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43 PATRICK HENNESSY RHA (1915-1980)The Temple of Concord - Agrigento, Sicily
Oil on board, 21 x 31cm (8¼ x 12¼”)
Signed
Provenance: Thought to have been acquired directly from the artist in the 1950s.
Patrick Hennessy’s painting tours of the Continent were always faithfully recorded in the paintings shown in his annual exhibition
in the Hendriks Gallery. These tours gave him subjects to paint that he relished, particularly the Classical and Antique. His
body of work contains many examples of paintings depicting classical statues and ruins, of which several were shown in the ‘De
Profundis’ Exhibition at IMMA early this year, namely ‘
The Man-Made Man and Rose
’ and
‘Horseman, Pass By
’. They gave him an
opportunity to display his considerable expertise in the effect of trompe l’oeil.
The ruined temple of Agrigento is different compared to a number of Hennessy Classical subjects. The low viewpoint in which
the main subject takes up only one third of the bottom of the canvas is not unusual in his work. He liked to paint large expanses
of blue cloudless skies, but the way in which he has framed the temple by positioning it between two cactus trees in the very
near foreground is not his usual practice, but it is a nod towards classical landscape painting. The slight presence of colour in the
flowers at the base of the painting serve to contrast with the otherwise arid ground, all perfectly painted.
Kevin A. Rutledge November, 2016
€ 800 - 1,200