10
Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958)
Estimate:
€150,000 - €200,000
Sold
€180,000
Live Auction
Important Irish Art
Size
11.75 by 16in. (29.8 by 40.6cm)
Description
Title: THE STONY FIELDS OF KERRY, 1934-1939
Note: There is a label on the reserve with the title, in the artist's hand, and 'No. 38'; also '5' crossed out, the latter numbers probably referring to old (untraced) exhibition numbers. Also, on the reverse but probably not in the artist's hand, 'Kerry Cottages No. 5' and 'n. 35'.Moderate to heavy impasto employed throughout and much use of a palette knife in the stone walls, the foreground and the gables of the cottages. Characteristically subdued palette and modelling on the mountains, their dramatic effect being obtained from their rugged outline and barrenness. The leafless tree, too, adds to the meagreness of the scene. Probably painted shortly after Henry's holiday at Glenbeigh, County Kerry, in the late summer of 1934. The mountains in the background may be the Seefin and Beenreagh range. An almost identical composition to The Stony Fields of Kerry (catalogue no. 797, Kennedy).Dr SB Kennedy, November 2020
Frame dimensions: 18.75 by 23in. (47.6 by 58.4cm)
Note: There is a label on the reserve with the title, in the artist's hand, and 'No. 38'; also '5' crossed out, the latter numbers probably referring to old (untraced) exhibition numbers. Also, on the reverse but probably not in the artist's hand, 'Kerry Cottages No. 5' and 'n. 35'.Moderate to heavy impasto employed throughout and much use of a palette knife in the stone walls, the foreground and the gables of the cottages. Characteristically subdued palette and modelling on the mountains, their dramatic effect being obtained from their rugged outline and barrenness. The leafless tree, too, adds to the meagreness of the scene. Probably painted shortly after Henry's holiday at Glenbeigh, County Kerry, in the late summer of 1934. The mountains in the background may be the Seefin and Beenreagh range. An almost identical composition to The Stony Fields of Kerry (catalogue no. 797, Kennedy).Dr SB Kennedy, November 2020
Frame dimensions: 18.75 by 23in. (47.6 by 58.4cm)
Condition
Excellent condition.
Medium
oil on board
Signature
signed lower right; titled on label on reserve also; with Jorgensen Fine Art label on reverse
Provenance
Gunne, Kells, Co. Meath, 13 December 1993;Whence acquired by Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin;de Veres, 16 April 2002, lot 157;Whence acquired by Taylor Gallery, Belfast;Private collection;Whyte's, 7 December 2020, lot 39;Private collection
Literature
Irish Times, 8 April 1940;Kennedy, Dr S.B., Paul Henry: Paintings, Drawings and Illustrations, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, p.278, catalogue no. 900 (illustrated in colour)
Exhibited
Probably shown in 'New Pictures by Paul Henry', Combridge's, Dublin, from 8 April 1940, no. 27 as Kerry Cottages;'Spring Exhibition', Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin, from 7 March, 1994, catalogue no. 10 (reproduced in colour and dated, almost certainly incorrectly, 1941);'Exhibition of Fine Irish Paintings', Taylor Gallery, Belfast, 28 September to 12 October 2002, catalogue no. 3 (reproduced in colour);'Paul Henry', National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 19 February to 18 May 2003 (ex-cata.)
