WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART Monday 19 October 2020

66 42 The Studio of Harry Clarke RHA (1889-1931) &William J. Dowling (1907 – 1980) OUR LADY OF LOURDES, 1945 stained glass panel; (presented in wooden frame with light fitting behind) 14.50 by 25in. (36.8 by 63.5cm) Frame size: 16.5 by 28in. (42 by 71cm.) Provenance: The Clarke Studios; Thence to the artist’s son David Clarke; Private collection, Clontarf, Dublin until 2010; Whence acquired by the present owners We are grateful to Ken Ryan, Chairman, Abbey Stained Glass Studios, Dublin for his assistance in cataloguing this lot. The Harry Clarke Studios Order Book shows a record of this panel on 24 February 1945 [order no. 2153] for the design and supply of a stained-glass window for a Mrs M A McDonald of Laurels, Goodwick, Pembshire, South Wales. It was titled, Our Lady of Lourdes and Bernadette and was priced £70 as per estimate 23 October 1944. On 20 February 1945 the approximate cost for fitting was recorded as £15. The Harry Clarke Studio artist credited is William Dowling. (1) In 1973, Dowling, who was studio manager as well as a designer, wrote to a Mrs. McDonald to remind her that the window - which had been commissioned and paid for in 1945 - had never been dispatched as the studios had not received the address of the church, the wording of the inscription, or an import licence. Dowling, once again, received no reply and consequently wrote to the parish priest of a church in Fishguard, Wales who responded to say that his was the intended church, and he would be happy to find a place for the window. Dowling informed the priest that insertion of the agreed inscription and the cost of packing would amount to £33. Shipping costs would be extra and would depend on weight. That appears to have been the last correspondence about the window. The present work is the upper panel for this stained-glass window order which was created in two parts. How the panels became separated remains a mystery. The lower panel sold through Mealy’s (July 2015) and had come from the family of David Clarke. It had previously been on display at All Hallows College, Dublin. The whereabouts of this, the upper portion, were unknown until now. 1) Harry Clarke Studios Order Book, Order Book 2, page 232 [24th Feb 1945, Order number. 2153]. Courtesy of the Harry Clarke Studios Archive Trinity College Dublin €3,000-€5,000 (£2,670-£4,440 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot42