,808) (£1,271-£2,118)

46
38
Richard Thomas Moynan RHA (1856-1906)
Hulk of a wooden boat at clontarf (1889)
signed ‘Moynan 1889’ lower left
oil on canvas
35.25 x 53cm (14 x 21in)
€8,000-€12,000 ($8,988-$13,483) (£6,779-£10,169)
Depicting the hull of a wooden boat, resting on the beach at Clontarf, this painting fits in with Richard Thomas
Moynan’s interest in depicting everyday scenes. The derelict boat, probably a yacht or lugger, is silhouetted against the
sky, its ribs dark outlines against the blue sky and white clouds. In the background can be seen the Dublin mountains.
A jetty leads down the water’s edge; beside the jetty a man stands, looking out to sea. A tall flagpole, with a flag flying
from a crosstree, suggests that the hulk is beside a yacht club.
Perhaps the most outstanding visual chronicler of life in Dublin in the later nineteenth century. Moynan’s work is
Realist in style, his genre paintings portraying both middle-class and working-class people. He seems not to have
been greatly interested in a career as a society portraitist, although he did a number of such portraits. There is a
modern feel to his work, an awareness of social divisions and of personal narratives. There is also a Proustian quality
to his desire to capture the flavor of a moment, one that at the time might seem transitory or inconsequential. Many of
his paintings, while large in scale and highly finished, are almost like snapshot views of an event.
Born on the South Circular Road, Moynan studied medicine at the Royal College of Surgeons, before enrolling at the
Metropolitan School of Art (now NCAD), where he was a fellow student of Roderick O’Conor. Moynan’s depiction of
a famous scene in the Zulu wars, The Last Stand of the 24th
at Isandula, painted when he was twenty-seven years old,
shows his alertness to news and world events, and won him a scholarship. Continuing his studies in Antwerp in 1884,
he gained more awards, his skill in figure painting resulting in personal tuition by Charles Verlat. After a spell in Paris,
at the Academie Julian, Moynan returned to Dublin in 1886, setting up a studio in Harold’s Cross. This is the large
room that appears in his 1888 We Hope We Don’t Intrude, looking every bit a Parisian atelier, down to the skylights
and cast-iron stove. Another painting, What Does it Want? (1887) depicts the interior of an art college, the title
suggesting a query posed, as to how a painting might be completed. The artist’s sister Marguerite was the model for
Moynan’s 1889 painting Afternoon Tea, while his wife Suzanna, and their children, Eileen Nora and Richard Francis
also appeared in his paintings—Susanna (who was also the artist’s cousin) being the model for What Does it Want?.
Politically a Conservative, Moynan worked also as a newspaper illustrator, working under the name ‘Lex’. He was
a popular artist and in 1889 was elected President of the Dublin Sketching Club. Exhibiting regularly at the RHA
between 1880 and 1905, in 1890 he was elected a member of the Academy. The following year his most popular
painting, Military Manoeuvres (NGI), depicting children playing at being a military band, was shown at the RHA.
Moynan’s work with the Masonic Orphan Schools resulted in other paintings depicting scenes of childhood; including
Tug of War, Ball in the Cap (1893) and The Travelling Show, depicting a Punch and Judy show in a small country
village, exhibited at the RHA in 1892. Ultimately, a combination of ill-health and heavy drinking resulted in his death,
aged just fifty, in 1906.

47

48
39
William Crampton Gore RHA (1871-1946)
Interior with the Artist’s Wife, Yvonne at Montreuil-sur-Mer
signed lower left
oil on canvas
76.25 x 65cm (30 x 25.5in)
€6,000-€9,000 ($6,741-$10,112) (£5,084-£7,627)
Depicting an interior in the Gore’s house in France, this oil painting combines elements of both Realism and Impressionism.
The room is shown in subdued lighting, while outside the open window, a sun-drenched courtyard is visible, with plants and
terracotta pots. The contrast between the brightly-lit courtyard and a restful interior, with its grey and brown tonalities, is captured
by the artist with considerable skill. Seated on a chair, beside a polished circular table, Yvonne—who often served as artist’s
model for her husband—is sewing, her attention fixed on the task in hand. Behind her is a chimneypiece and cupboard. Above the
chimneypiece, a gilt framed mirror reflects the bright light outside. From the ceiling hangs a glass chandelier. The atmosphere is
one of domestic calm and meditation; an everyday moment in a summer’s day.
The son of an army officer from Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh, William Crampton Gore studied medicine at Trinity College Dublin,
graduating in 1897. The following year, he was working as a surgeon in London, while also attending classes at the Slade School
of Art, where he studied under Henry Tonks--other teachers included Wilson Steer and Walter Russell. After practicing medicine
for several years, followed by a spell as a ship’s surgeon, Gore decided to become a full-time painter. He returned to the Slade
where, between 1900 and 1904, he was friends with William Orpen and Augustus John—he appears as the doctor in Orpen’s
painting A Mere Fracture, painted in 1901 at 21 Fitzroy Street. Gore rented rooms at this address, a house nicknamed ‘The
Newcomes’ (after the novel by Thackeray) and owned by a Mrs. Everett, a fellow student at the Slade. Orpen, Augustus John
and Gwen John also had rooms in this house. Gore shared a studio with Augustus John, and also bought drawings by him. Gore
then moved on to Paris, where he continued his art studies. By 1913 he was still in the French capital, from where he submitted
paintings to the RA and the RHA, as well as to the Paris Salon. He was a dedicated painter, exhibiting over one hundred works
at the RHA over the following decades. He was elected an ARHA in 1916, and a full member two years later. Although he spent
most of his life in France, throughout the 1920’s Gore continued to make trips to Ireland, to paint landscapes. A painting of A
Cottage Interior in Donegal, completed in 1930, was shown at the RHA the following year.
Following their marriage in 1923, Gore and his French wife Yvonne set up house in a town overlooking the Canche valley in
Northern France. Within easy distance of Paris, Montreuil-Sur-Mer was also on the route to Calais. Although the name suggests
the town is by the sea, even in 1837, when Victor Hugo stayed at the inn, the Canche river had silted up, making Montreuil
landlocked. Hugo chose Montreuil as one of the settings of his novel Les Miserables. Gore had been familiar with the town since
before World War One: In 1909 he painted The Circus Vans, Montreuil. In the 1920’s he painted St. Saulve, the Benedictine
abbey in the town, a scene depicted also by his cousin, the artist Dermod O’Brien, who stayed with the Gores from time to time.
In another painting of the same interior of the family home, Gore depicted Yvonne holding their young daughter Elizabeth. The
French doors are open, sunlight streams in through green louvred shutters, and there is a bowl of flowers on the circular table.
Gore exhibited a portrait of Yvonne at the NEAC in 1927. Two years later, his daughter Elizabeth appears in another Montreuil
painting, playing the piano. Gore was at his best with these paintings, which reflect his love of quiet domesticity, and of plants
and flowers—among his still lives are depictions of Hyacinths, Phloxes, and Zinnias. In later years he encouraged the Royal
Horticultural Society to host an exhibition of garden paintings at the Metropolitan School of Art. During World War II, Gore
returned to England, where in 1940-41 he painted a view of the RAMC Medical Camp at Bury. His daughter married William
“Bill” Burton (1907-1995), a painter from Norfolk, who attributed his initial interest in art to his Irish father-in-law.

49

50
40
Thomas Roberts (1748-1778)
The Weir in Lucan House, Demesne
oil on canvas
39 x 56.5cm (15.5 x 22.25in)
Provenance: Christie’s,16th March 1984, Lot 41;
James Adam’s, Dublin, 27th March 2002, Lot 41;
Private Collection
Exhibited: Thomas Roberts, 1748-1777, National Gallery of Ireland, 2010.
Literature: William Laffan and Brendan Rooney, Thomas Roberts, Landscape and
Patronage in Eighteenth-Century Ireland (Tralee, 2009) No. 36 pp.356-7, illustrated.
€40,000-€60,000 ($44,943-$67,415) (£33,898-£50,847)
In 1772 Thomas Roberts exhibited three works of the demesne of Lucan at the Society of
Artists in Ireland in their purpose-built exhibition in William Street. These were among
Roberts’s most popular works and today a total of seven works related to the commission
survive, most notably the exquisite quartet in the National Gallery of Ireland. It is not sur-
prising that this picturesque river landscapes proved so popular. Just four years later Arthur
Young, the visiting English agriculturalist, admired it, writing: ‘the wood on the river, with
walks through it, is exceedingly beautiful. The character of the place is that of sequestered
shade.’
Roberts produced two almost identical versions of the view westward, looking across the
weir and featuring elegant couples ambling along the pathway by the River Liffey (National
Gallery of Ireland and Private Collection, Laffan and Rooney, Nos 32 and 37). A third
version of the scene, the present work, is observed from a viewpoint slightly to the left. It
differs radically from the other two. Gentlemen and Ladies and have been supplanted by
rustic figures resting on the bank and a drover overseeing cattle drinking from the river. It
anticipates a nineteenth-century inclination to produce both ‘gentrified’ and ‘rustic’ version
of individual subjects depending on the context in which each work would be viewed. (See
Laffan and Rooney, Thomas Roberts, pp.183-84.)

51

52
41
William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968)
Tug on the River Thames
signed lower left
oil on board
13 x 20cm (5 x 8in)
Provenance: James Adams, Dublin, Important Irish Art, 1st June 2016, Lot 37;
Private Collection
€8,000-€12,000 ($8,988-$13,483) (£6,779-£10,169)
A view of the river Thames, this small but exquisite oil painting by William Leech depicts tugs moored
below Southwark Bridge, with the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral visible in the distance. Tug on the River
Thames may perhaps date from 1937-38, from just before the Second World War, when Leech and his
friend Sydney Thompson—a New Zealand artist he had known since their days together in Brittany—
began to paint views of the Thames at Billingsgate. However an alternative, and more likely, date for
this painting is the winter of 1945, when Leech, who had a studio at Steele’s Road, off Haverstock Hill,
returned to Billingsgate to paint views of the river, including bombed-out areas around St. Paul’s. If the
later date is correct, Tug on the River Thames is an evocative homage to a city which had just emerged
from years of destruction. Many of the buildings around St. Paul’s had been destroyed in the Blitz, but
the cathedral, rising above the ruins, remained a symbol of the resilience of London, and of Londoners.
Leech took his view looking west along the river, but his image is idealised, and the bridges depicted
are not in their correct order. In 1945, the three bridges east of St. Paul’s were Southwark, Cannon
Street and London Bridge. The artist evidently positioned himself close to the massive girders of Can-
non Street Bridge, but rather than depicting its box-like structure, he instead used the graceful arch of
London Bridge, the next downstream crossing, to frame Southwark Bridge. Built of stone, London
Bridge had not yet been replaced by the concrete structure that exists today. Leech simply ignored Can-
non Street Bridge, creating instead a composition in which the horizontal curves of arches are coun-
terpointed against vertical silhouettes of trees on the riverbank. These trees again represent a degree of
artistic licence, with Leech evoking a sylvan image of the Thames. While the image may be idealised
or romanticised, the real subject of this painting is the texture and colour of oil paint itself, with Leech’s
flickering, confident brush marks creating a wonderful image on a small wooden panel. The artist rev-
elled in grey and green tonalities, while introducing occasional flashes of colour, as in the plumes of
blue smoke rising from tugs moored between the bridges.
On the reverse of the painting is a fragment of a framer’s label, dating from around the 1940’s, with
the address ‘131 Waverly . . New York’. In the winter of 1945, London would have been full of Ameri-
can civilian and military personnel, preparing to embark on a return journey to the United States. It is
tempting to imagine this painting being bought by an American collector, brought back to New York,
and framed at Waverley Place in Greenwich Village; or possibly the painting was exhibited in New
York, and purchased there.

53

54
42
Georges Croegaert (1848-1923)
Contemplation
signed ‘Georges Croegaert, Paris’ lower right
oil on panel
27 x 22cm (10.5 x 8.75in)
Provenance: Ernest T.H. Bennett, London (label verso);
Private Collection
€3,000-€5,000 ($3,370-$5,617) (£2,542-£4,237)
In this painting, a richly-dressed Cardinal, in scarlet silk gown, sits in the grand salon
of a house in France or Belgium. On a table beside him, lie a sheaf of letters, an open
inkwell and a box, presumably containing pens. The cardinal appears to have just
written a letter and addressed it, and is now contemplating the effect it will have, when
opened and read by the recipient. The expression on the cardinal’s is somewhat comical,
and Croegaert has, with skill—but not necessarily cruelty—depicted this senior prelate
laughing at his own joke. There is a shared sense of humour here, in which the artist
has invited the viewer of the painting to reflect on the foibles of humanity, in the widest
sense.
A Realist painter from Belgium who had studied art in Antwerp and before moving to
Paris in 1876, Georges Croegaert is best-known for such depictions of senior clerics,
and also society ladies. His portraits of young women, dressed in glamorous clothing,
in fashionable interiors, often with a Japonisme or Oriental theme, helped establish
his fame and success in the French capital. While seeming at first glance superficial,
Croegaert’s portraits and genre scenes are characterised by a quiet sense of humour
and an insight into the weaknesses and vanities of mankind. In keeping with a long-
established Netherlandish tradition, the objects depicted in his paintings are intended
to tell a story, and to point up a moral. As well as his society portraits, he also painted
outdoor and genre scenes, sometimes set on riverbanks, with picnickers resting on
the grass. Occasionally he painted everyday scenes in cafes, as in his Café de La
Paix (1883). However Croegaert is best-known for his ‘cardinal’ paintings, in which
senior figures in the church were depicted, sumptuously dressed in red robes, but
indulging in idle or frivolous activities—other artists who painted ‘cardinal’ paintings
included Francois Brunery, Andrea Landini and Jehan Georges Vibert. Croegaert was
highly popular in his lifetime, not least with European and American collectors, and
his paintings have remained popular ever since his death, in Paris, in 1923. His The
Cardinal’s Lunch is in Hartlepool Museum, while Lady with a Fan is in the Shipley Art
Gallery, The Artist’s Studio is in Wigan.

55

56
43
John Faulkner RHA (1835-1894)
Hunting in Bartley (1879)
signed lower left and dated 1879
watercolour
44.5 x 77.5cm (17.5 x 30.5in)
Provenance: Ralph Smyth and Co, Coventry (framing label verso);
Private Collection
€600-€900 ($674-$1,011) (£508-£762)
44
Frank J. Egginton RCA (1908-1990)
The Twelve Pins, Connemara
watercolour
51 x 73cm (20 x 28.75in)
Provenance: The Doll and Richard’s, Inc., Boston (label verso);
Private Collection
€2,000-€3,000 ($2,247-$3,370) (£1,694-£2,542)

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45
Nano Reid RHA (1900-1981)
Tinkers in the Hills
signed lower right
oil on board
51.5 x 61cm (20.25 x 24in)
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Collection of William P. Mahoney Esq.;
James Adam’s, Dublin 5th December 2006, Lot 107;
Private Collection
Nano Reid’s uncompromisingly bold, linear compositions, shallow pictorial space and muted, even muddy palette, with subdued
flushes of brighter colour, set her apart in Irish art history. She absorbed modernism through her studies, including in Paris, but she
remained firmly rooted in her native Drogheda and her paintings are steeped in the rich archaeological terrain of the Boyne Valley,
her local stamping ground. The lives of Travellers, people outside societal conventions, were a frequent subject. Fellow artists
held her in high esteem.
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

