WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART Monday 7 March 2022 from 6PM

28 19 Nathaniel Hone RHA (1831-1917) ON THE STRAND, MALAHIDE, COUNTY DUBLIN oil on canvas laid on board 8.50 by 12in. (21.6 by 30.5cm) Frame size: 14.5 by 18in. (36.8 by 45.7cm) Provenance: Collection of Nelly O’Brien; (see lot 20) Thence by family descent Nelly O’Brien was born Ellen Lucy O’Brien on 4 June 1864, at Cahermoyle, County Limerick. Her siblings were Lucy and Dermod, with Dermod also becoming an artist. O’Brien’s grandfather was William Smith O’Brien. She attended school in England from 1879, and later enrolled to study painting at the Slade School of Art. O’Brien met Walter Osborne through her brother Dermod, and considered herself engaged to him, but Osborne died in 1903. A portrait of O’Brien by Osborne is held in the Hugh Lane Gallery. Nelly O’Brien returned to Ireland, and began to paint miniatures. She also painted watercolour landscapes. Her first exhibition with the Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) was in 1896. She would exhibit at the RHA on and off until 1922. As part of an exhibition of Irish painters, O’Brien exhibited a number of portrait miniatures at the London Guildhall in 1904. The 1906 Oireachtas na Gaeilge featured a number of her paintings O’Brien was an early member of the Gaelic League, being present at its first Oireachtas in 1897, and founding the Craobh na gCúig gCúigí (Branch of the Five Provinces). In 1911, O’Brien founded Coláiste Eoghain Uí Chomhraí (O’Curry Irish College) in Carrigaholt, County Clare. She established the Irish Guild of the Church with Seoirse de Rút in 1914. The aim of the organisation was to provide a communal union for members of the Church of Ireland who were dedicated to “Irish Ireland” ideals. Acting as a representative for the Gaelic League, O’Brien travelled to the United States in 1914 to 1915, to fund raise and promote Irish art and industries. She protested the conscription bill in Ireland as a mass meeting of women at the Mansion House in 1918. Nelly O’Brien died suddenly on 1 April 1925 whilst visiting her brother Dermod in London. €4,000-€6,000 (£3,390-£5,080 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot19