WHYTE'S THE ECLECTIC COLLECTOR SATURDAY & SUNDAY 25 & 26 July 2020

128 History 225A 1917. Portrait of Thomas Ashe as a piper by LeoWhelan RHA. Watercolour, signed and dated lower right. James Adam & Bonhams, 10 Jun 2009, Lot number 140; Private collection. Condition: Very good, couple of tone spots; pasted down to board, which is foxed. Like his mentor, William Orpen, Leo Whelan (1892-1956) gravitated towards portraiture and was highly sought after from an early age. His first exhibit in the RHA in 1911 was a portrait, Dr O’Connell-Redmond J.P., F.R.C.S.I (no. 347) and during his years showing with the RHA (from 1911 to 1956, 1957 (the late) portraiture would make-up the bulk of his exhibits which totalled 260 works. Along with Sean Keating and Sean O’Sullivan, Leo Whelan played a critical role in building a visual identity for the newly independent Ireland. Among his numerous portraits were Michael Collins (1922 and 1943) Count John McCormack (1930) The Hon. Ernest Guinness (1932) Sean Lemass (1945) Dr Douglas Hyde (1945, Collection of Áras an Uachtaráin) Eamon De Valera (1955). He was also tasked with painting the G.H.Q Staff of the Pre-Treaty I.R.A., 1922 (unfinished) which portrayed all thirteen figures from life and he designed the first Free State commemorative postal stamp issued in 1929 for the Centenary of Catholic Emancipation. Thomas MacGreevy, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 said that of all Orpen’s pupils “Mr Whelan is perhaps nearest to his master in sheer skill.” Estimate €2000-€3000 (approx £1,820-£2,730) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot 225A