58
46
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
Spring Tide, Schull (1919)
signed ‘Jack B Yeats’ lower right
oil on board
23.40 x 36.20cm (9.25 x 14.25in)
Provenance: Victor Waddington Galleries, 1942;
James Adam, Dublin, 2nd July 1987;
James Adam & Bonhams, 29 May 2002, Lot 22;
Private Collection
Exhibited: 1922 Dublin (1)
Literature: Jack B. Yeats - A Catalogue Raisonne of the Oil Paintings,
by Hilary Pyle: Volume I: No. 125 page 110, illustrated.
€50,000-€70,000 ($56,179-$78,651) (£42,372-£59,322)
In 1915, with World War One at its height, Jack Butler Yeats and his wife Cottie made the first of two trips to Skibbereen and
Schull; the second visit took place four years later. Of the sketches made during the first visit, it seems that only one, The Old Ass,
was translated into an oil painting. This is surprising, given the number of sketches Yeats made as he travelled, but can be linked
to a nervous breakdown he suffered not long after his return to Dublin. It was a profound crisis and loss of confidence, probably
sparked by the Rising of Easter 1916. However, three years later, Yeats had recovered, and the second visit he and Cottie made
to West Cork, in 1919, resulted in a wonderful series of paintings, all on wood panels measuring 9” x 14”. These were panels
that the artist probably carried with him, in a specially designed case, as he travelled. The paintings from this Skibbereen/Schull
series, listed in Hilary Pyle’s catalogue raisonné, include Clear Island, Lake Near Skibbereen, Near Schull, Schull, Castle Near
Skibbereen, Roaring Water, Low Tide, and The Bridge, Skibbereen. The painting Spring Tide, Schull forms part of this group. All
date from 1919 and were included in Dublin exhibitions in the early 1920’s.The first work listed above depicts the island of Cape
Clear, while the last, a view of horses grazing beside the bridge on the Ilen river, is now in the collection of the Irish Museum
of Modern Art. The tower house depicted in Castle Near Skibbereen is not at Lough Hyne, but rather another of the O’Driscoll
strongholds around Roaringwater Bay—Old Court, on the river between Skibbereen and Baltimore. The title of another work
from this 1919 series, Flowing Tide, Inishbeg, Near Skibbereen, depicts a scene close to Old Court and hints that Yeats visited
the home of the McCarthy-Morrogh family at Inishbeg; a house that four decades later would be rented by the American artist
Morris Graves. A tenth painting from this trip, Long Island Sound, Schull depicts islands in Roaringwater Bay, while a later
work, The Sleeping Tinker, dated to 1921, can also be linked to this series, as it also bears the alternative title ‘Skibbereen’. In
the titles of practically all his views of the West Cork coastline, Yeats includes mention of tidal conditions—as in ‘Spring’, ‘low’
and ‘flowing’. He was a keen sailor, delighting in any opportunity to explore the islands of Roaringwater Bay, and so would have
noted the conditions of time and tide that affect all aspects of navigation amongst Carbery’s ‘Hundred Isles’. Delighted with
Skibbereen, Yeats wrote to his friend and patron, the lawyer John Quinn, in New York, describing his visit:
There was good painting ground near to the town. All the creeks and islands of the bay were delightful. You remember
‘Carbery’s hundred isles’ in the ballad? I used to look up in the map for where there was a quay marked and walk there;
and nearly every little creek had a quay at the creek-head. Though we had not a boat at this time. The distances from
Skibbereen were too great. I have never yet got too much of rowing to a quay, going ashore, making the boat fast, exploring
the land, coming back to the quay again, casting off, and rowing away. (Letter to John Quinn, 8 October 1919. New York
Public Library; quoted in Pyle, Catalogue Raisonné, 116)
Yeats captures the essence of Roaringwater Bay in Spring Tide, Schull. The tidal races along this coastline can reach three knots,
and a combination of wind and tide makes navigation amongst “Carbery’s Hundred Isles” difficult at times. Yeats seems to
have taken his view from the Cusheen foreshore at Schull, looking south-west, towards Long Island and Goat Island. The key
identifying feature is the Bull Rock mark, a navigation mark at the entrance to Schull Harbour. However, probably because he was
working from earlier pencil sketches made on the spot, the disposition of identifiable islands is not quite accurate. He has placed
Cape Clear to the right, in the far distance, and what appears to be Baltimore, again in the distance, to the left, with Sherkin Island
in between. The closer islands look to be Castle, Long, and Goat, in that order. Yeats does not attempt to depict the sea in a classic
Victorian manner; his approach is more Impressionist, but nonetheless with deft brush strokes and an adroit mixing of colours
literally as they are being applied to the panel, he accurately depicts the turbulent seas of Roaringwater Bay.

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47
The Circus (1919)
signed lower right
watercolour, pen and ink on paper
20.5 x 17.5cm (8 x 7in)
Provenance: Sotheby’s London, The Irish Sale,18th May 2000: Lot 141;
Wellesley Ashe Gallery, Dublin (framing label verso);
Brock Fine Art, Dublin (stamp verso);
Private Collection
Literature: Dublin, Mills Hall, 1919, No.20 [Pyle 1271]
€12,000-€18,000 ($13,483-$20,224) (£10,169-£15,254)
Born in Fitzroy Road, London in 1857, and fostered by his grandparents in Sligo between the ages of eight and fourteen, from an early
age Jack Yeats became a talented ‘jack of all trades’, producing accomplished watercolours, illustrations for periodicals, plays for
miniature theatre, and ballads for broadsheets. He also sketched anything that attracted his eye, filling sketchbooks with brilliant, quick,
descriptive drawings. As a child in Sligo he fell in love with the sights and sounds of the travelling circuses that visited the town, and
back in London he often visited Buffalo Bill’s travelling show at Earl’s Court. This affection stayed with him throughout his life, and
the circus, and performers, are abiding reference points not only in his paintings but also in his plays and books.
Aged fourteen, Yeats returned from his grandparents in Sligo to London in 1887, to attend art college. Seven years later, he and fellow-
student Mary Cottenham White were married and set up house in Devon. Yeats was painting almost exclusively in watercolour at this
time, and exhibitions of his work were held regularly in London and Dublin. In 1910, he and Cottie left England to settle permanently
in Ireland, where he devoted increasing amounts of time to painting in oils. Two years later Life in the West of Ireland, a book with text
and illustrations by Yeats, was published. One of the illustrations, The Circus Poster, shows a boy gazing at a large bill poster pasted
onto the wall of a house.. In 1915 Yeats sketched a travelling circus at Arklow, in Co. Wicklow. He was drawn to social, commercial,
cultural and political life, but often veiled his own views and thoughts, expressing them obliquely in scenes from fairs, racetracks and
circuses.
In this ink and watercolour drawing, a group of clowns enter the circus tent, or ‘big top’. To the left, the audience are ranged in tiered
wooden seating. The audience are in shadow, while the clowns and performers entering from the right are a colourful motley crew,
dressed in striped costumes and wearing hats and headdresses. The atmosphere however is not one of light entertainment. The blue-
suited clown in the centre looks out directly at the viewer, his expression glum. He has his hands in his pockets, as if going through the
motions of entertaining. To his right, a smaller clown appears to cower back in fear. Amongst the audience can be seen some of Yeats’s
stock characters, not least the dark-eyed bearded man, representing the outsider, that appears in so many of his works.
By using the circus as a metaphorical space, Yeats look at class and society in his work, without causing direct offence, or being
labelled either left-wing or right-wing. In one of his early ink drawings, two men look at a circus poster announcing “Professor
Clinker on Thundercloud will jump over a dinner party” The diners are depicted drinking champagne, while the working men in the
street ponder on the division between haves and have-nots. Yeats was an avid theatre-goer, and a keen playwright. 1932 he wrote
Apparitions, a short play in which the stage settings are specific: the play was to take place with the audience seated around a central
ring, as in a circus: Yeats saw in the ring an arena that mirrored life outside the big top, while the circus performers parodied the
struggles of everyday life. In his novel Ah Well, set in a small town in the West of Ireland, the circus comes to town, causing excitement
amongst the citizenry.
Yeats was always ambivalent about the circus; on the one hand he saw it as innocent fun and entertainment, but on the other he sensed
underlying anxieties and traumas being acted out by clowns in front of audiences. This sense of unease is expressed most clearly in his
painting Johnny Patterson Singing Bridget Donohue (The Singing Clown) 1928 (Model Arts Centre, Sligo) which depicts a singer in
a touring circus—ostensibly a cheerful scene. However, Patterson, who was originally from Feakle and had served in the British army,
was seen as controversial when touring with his circus in Ireland, as he pleaded for understanding between nationalists and unionists.
Patterson was singing “Do Your Best for One Another” in Tralee in 1889, when a fight broke out amongst the audience and he died of
injuries received in the riot. Other paintings by Yeats of the big top include his 1906 A Travelling Circus, The Circus Dwarf (1912),
The Double Jockey Act (1916), A Daughter of the Circus (1923) and The Laugh and Alone, both dating from 1944. One of the key
paintings in Yeats’s oeuvre, This Grand Conversation was Under the Rose, dates from 1943 and depicts a melancholy clown and rider.

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62
Born in Dublin, and originally destined for a life in the petrochemical business, Louis le Brocquy opted out to pursue his interest
in painting, visiting the great museums and copying from the works of painters he admired. In this way he amassed a great
deal of practical knowledge which, allied with his considerable natural abilities, left him well-informed on art history, current
developments and technique. He initially worked in a mode of realism akin to that of Degas or Manet, but he was interested in
aspect of Cubism, which left him at odds with the conservative establishment, and he was instrumental in establishing the Irish
Exhibition of Living Art.
His many fine paintings of family groups gradually alternate with works that focus increasingly on the isolated human
presence, often in relation to larger social groups. These two basic themes continued to preoccupy him throughout his life. In
1954 he made landmark painting, ‘Children in a Wood’, inspired by a 17th century work by, it is thought, Cornelis Bisschop,
‘Boys Playing with a Goat.’ In the light of le Brocquy’s later painting, his 1948 drawing of children playing in a park in Paris
looks prescient, suggesting that perhaps even then he had the idea in mind. It is a gentle and good-humoured composition with a
mild Cubist twist. He returned to the children in a wood subject in the 1990s. In the meantime, he also went on to make a series
of related paintings from the early 1960s, inspired by a 1939 news photograph of a group of Catholic schoolgirls in cheerful
procession in Dublin on Bloomsday, the day of their confirmation.
As regards the individual as subject, le Brocquy’s breakthrough came in the early 1960s, inspired by Polynesian painted
skulls at the Musée de l’Homme and the Celtic head cult, he devised an approach to portraiture as “an archaeology of the spirit”,
a means of looking beyond surface appearance. There followed his celebrated series of paintings of Beckett, Joyce, Yeats and
other literary figures. He was in the midst of working on these when he made his charming Goldfish painting in 1984. Apart from
perhaps being something of a break from grappling with the imaginative world of Beckett, his study of the humble goldfish is an
opposite reminder of the transience of things.
In an interview with Ann Cremin in Paris in November 1984 the artist stated ‘’For just twenty years now, I’ve been painting heads
in one form or another. I imagine most of these heads are - when they emerge at all - essentially tragic, pertaining as they do to
the past, to memory, to reflection ...... Nature is by definition ever present. It has no past other than its soil. I’ve tended to refer
back to nature recently. I don’t think, however, that a painter consciously chooses his way. He hasn’t much say in the matter, not
much decision. He simply does his best to catch some sort of inner tide, to avoid being stranded. Often I am stranded, but just
now I seem to have caught a sort of ebb tide, to have returned to an older pre-occupation in a shift back to natural things around
me - to growing plants and fruit and goldfish and fantail pigeons. Perhaps this is simply a temporary release from the heads and
their intense reflective consciousness, their tragic aspect. A return to a simple state of being, emerging in its own nature, filling out
its little volume of reality with the various natural possibilities of its form’’. In the 1985 Spring issue of ‘’The Irish Arts Review’’
Dorothy Walker refers to the ‘’Goldfish’’ series :- ‘’ Even in his paintings of Goldfish, le Brocquy has created a more intense
reality than one can imagine emanating from that somewhat cool customer. If not even Solomon in all his glory was arrayed as
one of the lilies of the field, then not even the Queen of Sheba could rival the dumb, frightened goldfish shimmying through a
succession of present movements in a ukioye flow of self - images reflected in the side of her bowl, and bathed in the art-light
refracted from the relativity of all living things’’.
Aidan Dunne, March 2019
48
Goldfish (508), (1984)
signed and dated 1984 verso with artist’s archive no.508
oil on canvas
27 x 35cm (10.6 x 13.8in)
The Estate of William Roth;
James Adam’s, Important Irish Art, Dublin,1st October 2014, Lot 46;
Private Collection
Exhibited: Louis le Brocquy: Procession of Lilies and other new work’’, Taylor Galleries March/April 1985 Cat. No. 22
€20,000-€30,000 ($22,471-$33,707) (£16,949-£25,423)

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64
50
Michael Farrell (1940-2000)
Lost Man (1978)
signed lower right and dated ‘78
watercolour and pencil
52.5 x 72.5cm (20.75 x 28.5in)
€1,000-€1,500 ($1,123-$1,685) (£847-£1,271)
49
Mary Lohan (b.1954)
Rainswept (2005)
signed verso
oil on paper - diptych
25.5 x 71cm (10 x 28in)
Provenance: Vangard Gallery, Cork (label verso);
Private Collection
Exhibited: Recent Paintings, 16th September -7th October 2005, Vangard Gallery, Cork
€1,500-€2,500 ($1,685-$2,808) (£1,271-£2,118)

65
51
Patrick Scott HRHA (1921-2014)
Gold Painting - Untitled
tempera and gold leaf on linen
61 x 61cm (24 x 24in)
Provenance: De Vere’s Dublin, 4th April 2017, Lot 101;
Private Collection
A fine example of one of Patrick Scott’s signature, elegantly stated gold paintings. Inspired by the red solar disc of the
Japanese flag, they centre on the sun. Here a jagged, rhythmic pattern defines the circle, bringing to mind the solar co-
rona, usually visible during an eclipse, while the square of gold leaf provides an intimation of the unseen fire within.
€5,000-€7,000 ($5,617-$7,865) (£4,237-£5,932)

66
52
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
Evening in Achill (1930-8)
signed ‘PAUL HENRY’ lower left
oil on board
51 x 61cm (20 x 24in)
Provenance: Gorry Gallery, Dublin;
Mrs Anne Ledwith, 1957;
Thence by descent;
Adam’s, Dublin 23rd March 2005 Lot 26;
These Auction Rooms, 5th December 2016: Lot 64;
Private Collection
Literature: S. B. Kennedy, Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings, Drawings, Illustrations,
Yale University Press, New Haven & London, 2007, p. 253, catalogue number 772
€150,000-€250,000 ($168,539-$280,898) (£127,118-£211,864)
This is one of several compositions (cf. The Village by the Lake, Kennedy, 2007, cat. no. 613;
West of Ireland Landscape with Cottages, Kennedy, 2007, cat. no. 614; and The Village by the
Lake, Kennedy, 2007, cat. no. 632), all of similar imagery, which Henry painted in the mid-1920s
and 1930s. While the venue cannot be identified in any of these pictures they are almost certainly
scenes in Connemara.
Moderate impasto has been employed throughout and good use has been made of the underlying
board, as ground. As is common in Henry’s work, a little heavier impasto has been used in the
mountains, the strip of water in the middle distance and in the foreground. The scene is serene and
is a good example of Henry’s work. Dated 1930-8 on stylistic grounds.
Dr. S.B. Kennedy, March 2019

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68
53
Homeward Bound (c.1905)
signed “JACK. B YEATS” lower left
watercolour
11 x 16cm (4.25 x 6.25in)
€7,000-€10,000 ($7,865-$11,235) (£5,932-£8,474)
A sense of movement and energy informs this watercolour by Jack Yeats, which depicts a horse galloping along a
country road at night, pulling a jaunting car. The jarvey of the jaunting car stands on the footboard to the side of the
carriage, as he urges the horse to greater speed. The title Homeward Bound suggests the anxiety on the part of the
jarvey to get home, as darkness falls. Such jaunting cars were common in Ireland around 1900 and are still used today
in scenic areas such as Killarney. Yeats depicts the country road flanked by a drystone wall, while detail of harness and
reins are visible in a sepia wash that transforms the painting into a powerful, almost brooding, image, with the figure
of the rider silhouetted against the pale moonlit sky.

69
54
Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016)
George Bernard Shaw
signed lower left
oil on board
77 x 57.5cm (30.25 x 22.5in)
Provenance: The Arches Art Gallery, Belfast;
Emer Gallery, Belfast;
Private Collection
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)

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55
Paul Henry RHA RUA (1876-1958)
Cottages (1930-1935)
signed ‘PAUL HENRY’ lower right
oil on board
25.5 x 30cm (10 x 12in)
Provenance: Collection of Hugh Francis Carey;
By Descent;
Christie’s London, The Irish Art Sale, 12th May 2006, Lot 81;
Private Collection
Literature: S.B. Kennedy: Paul Henry Paintings, Drawings Illustrations, published by Yale, University press;
Catalogue No. 762, page 252 illustrated.
€50,000-€70,000 ($56,179-$78,651) (£42,372-£59,322)
This composition remarkable for the handling of the water in the foreground, with its dabs of light colour and
the few reeds which brings the foreground to life (see for example Henry’s treatment of ‘Kinsale’, 1939, with its
dabs of a lighter colour on the water which enlivens the foreground view of the Scilly area.) Similar treatment is
applied to the sky, although the clouds are less distinct. The mountains in the background are similarly lacking
the direction of light so that the ‘Cottages’ themselves and the foreground are left to provide the interest in the
scene. This is one of the first times that Henry made use of this device. ‘Cottages’ is numbered 762 in S. B. Ken-
nedy’s on-going catalogue of Paul Henry’s oeuvre.
Dr S.B. Kennedy, March 2019

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72
56
William Crozier HRHA (1930-2011)
McCarthy’s Field (2003-4)
signed lower left
oil on canvas
40.75 x 51cm (16 x 20in)
Literature: William Crozier by Katherine Crouan, S.B Kennedy and Philip Vann, published by Lund
Humphries: Plate no.163, illustrated page 181
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)
William Crozier was born at Yorker, Glasgow. But both his parents were from County Antrim and through-
out his life he had a complicated sense of identity. He said that he felt like an exile, but he could never
quite figure out from where. In fact, he seemed very capable of settling comfortably into many different
settings, including Ireland particularly, and did feel that he was at heart a European. Perhaps the truth is
that his real home was his studio. He had a serious work ethic: every day in the studio, no excuses. That
stemmed from his student days at the Glasgow School of Art.
His first experience of Ireland was in the mid-1950s. Crucially, during the years he was in Dublin
then, he worked at devising and painting stage sets (and went on to do so in London). He was open in
stating that the experience influenced his painting greatly: clear forms, expanses of not-quite-flat colour, an
awareness of light. Another formative influence was a spell spent in Spain with Anthony Cronin in 1963,
absorbing light, shade, heat and intense colour.
Well into the 1970s he pursued a figurative course in his work and, while it produced many
impressive results, he felt that he reached a dead end eventually. The symbolism was too laboured. In
1982 he painted a tree struggling to survive on a piece of urban green space. It marked a major change in
direction. Around this time, he and his wife Katherine Crouan began spending more and more time in West
Cork. The landscape there, with its startling colours and contrasts, inspired him beyond measure and he
began to produce a series of vibrant, intensely coloured paintings that are among his best ever works and
mark a distinct addition to Irish landscape painting.

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57
Mark Francis (b.1962)
Untitled (2002)
oil on paper
58.5 x 76.5cm (23 x 30in)
Provenance: Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (label verso);
Private Collection
In his work Mark Francis sets out to represent the world beyond the limits of conventional vision,
the microscopic and the macroscopic. Whether he has in mind the realm of teeming microbiological
organisms or the data feeds from radio telescopes, he arranges his imagery against the armature of
a grid which symbolizes the underlying structure of the universe. Often, his evocations of normally
unseen processes have a slightly ominous note, partly because of their mystery.
€2,500-€3,500 ($2,808-$3,932) (£2,118-£2,966)

75
58
Study Towards an Image of William Shakespeare (1982) (Opus W629)
signed and dated 1982 lower left
watercolour
60 x 45cm (23.5 x 17.75in)
Provenance: Gimpel Fils Gallery, London (label verso);
Galerie Jeanne Bucher, Paris (label verso);
Gimpel-Hanover + Andre Emmerich Gallery, Zurich (label verso);
Contemporary & Design, Stockholm (label verso);
Private Collection
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)

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59
Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974)
Isobel
signed lower right
oil on board
61 x 41cm (24 x 16in)
Provenance: The Waddington’s Galleries, Montreal, Canada (label verso);
Private Collection
€30,000-€50,000 ($33,707-$56,179) (£25,423-£42,372)
Like a Modernist version of a Byzantine icon, Isobel is a portrait of a woman seen as archetype, rather than an
individual person. Her neck elongated, and facial features reduced to a series of bold lines, the sitter combines both
timeless beauty and also reflects the influence of Oceanic and African art. The face of Isobel is a mask—not unlike the
faces of the women in Picasso’s Le Demoiselle d’Avignon. The painting is as much a study in the colour harmonies of
blues, golden browns and ochres, is it is a representation of a person. It is romantic in feeling, rather than realist, and
reveals O’Neill’s essentially poetic imagination. As with most of O’Neill’s paintings, the date, location or identity of
the people he depicted is not specified. But with her large dark eyes and hair tied back, in a Spanish style, Isobel was
clearly an inspiration to Daniel O’Neill.
Born in 1920, the son of an electrician, O’Neill was himself trained as an apprentice electrician, and worked for a time
in the Belfast shipyards. He also worked as a housepainter. However, to further his interest in art, he took evening
classes in life drawing at the Belfast College of Art. He became friendly with the artist Gerard Dillon, and worked for
a time in the studio of fellow-Belfast artist Sidney Smith. The first exhibition of O’Neill’s paintings was held in 1941,
at the Mol Gallery in Belfast, and shortly afterwards he was taken on by the Victor Waddington Gallery in Dublin,
which provided an income, allowing him to paint full time. In 1949, O’Neill visited Paris, seeing at first hand the work
of painters such as Vlaminck and Utrillo. In the early 1950s he moved with his wife and child to the village of Conlig,
Co Down, where the artists George Campbell and Gerard Dillon were also living and working. In 1958 O’Neill moved
to London, before returning to Belfast in 1971, three years before his death.
Romantic in feeling, O’Neill’s paintings are full of a sense of loneliness and introspection. He painted many portraits
of women, often setting his figures in desolate or nocturnal landscapes. This painting was shown at the Waddington
Galleries in Montreal in the early 1960’s, and was in a private collection in the United States for many years.

77

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60
Norah McGuinness HRHA (1901-1980)
Flight Over Mulroy
signed lower right
oil on canvas
51 x 76.5cm (20 x 30in)
Provenance: Dawson Gallery, Dublin (label verso);
Whyte’s Dublin 27th April 2004, Lot 18;
James Adam’s, Dublin 1st October 2014, Lot 89;
Private Collection
Exhibited: Irish Women Artists 1870-1970; Summer Loan Show 7th July-5th September 2014, Adam’s, AVA Gallery
€20,000-€30,000 ($22,471-$33,707) (£16,949-£25,423)
Norah McGuinness is a central figure in the history of 20th century Irish art, and a pioneering feminist exemplar. Born in
Derry, she moved to Dublin when she won a three-year scholarship to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. There, Harry
Clarke, one of her tutors, recognised her talent and encouraged her to explore illustration, which she did to great acclaim.
But studying in London, her enthusiasm for French Impressionism, Post-Impressionism and Fauvism confirmed her com-
mitment to painting. Though her family was prosperous, disapproval of her chosen path meant that she had to be financially
self-sufficient from early on.
Illustration and related pursuits - later she was a set designer for the Abbey and the Peacock (she loved theatre),
and for many years she designed the window displays for Brown Thomas - remained vital to her livelihood. Though, like
several Irish artists, she studied in Paris with André Lhote, she did not become one of “Lhote’s daughters,” instead making
her own style from what she absorbed. That style is strongly graphic and linear, distilling a great deal of information in a
compact pictorial statement and based on close observation from nature. She was an immensely social person and a keen
traveller, and a founder of the Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943.
Birds - symbolic of freedom and possibility, perhaps - are frequent subjects. In her lyrical evocation of a gull flying over
Mulroy Bay, she flattens the perspective and builds her composition from rhythmic curvilinear forms and crisply defined
patterns. While her landscapes outnumber her urban studies, she did paint many Dublin subjects. Her view of Smithfield
looking south is tremendously economic in its statement but packed with visual information.

79

80
61
Roderic O’Conor RHA (1860-1940)
Seated Nude - (Renee Honta)(c.1923-26)
stamped verso: ‘atelier O’CONOR’
oil on canvas
66 x 55.20cm (26 x 21.75in)
Provenance: Hôtel Drouot, Paris, Vente O’Conor, 7 February 1956;
Godolphin Gallery, Dublin 1978;
D.T.H. Clarke;
Christie’s at RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, 28 June 1995, lot 34;
Private Collection
Exhibited: London, Browse & Darby, Roderic O’Conor, 26 October - 26 November 1994, no. 26 (reproduced)
Literature: Jonathan Benington, Roderic O’Conor: a biography with a catalogue of his work, Dublin 1992, p.222, no.267
€30,000-€50,000 ($33,707-$56,179) (£25,423-£42,372)
As a resident of Brittany Roderic O’Conor had only been able to paint clothed female models, because the local peasant women
refused to sit in the nude. This situation changed with his move to Paris in 1904, where he quickly took advantage of the abun-
dance of professional models who could be hired to sit as required, both clothed and unclothed. The rounded cheeks and bobbed
brown hair of the model who sat for the present work clearly identify her as O’Conor’s mistress, Henriette (Renée) Honta. Born
in 1894, she went on to marry him in 1933 and died from cancer of the eye twenty-two years later. On the reverse of the canvas
is a fully finished Millhouse Landscape executed by her, for she was not only a competent model but also an artist who went on
to become a sociétaire of the Salon d’Automne in Paris. When this work was created in the mid-1920s, they were both living at
different addresses in Paris, O’Conor preferring at that stage to protect his privacy and not share his modest living quarters with a
woman.
Renée regularly posed for O’Conor as a clothed model, but this work is one of a handful he made in which she appears nude.
The torsion in her upper body and her averted gaze suggest she is not entirely relaxed, as if she might be about to get up from the
couch on which she is seated. The artist has positioned her just beneath one of the large windows that were a feature of 102 rue
du Cherche-midi, so that she emerges from the dark background with carefully modelled forms that encompass a full tonal range.
At the same time, paying attention to the reflective qualities of flesh, he deploys a range of yellows, oranges, pinks and purples in
order to capture the glow of warmth in the shadows.
The extensive highlighted parts of Renée’s head, torso and limbs endow the figure with a seeming inner radiance. At the transi-
tions between the highlights and the mid-tones O’Conor has relied on deft sweeps of the palette knife to lend a granular texture to
the surface, creating a highly painterly effect (a similar treatment is seen in the half-length nude Femme à la chemise that was sold
to Roger Fry in 1924 and is now in Derby Museum & Art Gallery). In devising this distinctive technique the Irishman was likely
inspired by the heavy build-up of paint found in the late portraits of Rembrandt - a painter he had greatly admired ever since his
days as a student at the Antwerp Academy. O’Conor also respected the Dutch artist’s uncompromising truth to nature, showing
people as they really were, without glamorising or sentimentalising their features.
Jonathan Benington, March 2019

81

82
62
Ellsworth Kelly (1923-2015) American
Yellow (2004)
signed and numbered in pencil 38/50 lower right
limited edition lithograph - numbered 38 from an edition of 50
122 x 91.5cm (48 x 36in)
Provenance: Art Services Melrose, Los Angeles (framing label verso);
Archeus Gallery, London (label verso);
Nicholas Gallery, Belfast (label verso);;
€9,000-€12,000 ($10,112-$13,483) (£7,627-£10,169)

83
63
Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Second Version of Painting 1946 (1971)
signed in felt-tip pen ‘Frances Bacon’ lower right and numbered 101/150 lower left
lithograph in colours on arches paper signed and numbered 101 from an edition of 150,
published by Städtische Kunsthalle, Düsseldorf;
80.80 x 58.90cm (31.75 x 23.25in)
Provenance: Nicholas Gallery, Belfast (label verso);
Private Collection
Literature: Bruno Sabatier 31
Alexandre Tacou 1
€10,000-€15,000 ($11,235-$16,853) (£8,474-£12,711)
Created in the immediate aftermath of World War II, Painting was an oblique but damning image of an anonymous public figure.
Half-obscured by an umbrella, he is dressed in a formal manner with a bowler hat resting on his knee like the politicians of the
day. But his sinister grimace suggests a deep brutality beneath his proper exterior. The sense of menace is accentuated by glar-
ing colours and the cow carcasses suspended in a cruciform behind him, a motif drawn from Bacon’s childhood fascination with
butcher shops, but also a possible reference to Old Master treatments of the same subject.
The image is one of the Artist’s most iconic and Bacon himself described the work as his most unconscious. The original of Paint-
ing, 1946, hangs in the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) in New York. Francis Bacon’s work is represented in the permanent
collections of most major museums and public galleries around the world.

Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019

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Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 29th April 2019