IMPORTANT IRISH ART 1 DECEMBER 2025

26 13 Eva Henrietta Hamilton (1876-1960) SELF PORTRAIT, c.1906 oil on board signed with initials lower right 25.50 by 21in. (64.8 by 53.3cm) Frame Size: 33.75 by 28.5in. (85.7 by 72.4cm) Provenance: Whyte’s, 28 September 2009, lot 65; Private collection Exhibited: Literature: Odlum, Stephen, Eva, Letitia and the Hamilton Sisters, Class, Gender and Art, Zest Publications, UK, 2020, p.44 (full page colour illustration) The eldest of the famous Hamilton sisters of Hamwood, Dunboyne, Eva was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin and began exhibiting at the age of 22 with the WCSI. In 1904 she showed two portraits of her sisters at the RHA, at which institute she was to eventually exhibit 121 works in total. On enrolling at the Metropolitan School of Art, Eva came heavily under Orpen’s influence, although the effect was lightened somewhat when she later went on to study under Henry Tonks at the Slade. Eva and Letitia travelled, painted and exhibited together most of their lives, with Eva’s work consisting mainly of landscapes and group portraits in which family members feature predominantly. This self portrait of Eva Hamilton, kindly authenticated in 2009 by the artist’s family, shows her sitting upright, poised and directly engaging with the viewer. The confident artist, depicted here in her early thirties, holds her artist’s tools naturally in her right hand. Her hair is swept back off her strong, characteristically Hamilton, features with her only adornment being a pair of jade dew drop earrings and matching necklace. Eva Hamilton was an accomplished portrait artist and her sitters included such renowned figures as Lady Isabella Augusta Gregory and Lord Frederick Fitzgerald among others. For a portrait of the artist’s sister, Amy see lot 18 and a view near Venice, lot 28. €3,500-€4,500 (£3,070-£3,950 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot13