IMPORTANT IRISH ART 1 DECEMBER 2025

38 21 LeoWhelan RHA (1892-1956) ON THE MOORS, 1911 oil on canvas signed and dated upper left; titled and inscribed with RHA exhibition and Taylor Arts Prize details on reverse 36 by 30in. (91.4 by 76.2cm) Frame Size: 42.5 by 37.25in. (108 by 94.6cm) Provenance: Helena Murnaghan; Thence by descent. Exhibited: RHA, Dublin, 1912, catalogue no. 169 Like his mentor, Sir William Orpen KBE RA RI RHA (1878-1931), Leo Whelan gravitated towards portraiture and was highly sought after from an early age. His first exhibit in the RHA in 1911 was a portrait, Dr O’Connell-Redmond J.P., F.R.C.S.I (no. 347). On The Moors was painted that same year but shown in the RHA in 1912. During his years exhibiting with that institution (from 1911 to 1956) portraiture would make-up the bulk of his exhibits, which totalled 260 works. Unlike Orpen however, Whelan based himself in Dublin throughout his career. He was born in Fairview and, like fellow artist Harry Clarke, attended Belvedere College and later the Metropolitan School of Art. The RHA records show only three Dublin addresses for the artist; one of which was his home address at 65 Eccles Street where, according to the 1911 census, he lived with his mother (a “Hotel Proprietor”), siblings - four sisters and a brother - and two lodgers. Helena Murnaghan (née Whelan) - the model in the present work - was the second eldest sibling, born along with the eldest child in the family, in Co. Kerry. In 1911, when this work was painted, she was aged 28. On The Moors is a striking three quarter length portrait depicting Helena dressed in hunting attire carrying a shotgun over her right arm and holding tight to the leash of a spaniel that spans the breadth of the foreground. The composition of the painting, giving dominance to an abstract style skyscape, owes much to William Orpen. Even the long white scarf recalls numerous Orpen self- portraits where it is either neatly wound round the neck, as seen here, or employed as a device to bring movement to the composition as it billows in the wind. Similarly, particular attention is paid to the execution of texture and detail; the green wool jacket buttoned at the shoulder, the tweed grey skirt, the fur-lined leather shooting gloves, the metal links of the leash, the sheen of the barrel and the jaunty pheasant feather in the cap. The latter calls to mind Orpen’s Portrait of Gardenia St George with Riding Crop (Collection of The Cashel Palace Hotel, Tipperary). Leo Whelan won the coveted Taylor Arts Prize in 1911 alongside fellow art student Patrick J. Tuohy and three others and five years later he would be awarded the Taylor Scholarship with The Doctor’s Visit, 1916 (now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland). Accolades such as these raised the artist’s profile and led to important commissions later in his career. Along with Seán Keating and Seán O’Sullivan, Whelan played a critical role in building a visual identity for the newly independent Ireland; the rich greens in the present work hint at the patriotic fervour gripping the country in the early decades of the 20th century. Among his numerous portraits were Michael Collins (1922 and 1943, an example c.1922 sold through these rooms as lot 23, 30 September 2024), Count John McCormack (1930), The Hon. Ernest Guinness (1932), Seán Lemass (1945), Dr Douglas Hyde (1945, Collection of Áras an Uachtaráin) and Éamon De Valera (1955). He was also tasked with painting the G.H.Q Staff of the Pre-Treaty I.R.A., 1922 (unfinished) which portrayed all thirteen figures from life and he designed the first Free State commemorative postal stamp issued in 1929 for the Centenary of Catholic Emancipation. Thomas MacGreevy, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland from 1950 to 1963 said that of all Orpen’s pupils “Mr Whelan is perhaps nearest to his master in sheer skill.” This painting, which marks an important milestone at the beginning of the artist’s career, remained in the collection of his sister, Helena Murnaghan, until her death when it passed by descent to the present owner. Adelle Hughes November 2025 €15,000-€20,000 (£13,160-£17,540 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot21