IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART MONDAY 2 OCTOBER 2023 AT 6PM

47 IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 2 OCTOBER 2023 AT 6PM 34 Daniel O’Neill (1920-1974) FIGURES IN A LANDSCAPE oil on board signed lower right 7.25 by 9.75in. (18.4 by 24.8cm) Frame Size: 12 by 14.5in. (30.5 by 36.8cm) Provenance: Acquired directly from the artist by the current owner’s mother The artist met the first owner of this work met in 1969 at a Belfast clinic where she was then working and where O’Neill was undergoing treatment for alcoholism. In a written account of their meeting, she recalled that O’Neill was “quietly spoken and unassuming in his manner; we managed to build up a good rapport quite readily and he was able to converse freely with me”. They discussed O’Neill’s early years and frequently spoke of painting. O’Neill amused her with anecdotes about his career, such as his mother’s reaction to an early painting of a nude – “Oh Dan, cover her up” – to which request he complied; the resulting work, The Blue Skirt is now in the Ulster Museum. As their friendship grew O’Neill presented a number of impromptu gifts, including a William Conor sketch and two landscape paintings of his own. He asked his new confidante to sit for a portrait, to which she agreed. During one of the portrait sittings, she was accompanied by her then nine year old son. O’Neill encouraged the young boy to do some painting of his own, and promised that one day he would paint a clown for him. Some months later O’Neill telephoned to say he was unable to complete the portrait, and had instead transformed the work into a clown; this too he presented as a gift. In a series of letters to the owner, O’Neill gave news of his progress in the studio, telling her he had been “painting mostly at nights when everything is still and quiet”. An old transistor radio kept him company and he painted to the music of Brahms, Debussy, Mozart, Schubert and Sibelius. Most significantly he credited his return to painting to their friendship. “You without knowing it have given me the most priceless gift possible for any one person to give and this I have recently realised myself – that is the will to paint”. €2,000-€3,000 (£1,710-£2,560 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot34