Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964) Roundstone Oil on c...
Hammer
€36,000
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964) Roundstone Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24'') Signed with initials, also signed and inscribed verso
Letitia 'May' Marion Hamilton, was born into an Anglo Irish, Protestant family in 1878. Letitia was the second-born daughter, preceded by her older sister Eva, incidentally another artist worthy of reassessment. The family resided at Hamwood House in Dunboyne, Co. Meath. The Hamilton's had a comfortable childhood and although they considered themselves Irish, they did enjoy the rare privileges of education, leisure activities and travel that were not afforded to the majority of the population. As women they were limited professionally of course but certainly benefitted from the libertarian attitudes which were rarely shared by their Catholic counterparts at the end of the 19th century.
The young Letitia attended Alexandra College in Milltown, Co. Dublin and later at age 29 she attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (now NCAD) under the tutelage of William Orpen (1878-1931). She also enrolled at the Slade School in London where she studied under the Welsh/Belgian artist Sir Frank William Brangwyn (1867-1976) who instilled a love of the Art Nouveau and linework in her earlier works. The 1920s and 1930s saw her travel across France, Italy and Yugoslavia. A 1923 trip to Venice was the first of many trips where she would repeatedly return to the same views to capture some subtlety of the light or a colourful medley of gondola hulls rolling in the green water of the canals. The influence of the artistic trends in Europe can be seen in her output during this period which was already reflecting an aptitude for Modernism. (1) Stephen Odlum notes that the majority of female artists were Anglo Irish and sent abroad for artistic instruction or leisure and so they naturally absorbed characteristics of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism which were gaining traction in Europe. Such conditions produced experimentalists such as Mary Swanzy (1882-1978), Evie Hone (1894-1955), Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) and Norah McGuinness (1901-1980). Conversely, the male Irish artist of the early 20th century tended to look inward to the West of Ireland or the North to isolate a sense of 'Irishness' which defined them as a new Irish school of painting. Trips to Europe slowed considerably during the 1940s due to the second world war, and so commenced the artist's sojourns to Connemara and West Cork.
Roundstone in County Galway was a particular favourite of the sisters and Letitia painted well over a dozen known versions, each capturing slight fluctuations in colour and subject - much like her colourist studies of Venice. The artist uses a palette knife to apply the paint in a generous impasto in some areas and notably left the canvas bare in others. The structure of mountain, streetscape and harbour wall is sculpted in thick, flat daubs suggesting solidity, which is further exaggerated by the dark outline that has become so familiar in her work. Conversely, the bare cream canvas functions as the base of the cloud formations, allowing the luminosity of the white paint to dance across the eye and the canvas recedes as a shadow on the contour of rolling cumulus cloud. Initially, one sees a reduced palette which favours cobalt blues, creams and pale ochres. On further inspection however, the subtle diversity of hue becomes more obvious, with delicate pinks, mauves, green and greys hinting at the warm flush of heather, granite and shale throughout the town and the Twelve Pins beyond. The looseness of this scene indicates that it may have been completed later in her career and represents the culmination of the artist's Modernist European flair in a scene that is so distinctly Irish.
Stephanie Brennan, August 2026
1. Odlum, Stephen, Eva, Letitia and the Hamilton Sisters – Class Gender and Art. Published in 2020
Hammer
€36,000
Letitia Marion Hamilton RHA (1878-1964) Roundstone Oil on canvas, 51 x 61cm (20 x 24'') Signed with initials, also signed and inscribed verso
Letitia 'May' Marion Hamilton, was born into an Anglo Irish, Protestant family in 1878. Letitia was the second-born daughter, preceded by her older sister Eva, incidentally another artist worthy of reassessment. The family resided at Hamwood House in Dunboyne, Co. Meath. The Hamilton's had a comfortable childhood and although they considered themselves Irish, they did enjoy the rare privileges of education, leisure activities and travel that were not afforded to the majority of the population. As women they were limited professionally of course but certainly benefitted from the libertarian attitudes which were rarely shared by their Catholic counterparts at the end of the 19th century.
The young Letitia attended Alexandra College in Milltown, Co. Dublin and later at age 29 she attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art (now NCAD) under the tutelage of William Orpen (1878-1931). She also enrolled at the Slade School in London where she studied under the Welsh/Belgian artist Sir Frank William Brangwyn (1867-1976) who instilled a love of the Art Nouveau and linework in her earlier works. The 1920s and 1930s saw her travel across France, Italy and Yugoslavia. A 1923 trip to Venice was the first of many trips where she would repeatedly return to the same views to capture some subtlety of the light or a colourful medley of gondola hulls rolling in the green water of the canals. The influence of the artistic trends in Europe can be seen in her output during this period which was already reflecting an aptitude for Modernism. (1) Stephen Odlum notes that the majority of female artists were Anglo Irish and sent abroad for artistic instruction or leisure and so they naturally absorbed characteristics of Impressionism, Fauvism and Cubism which were gaining traction in Europe. Such conditions produced experimentalists such as Mary Swanzy (1882-1978), Evie Hone (1894-1955), Mainie Jellett (1897-1944) and Norah McGuinness (1901-1980). Conversely, the male Irish artist of the early 20th century tended to look inward to the West of Ireland or the North to isolate a sense of 'Irishness' which defined them as a new Irish school of painting. Trips to Europe slowed considerably during the 1940s due to the second world war, and so commenced the artist's sojourns to Connemara and West Cork.
Roundstone in County Galway was a particular favourite of the sisters and Letitia painted well over a dozen known versions, each capturing slight fluctuations in colour and subject - much like her colourist studies of Venice. The artist uses a palette knife to apply the paint in a generous impasto in some areas and notably left the canvas bare in others. The structure of mountain, streetscape and harbour wall is sculpted in thick, flat daubs suggesting solidity, which is further exaggerated by the dark outline that has become so familiar in her work. Conversely, the bare cream canvas functions as the base of the cloud formations, allowing the luminosity of the white paint to dance across the eye and the canvas recedes as a shadow on the contour of rolling cumulus cloud. Initially, one sees a reduced palette which favours cobalt blues, creams and pale ochres. On further inspection however, the subtle diversity of hue becomes more obvious, with delicate pinks, mauves, green and greys hinting at the warm flush of heather, granite and shale throughout the town and the Twelve Pins beyond. The looseness of this scene indicates that it may have been completed later in her career and represents the culmination of the artist's Modernist European flair in a scene that is so distinctly Irish.
Stephanie Brennan, August 2026
1. Odlum, Stephen, Eva, Letitia and the Hamilton Sisters – Class Gender and Art. Published in 2020
