WHYTE'S IMPORTANT IRISH ART MONDAY 30 SEPTEMBER 2024 AT 6PM

86 57 Patrick Hennessy RHA (1915-1980) LADY URSULA VERNON, AT BRUREE HOUSE, COUNTY LIMERICK oil on canvas signed lower left 36 by 48in. (91.4 by 121.9cm) Frame Size: 44.75 by 56.5in. (113.7 by 143.5cm) Provenance: Phillips, London, 18 September 1990, lot 176; Private collection Exhibited: Possibly exhibited at Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 10 October to 3 November 1956 Lady Ursula Grosvenor (1902-1978) was the eldest child of Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster, a British landowner and one of the wealthiest men in Britain. Her first marriage to William Patrick Filmer-Sankey, a famous jockey, ended in divorce in 1940. She later married Major Stephen Vernon, a former officer in the Irish Guards, left handicapped after contracting polio during the war. By her first husband, she had two sons, Patrick and Christopher, who died during her lifetime, while her only child with Vernon died young. The couple shared a love of horses and the Duke charged Major Vernon with running a stud farm - which he did successfully - at Bruree, in the southeast of County Limerick. Hennessy and his life partner and fellow artist Harry Robertson Craig became friendly with the Vernons around the early 1950s - when Hennessy’s reputation had been sealed with a ten-year retrospective held at the RHA in 1951 - and they were among a number of patrons/friends of the artists who moved in very influential circles. Sixty-five years on, a major retrospective of Patrick Hennessy’s career took place at the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin and this exhibition and accompanying catalogue charted his artistic development and life which included a number of references to the Vernons over the period of a decade. 1 The first entry, 1953, records among the artist’s addresses “c/o Major Vernon, Bruree House, County Limerick for Christmas”. However one might assume that they were well acquainted at this point considering their presence there during the holiday period. In 1954 the artist exhibited The Lawn Meet (150gns) at the Dublin Painters which depicts a hunting party gathered outside the Vernon’s home, Bruree House. A large tree similar to the one in the present example flanks the right side of the composition (a print from this oil can be found in the collection of Limerick City Museum, reference no.1990.0226). In 1955 Major Vernon acquired The Bronze Horses of St Marks - a product of Hennessy’s time in Venice - shown at the Royal Academy in London and the following year a portrait of Lady Ursula (possibly the present example) was shown at Thomas Agnew & Sons, London. Among the 38 paintings in that show was a portrait of author Elizabeth Bowen, the painting was later donated by Major Vernon to the Crawford Gallery, Cork. By 1957 Hennessy and Craig were spending time in both Bruree and the Vernon’s summer retreat - Fairfield, Summercove, Kinsale, where in 1961 Hennessy painted a mural “...framing the window overlooking the harbour comprising of masses of pink roses entwined around Corinthian columns on both sides of the window and spreading across the entablature.” 2 From 1960 however Hennessy’s health had deteriorated and they began spending more time abroad, particularly during the colder months. No further references to the Vernons are included in the timeline after 1961. In the present work Lady Ursula, dressed in shades of brown in Gingham and corduroy stands in the foreground, arms folded and gazing into the distance. Dominating the rest of the canvas is a large, bare tree, its gnarled humanoid trunk acting as a foil to the serene figure beside it. At the base of the tree among the wild flowers rests a dachshund, while in the distance at the top of a flight of limestone steps is a man, the Major perhaps, paying attention to another dog. Unlike the earlier painting, The Lawn Meet, which records the pageantry of a hunt by the landed gentry, here Bruree - a sizable six-bay Gothic Revival country house built c.1830 - and the status is represents is but a footnote in the lower right of the composition. This painting is a meditation on relationships and not simply between the two people depicted in it and their environment. In 2011 a number of works formerly in the collection of Lady Vernon were offered for auction 3 among them was a pair of miniature portraits by Hennessy and Craig - of each other - which were given to Lady Ursula and Major Vernon “with love” as a Christmas gift in 1960 and watercolours depicting Bruree and “Ursie’s dachshunds, Elsa, Feathers, Pearl and Lexel.” 4 The present work stands as further testament to this important relationship in Patrick Hennessy’s life and reflects well on the artist as well as his friends and patrons. Adelle Hughes, September 2024 FOOTNOTES: 1 Ed. Seán Kissane, Patrick Hennessy, De Profundis, IMMA, 2016, p.120 (Timeline, Kevin A. Rutledge) 2 Ibid. p.122 3 Mealy’s, Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny, 5 April 2011 4 Michael Parsons, ‘Hennessy works in Mealy’s sale’, Irish Times, 19 March 2011 €8,000-€12,000 (£6,720-£10,080 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot57