Adams Important Irish Art 23rd March 2016 : You can Download a PDF Version from the Bottom Menu Down Arrow Icon

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Oil on canvas, 55 x 46cm (21¼ x 18’’)
Signed
Provenance: Important Irish Art Sale, These Rooms 1st April 2009. Cat. No. 58.
Where purchased by current owner.
Litarature: “Aloysius O’Kelly; Art, Nation, Empire” 2010 by Niamh O’Sullivan. Cat.
No. 54.
€ 3,000 - 5,000
Aloysius O’Kelly was born in Dublin but moved to London at a young age. In 1874 he became one of the first Irish artists to study at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris,
where he received his training from Orientalist painter Jean-Léon Gérome and Léon Bonnall. O’Kelly was also one of the initial Irish artists to spend time painting in
Brittany, where he met Jules Bastien-Lepage.
During the 1880s he was appointed specialist artist to the Illustrated London News, and travelled around Ireland as a political illustrator highlighting the Land League.
O’Kelly is possibly best known for his painting depicting Northern African scenes – a popular subject among European Romantic painters. In an unusual move, O’Kelly
emigrated to New York in 1895 and changed his name to Arthur Oakley. Following this he continued to visit and exhibit in France, as well as in Chicago, Milwaukee
and New York where he was a member of the Watercolour Club.