WHYTE'S EXCEPTIONAL IRISH ART MONDAY 7 DECEMBER 2020

56 39 Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) THE STONY FIELDS OF KERRY, 1934-1939 oil on board signed lower right; 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 with Jorgensen Fine Art label on reverse 11.75 by 16in. (29.8 by 40.6cm) Frame Size: 18.5 by 22.75in. (47 by 57.8cm) Condition: This work appears to be in excellent condition. 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; Where acquired by the present owner 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.) 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) 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 €90,000-€120,000 (£80,000-£106,670 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot39