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Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957)
SINGING ‘UNDER THE CANOPY OF HEAVEN’, 1950
oil on board
signed lower right; titled on reverse
9 x 14in. (22.86 x 35.56cm)
Provenance:
Victor Waddington Galleries, 1953;
Collection of John Devine;
Private collection, 1968;
Private collection, Ireland, 1971;
deVeres, 27 September 2005, lot 31;
Private collection
Exhibited:
‘Paintings’, Victor Waddington Galleries, London, 15 April to 8 May 1971, catalogue no. 25
Literature:
Pyle, Hilary, Jack B. Yeats: A Catalogue Raisonné of the Oil Paintings, Andre Deutsh, London, 1992, Vol. I,
page 968, catalogue no. 1066; also Vol. III (black and white illustration, p. 541)
Many of Yeats’ late paintings focus on strolling players and performers winding their way through the
Irish countryside, providing entertainment and amusement to those around them. Such works include key
paintings like The Entertainers (1945, Private Collection), Left-Left, We Left our Name On the Road, On the
Road, (1948, Private Collection) and The Singing Horseman, (National Gallery of Ireland, 1949). Singing
‘Under the Canopy of Heaven’ explores a similar theme. Two figures, seen only from the mid torso upwards,
move through a bare landscape, their mouths open in song. One figure wears a bowler hat pulled down over
his ears in a comical fashion. His companion holds a large banner. They are painted in an almost transparent
manner that makes them connect intimately with their surroundings. The blue of the sky and the green of the
fields are visible through their skin.
The title of the painting suggests the feeling of freedom and close connection to nature. The phrase ‘Under
the Canopy of Heaven’ has a distinctly religious connotation. It evokes a Christian idea of God’s bounty
in providing humanity with a world of natural beauty. It is used in the title of a number of 18th and 19th
century paintings of vagrants or gypsies living in the open countryside. It is also the title of a 19th century
American hymn.
Singing ‘Under the Canopy of Heaven’ is probably based on the artist’s memory of a political or religious
parade or march such as those which took place in Sligo and the border counties. Yeats would have been
drawn to these events not so much by politics, as by his fascination with masquerade and performance.
Standing back from the work a strong sense of perspective emerges. Only the head and shoulders of the men
are depicted. The viewpoint is like that of a close-up shot rather than a conventional fine art perspective. It
is as if the viewer were standing right beside the marchers. The right-hand figure appears to be positioned
closest to the surface of the painting while the banner he is carrying is painted to appear blurred and out of
focus. The second figure appears much more diminutive which reinforces the sense of his distance from the
viewer. This dramatic perspective adds to the dynamic movement of the group and the energy imparted by
the men as they devote themselves to their marching song.
Dr Róisín Kennedy
August 2016
€90000-€120000 (£76920-£102560 approx.)