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Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937) An Aran Funeral: In...

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Hammer

€11,000

Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937) An Aran Funeral: Inishmaan (1912) Oil on canvas, 91 x 122cm (35_ x 48'') Signed and dated 1912 Literature: Pall Mall Gazette, Pictures of 1913, May 1913 Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1913, number 613 Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937), the younger brother of fellow artists Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) and Bernard Benedict Hemy (1844-1910) was born on the passenger steamship Madawaska (hence his name) while his family were emigrating to Australia. After studying at the School of Art in Newcastle and under Charles Verlat (1824-1890) in Antwerp, he exhibited widely. In the summer of 1912, Hemy travelled to the Aran Islands on a painting trip, an experience whose profundity he recorded both in painting and in writing, the former in this example and the latter in an article titled 'In the Isles of Romance', published in The BoyÕs Own Paper (Issue 11, 1915). In this work Hemy depicts the funeral of one of Inishmaan's poorest men, with the coffin coming from nearby Inisheer as there was no carpenter on the island. Such was the sensitivity with which Hemy beheld this event that he ensconced himself 'on a ledge of rock overlooking the burial-ground, so that the presence of a stranger should not obtrude.' From this vantage, Hemy observed many minute details, including the stretched hide of a currach boat applied to the coffin lid and the three wooden bars 'lashed on' the coffin for the purpose of carrying it from the house of mourning a mile and a half away. Moved by the event, Hemy went on to describe one of the most extraordinary episodes he had ever witnessed: 'Most of the people following the procession made their way to the different gravestones and mounds and knelt at their own family graves, praying, 'keening,' and wailing until all was ready for the interment. What a difference to the sombre Breton funeral that we have seen depicted - the falling rain, the sad garments of the spectators, and the priests and choristers with banners and crucifixes. I doubt if their ceremony is a tenth part as impressive as that of the poor farmer fisherfolk of the Aran Isles burying their dead.' Unmentioned by Hemy is the name of the graveyard, that being Cill Ceananach, located on the eastern side of Inishmaan. The flat headstones ('only the more prosperous families have them') remain a feature of the graveyard to this day, as do the remains of an ancient church. Hemy exhibited this work at the Royal Academy in 1913, alongside 'An Emigrant's Departure' (currently untraced). A watercolour study for this work was sold in these rooms, 8 December 2021, lot 116.

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[ translate ]

Hammer

€11,000

Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937) An Aran Funeral: Inishmaan (1912) Oil on canvas, 91 x 122cm (35_ x 48'') Signed and dated 1912 Literature: Pall Mall Gazette, Pictures of 1913, May 1913 Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1913, number 613 Thomas Marie Madawaska Hemy (1852-1937), the younger brother of fellow artists Charles Napier Hemy (1841-1917) and Bernard Benedict Hemy (1844-1910) was born on the passenger steamship Madawaska (hence his name) while his family were emigrating to Australia. After studying at the School of Art in Newcastle and under Charles Verlat (1824-1890) in Antwerp, he exhibited widely. In the summer of 1912, Hemy travelled to the Aran Islands on a painting trip, an experience whose profundity he recorded both in painting and in writing, the former in this example and the latter in an article titled 'In the Isles of Romance', published in The BoyÕs Own Paper (Issue 11, 1915). In this work Hemy depicts the funeral of one of Inishmaan's poorest men, with the coffin coming from nearby Inisheer as there was no carpenter on the island. Such was the sensitivity with which Hemy beheld this event that he ensconced himself 'on a ledge of rock overlooking the burial-ground, so that the presence of a stranger should not obtrude.' From this vantage, Hemy observed many minute details, including the stretched hide of a currach boat applied to the coffin lid and the three wooden bars 'lashed on' the coffin for the purpose of carrying it from the house of mourning a mile and a half away. Moved by the event, Hemy went on to describe one of the most extraordinary episodes he had ever witnessed: 'Most of the people following the procession made their way to the different gravestones and mounds and knelt at their own family graves, praying, 'keening,' and wailing until all was ready for the interment. What a difference to the sombre Breton funeral that we have seen depicted - the falling rain, the sad garments of the spectators, and the priests and choristers with banners and crucifixes. I doubt if their ceremony is a tenth part as impressive as that of the poor farmer fisherfolk of the Aran Isles burying their dead.' Unmentioned by Hemy is the name of the graveyard, that being Cill Ceananach, located on the eastern side of Inishmaan. The flat headstones ('only the more prosperous families have them') remain a feature of the graveyard to this day, as do the remains of an ancient church. Hemy exhibited this work at the Royal Academy in 1913, alongside 'An Emigrant's Departure' (currently untraced). A watercolour study for this work was sold in these rooms, 8 December 2021, lot 116.

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Time, Location
25 Sep 2024
Ireland, Dublin
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