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www.adams.ieImportant Irish Art | 29
th
March 2017
111 BRIAN FERRAN HRUA HRHA (B.1940) Drummer (1982)Oil on canvas, 75.5 x 60cm (29½ x 23½’’)
Signed and dated 1982
This work is part of a series of works inspired by the 1798 Rebellion and the parallels between contemporary politics and 18th cen-
tury politics - the series is generally referred to as
The Betsy Grey Series.
The image on the drums is after Thomas Robinson’s painting
Battle of Ballinahinch (Co. Down)
, when the United Irishmen were defeated by the British in 1798. The original Robinson painting is
now in the collection of the Office of Public Works and hangs in Aras an Uachtarain.
Betsy Grey was an Ulster-Scots Presbyterian peasant girl from outside Gransha, Bangor, Co. Down, who died in the Battle of Bal-
lynahinch along with her brother and fiance fighting the British Yeomanry. She is celebrated by both the loyalists and republicans of
Ulster and was the subject of many folk ballads and poems. The model for this painting was a woman in a West of Ireland Hibernian
Parade.
We thank the artist for his help in cataloguing this lot.
€ 400 - 600