WHYTE'S IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART MONDAY 2 DECEMBER 2024 FROM 6PM

12 5 John Joseph Tracey (1813-1873) THE IRISH PEASANT’S GRAVE, 1843 oil on canvas 30 by 36.50in. (76.2 by 92.7cm) Frame Size: 41 by 48in. (104.1 by 121.9cm) Provenance: Royal Irish Art Union, 1843; W. P. Hyndman, Aston’s Quay; J. Hamilton Read, WIcklow; Private collection Exhibited: Royal Irish Art Union, 1843 The scene in this painting is one of lamentation, with a group of people, including mourners and grave diggers, standing and kneeling around a freshly-dug grave. The setting is wild and mountainous, with dark clouds gathering in the sky. Oblivious to the grief that surrounds them, two young children play amidst the tombstones. A young woman, the focal point of the group, is supported by a friend as she leans forward to view the grave. It can be inferred that she is mother of the two young children, and the grave is that of her husband who has died prematurely. To the right, an aged priest, top hat in hand, rests on a walking stick, while two grave diggers, holding spades, look on as the mourners express their grief. The burial is depicted taking place within the precincts of an ancient ruined abbey, with Celtic crosses and old tombstones attesting to the venerable history of the burying place. Two almost identical versions of this painting exist; both can be attributed with confidence to John Joseph Tracey, an Irish painter of the early nineteenth century. The Irish Peasant’s Grave, to give it is proper title, was previously attributed to the Cork artist Daniel MacDonald, but recent research by Dr. Niamh O’Sullivan has established that the artist responsible is in fact John Tracey. Born Dublin in 1813, Tracey attended the RDS Schools, winning prizes in 1830 and 1831, and afterwards exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy and the Royal Irish Art Union. In his earlier career, he favoured Classical subjects but the painting for which he became best-known was an Irish scene, The Irish Peasant’s Grave, which won a prize when exhibited with the Royal Irish Art Union in 1843. One version of the work is now in the Crawford Art Gallery, having been acquired some six years ago. However, the emergence of the present version brings an important and previously unknown Irish artwork to the market. Also, based on available evidence, it is likely that the present version is the original exhibited by Tracey at the Royal Irish Art Union. According to Walter Strickland’s Dictionary of Irish Artists, having been purchased for seventy pounds by the Royal Irish Art Union, The Irish Peasant’s Grave was acquired by lottery by W. P. Hyndman of Aston’s Quay, and was later owned by J. Hamilton Read of Killarney Hill, Wicklow. In 1859 was engraved by E. J. Harty, of 9 Dame Street, and published as a colour lithograph print, Harty having apparently gone to great lengths, using no less than seventeen lithograph stones, to get the colours right. The print has the signature, inscribed on a gravestone in the foreground, ‘J Tracey pinx 1843’. In the present painting, this signature, although barely legible, is also on the gravestone. Other differences between the two paintings also suggest this is the original, and was the one used by Harty when making his engraving. The ruined abbey does not appear in the Crawford version, nor does the tall Celtic cross in the background. It is possible that when the original was acquired by the Royal Irish Art Union, a disappointed would-be purchaser commissioned the artist to make a second version. Tracey’s decision to paint such a subject may have been prompted by the success of George Petrie’s The Last Circuit of Pilgrims at Clonmacnoise, exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1828. Peter Murray, August 2024 €15,000-€20,000 (£12,610-£16,810 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot5