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34 ESTELLA FRANCES SOLOMONS HRHA (1882-1968)A Woman Reading at a Desk by a Window
Oil on canvas, 42 x 52cm (16½ x 20½”)
Provenance: From the Artist’s Studio
€ 1,200 - 1,600
35 ESTELLA FRANCES SOLOMONS HRHA (1882-1968)Portrait of Elizabeth Lucy (Norah) Hoult
Oil on canvas, 61 x 51cm (24 x 20’’)
Provenance: The artist’s studio, from the estate of Geoffrey
O’Connor, Co. Kerry.
The writer Elizabeth Lucy Hoult known as ‘Norah’ was
born in Dublin but due to the early death of her parents
was mainly educated in English boarding schools.
Her first book ‘Poor Women! (1928)’ gained her both
popular and critical success. She married the English
writer Oliver Stoner in 1929 but the marriage was only
to last four years and after they split up she returned to
live in Rathmines. She wrote critical reviews for a number
of publications including the “Dublin Magazine” whose
editor was Seamus O’Sullivan, Estella Solomons’ husband
and she was a friend of both husband and wife. While in
Ireland she wrote two novels based here ‘Holy Ireland’
(1935) and ‘Coming to the Fair’ published in 1937, the
year she left Ireland for New York where she stayed for
two years. She lived in London until 1957 after which she
returned to Ireland living her life in relative solitude at
Jonquil Cottage in Greystones earning a modest income
from her writings.
Our thanks to Nicholas Allen whose writings for the RIA
‘Dictionary of Irish Biography’ formed the basis of this
catalogue note.
€ 800 - 1,200