IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25 MAY 2026

54 31 Paul Henry RHA (1876-1958) THE LOCH OF THE TEARS OF THE SORROWINGWOMEN, 1916-17 oil on canvas signed lower left 20 by 24in. (50.8 by 61cm) Frame Size: 27.5 by 32in. (69.9 by 81.3cm) Provenance: Adam’s & Bonham’s, 31 May 2000, lot 93; Private collection; Adam’s, 29 March 2006, lot 19; Private collection Exhibited: Literature: S.B. Kennedy, ‘Paul Henry: with a catalogue of the Paintings Drawings Illustrations’, Yale University Press, New Haven and London, 2007, catalogue no. 443, illustrated p.190 Kennedy writes: In about 1916 or 1917 Henry began to shift his interest away from the people of Achill towards the landscape itself. In the process the influence of Whistler, which had lately been dormant, surfaced again and for the next six or eight years is discernible, and at times dominant, in his landscapes. The Loch of the Tears of the Sorrowing Women is one of the first compositions to typify this change in emphasis. There is here a softness to the landscape, with its heavy, atmospheric mist and dankness and the muted tones and limited palette are clearly Whistlerian. Throughout, the paint has been applied evenly and there is little impasto. Although little attempt has been made to define forms, the structure of the landscape, as well as its mood, have been set down with a deep understanding and assurance. Almost certainly a scene of Keel Lake, the title of this picture was suggested by Johnny Tom Owen MacNamara with whom Henry formed a friendship shortly after he settled on Achill. He occasionally asked MacNamara to suggest titles for his pictures and those titles he came up with, including this one, he said, ‘were all actual Irish names, and his translation was not only adequate but highly poetical’ (Henry 1951, p. 93). €60,000-€80,000 (£52,170-£69,570 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot31