Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 30TH MARCH 2022

50 32 EDWIN HAYES RHA RI ROI (1819-1904) Dalkey Sound Oil on canvas, 26 x 35cm (10¼ x 13¾’’) Signed € 7,000 - 10,000 Edwin Hayes was born in Bristol in 1820 but brought up in Dublin where his father ran the Bristol and Glas- gow Hotel in Marlborough Street. He studied at the Dublin Society’s Schools and from the very first his am- bition was to be a marine painter. His experiences as a pleasure sailor on the Irish Sea and also as a hand on a trans-Atlantic vessel stood him in good stead in his future art, as Walter Strickland noted his experiences enabled him in his pictures to delineate the sea and shipping with a sincerity and truth born of experience. Hayes first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1842 and continued to exhibit there until his death in 1904, showing hundreds of paintings over that period. He remained in Dublin for ten years before moving to London. He also exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts, British Institution, Society of British Artists and the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours, becoming a full member of the latter in 1863. A hugely prolific but accomplished artist, Hayes painted the shores and harbours of the Irish and British coasts, and his visits to the coasts of France, Spain and Italy yielded himmany subjects, but his views around the east coast of Ireland are particularly acclaimed. The present work depicts a variety of sailing vessels in Dalkey Sound in quite challenging seas. Dalkey Sound is the stretch of water between Dalkey Island and the coast at Dalkey which is on the southern point of the entrance to Dublin Bay and just a couple of miles southeast of Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Hayes has managed to capture the drama of the storm ravaged seas, the churning surf and the ships endeavouring to get to safety. The contrast between the rain filled clouds and grey seas to the east and the brightening skies to the west coupled with the light being caught in the wind-filled sails of the fishing boat is masterful and conveys to the viewer the impending end of the storm. We still however remain concerned for the safety of the fishermen in their all-weather attire on the deck struggling to keep control and get to the safety of Coliemore or Bullock Harbour.