Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 31 MAY 2023

124 103 MATTHEW KENDRICK RHA (C. 1797-1874) A Yacht in Full Sail off Dalkey Island Oil on canvas, 38 x 61cm (15 x 24”) Signed and dated 1862 € 5,000 - 8,000 Mathew Kendrick is one of the finest of the Irish ma- rine artists of the Victorian period and was ‘known for his convincing seascapes and portrayal of vessels’ (Art and Architecture of Ireland, 2, 331). His skill in this regard, nicely evidenced in this view of Dublin Bay, was learned first hand as he had sailed on a fishing vessel in Newfoundland and he ‘was in demand to helm in Dublin yacht races’ (ibid.) and he availed of these sailing connections to promote his marine art. Having trained in the Dublin Society Schools from 1825, he exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy for several decades from the 1820s to 1870s. In 1850 he was elected a member of the RHA and later served as its Keeper and was further honoured by being ap- pointed the marine painter of the Royal Irish Yacht Club. Kendrick who knew the waters of Dublin Bay so well liked to include its familiar coastline in his paintings, from Howth to Dalkey. Contemporary critics attest- ed to the sense that what made his work so authentic and powerful was that he was also a capable seaman who knew the vessels and atmospheric conditions he painted intimately. His View between Bullock and Sandycove , for example,was praised in 1863 as a ‘fine, bold production which a sailor would immediate per- ceive to be true’. The same can be said of the pres- ent work dating from the previous year which shows Dalkey Island with a yacht of the Royal Thames Yacht Club.