Whyte's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 6 MARCH 2023 AT 6PM

22 15 William John Leech RHA ROI (1881-1968) PLAYING BY THE SHORE oil on canvas board signed lower right 8 by 12.50in. (20.3 by 31.8cm) Frame Size: 14 by 18in. (35.6 by 45.7cm) Provenance: Sotheby’s, London, 16 May 1996, lot 477; Private collection; Whyte’s, 26 November 2018, lot 19; Private collection Leech painted children on beaches at Concarneau, Les Martiques and Hammamet in Tunisia, capturing the sunlight on water and on the children playing on the sand. His approach to the subject varied according to his stylistic development at the time. The present work relates closely to Beach Scene (Private collection and illustrated in Denise Ferran, William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad, NGI, Dublin, 1996, p.203, catalogue no. 54). These are possibly earlier examples from this series, painted in Concarneau, when Leech was strongly influenced by Whistler and Osborne, evidenced in the close harmonies and subtle tones of the palette. Like Beach Scene, the present example allows the water to fill the canvas while the figures - which are similarly freely drawn in the paint - paddle or sit at the water’s edge. €10,000-€15,000 (£8,850-£13,270 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot15