Adam's Important Irish Art & Irish Historical Documents December 2016 : Click Lot Title for More Info

258

The Liberator

Oil on canvas, 62 x 75cm (24½ x 29½’’)

Signed and dated 1921

Daniel Albert Veresmith was born in Ohio in 1861 as Daniel Wehrschmidt. He changed his name to Veresmith when he moved to London in

1883, where he taught at the Bushy School of Art for twelve years. Subsequently he moved to Doneraile, Co. Cork and this work is inscribed

‘Doneraile, Co. Cork’ on the reverse of the canvas.

The painting is signed and dated D.A Veresmith Pinxt, 1921 in the banner at the bottom left of the canvas and at first glance appears to be

a posthumous view of The Liberator, Daniel O’Connell delivering a speech to a crowd in Dame Street with Trinity College in the background

and the statue of William of Orange in the foreground. This statue was blown up by Republicans in the 1920s. A closer look at the figures that

form the crowd in the foreground however reveals a curious mix of individuals. Some are dressed in top hats and have whiskers which would

suggest a mid- 19th Century date, whilst others wear the fashionable bowler hats of the 1920s and appear to be contemporary with the date

of the painting, rather than O’Connell.

The title of the work The Liberator, immediately suggests a reference to Daniel O’Connell, but the timelessness of the crowd may suggest that

this person speaking is a more modern ‘liberator’, perhaps Collins, or de Valera. Thus, the work may be a broader reference to the ongoing

struggle for Irish Independence which began centuries before. Indeed the image of William of Orange whose statue looms large over the tiny

figure of the speaker gives further credence to this interpretation of the work.

€ 1,000 - 1,500