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Joseph Patrick Haverty RHA (1794-1864)
GROUP PORTRAIT OF A FAMILY, c.1850
oil on canvas
indistinctly signed lower left
48 x 61in. (121.92 x 154.94cm)
Provenance: Anonymous sale; Christie’s, 25 May 1979, lot 210;Grace Pym Gallery, Dublin, October 1979;William and Joan
Roth;Christie’s, 14 May 2004, lot 67;Private collectionChristie’s, 12 May 2006, lot 24, as Group Portrait of a Family, Thought
to be the Reilly Family, of Scarvagh, Stepping Ashore from a Boat, with Mountains Beyond;Private collection
Exhibited: Possibly A Family Group, RHA, 1851, no. 76
Born in the town of Galway, Joseph Patrick Haverty enjoyed success as a portrait, figure and genre painter, producing
scenes of rural Irish life, as well as portraits and miniatures of politicians and aristocrats. Although information has yet
to emerge about his training, he sent a portrait to an exhibition in the Hibernian Society of Artists in Dublin by 1814,
and showed three more titles from an address there in Mary Street the following year. According to Strickland he then
continued painting in Galway and became sufficiently successful to be elected an Associate of the Royal Hibernian
Academy upon its foundation in 1823. The RHA’s inaugural exhibition lists five of his portraits sent from Rostrevor,
Galway, including an oil called Portraits of Mrs Temple, J. Lushington, his lady and Family. Subsequently he exhibited
about ninety titles between 1826 and 1866 at the RHA as well as 17 from London’s Royal Academy. The titles of his works
and the addresses from which he exhibited indicate that he moved between Galway and Dublin, and increasingly in
later years from London.
Haverty’s well known study The Blind Piper (1841) is in the collection of The National Gallery of Ireland, as is his Monster
Meeting at Clifden (1844) and several of his portraits.
This informal family group portrait bears close comparison to Haverty’s much earlier 1823 oil The Reilly Family at
Scarvagh (1), which shows an outdoor family group of fifteen figures.
This conversation piece shows a family in the midst of disembarking from their painted rowing boat, made fast to a
bollard, beside which the father’s top hat has been casually discarded. By the 2nd quarter of the nineteenth century,
when this was painted, illustrated magazines informed people beyond London or Paris of the latest fashions. Male
costume was deliberately low key, although expensive. Both men here wear high collars with dark stocks or cravats. The
father’s morning coat has a cut away front, squared off, in contrast to that worn by the younger man, who holds an oar
to steady their boat. Both their close fitted coats have narrow sleeves revealing the shirt cuffs. By this time knee breeches
increasingly had given way to trousers with inset straps to keep them taught.
A man’s wealth was read by how well his womenfolk dressed, which varied for different times of the day. This group
being predominantly female makes the whole scene more colourful, detailed and intriguing, with each figure a specific
portrait. Although probably painted in the late 1840s, the younger children wear the predominantly white dresses
reminiscent of the neo-classical style popular in the earlier 1800s. The necklines show their shoulders, with half sleeves
and ankle length hems. Those on the right gather fruit into an apron and an intricately woven basket, with a waterfall
and wild flowers nearby. One sits beside a discarded bonnet to play with the small dog. Children by this time were
no longer dressed like miniature adults. Followers of the 18th century philosopher Rousseau encouraged outdoor
play and loose-fitting clothing for children. Babies and young boys were dressed identically to girls and could be
indistinguishable until ready for breeches.
The young women have long sleeves appropriate for day wear, with elaborate sewn muslin or lace collars over low wide
necklines, and their hair in fashionable side ringlets with centre partings. Some of their outdoor bonnets of fabric or
straw, are left informally untied, while the child on the right has a plain red one protecting the face and neck from the
sun, while others sport parasols and gloves.
IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 28 SEPTEMBER 2015