Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 25th September 2024

98 82 SEÁN KEATING PPRHA HRA HRSA (1889 -1977) The Trinity Oil on board, 55 x 83cm (21½ x 32½”) Signed € 15,000 - 25,000 The Trinity is most commonly seen in visual representations of Christian art as the dove symbolising the Holy Spirit descending from heaven, accompanied by two figures representing God the fa- ther and Jesus Christ. In this instance, while the figures adopt the traditional triad format, they have been substitut- ed with three ordinary people from the west of Ireland. An older man stands with his hat re- moved in reverence looking off into the distance, a younger woman with her back to us, her hand outstretched in amazement, towards the central figure of the composition, a woman wrapped in a tartan shawl, standing in the posi- tion most often associated with Christ. Her arms are outstretched and the palms of the hands facing upwards. The fingers or her right-hand point in a gesture usually representative of a blessing, an interven- tion of the sacred in the human world. There is a serene expression on her face and a bright light falls on her, as if a divine vision has broken through the clouds. She stands in front of a donkey and cart, which immediately calls to mind Mary and Joseph travelling to Beth- lehem on the eve of Christ’s birth and his own arrival into Jerusalem riding on the back of one. Keating does not provide us with much narrative content and the arrangement of the composition also suggests that more may be occurring beyond the picture plane. The arched canvas is reminis- cent of traditional altar pieces, it frames the landscape mirroring the rolling shapes of the hills and fields behind. The trees sway in wind as clouds amass on the horizon suggesting inclement weather to come. The colour palette of red and green is picked up in the dress of both women and repeated in the gate and door frame of the cot- tage. He has captured perfectly the chalky, whitewashed walls of the west of Ireland houses. Throughout his career Keating painted religious works, often for specific commissions in churches. He was not a stranger to the lan- guage and mythology of the genre. It makes this work quite interest- ing to witness his mixing of the two styles of which he was so adept. It is not a straightforward image, as was common of Keating’s work, he enjoyed employing allegory and symbolism that moved beyond a linear narrative format. In works such as this and in his well-known history paintings, he was commenting not only on contemporary times but also on the greater arc of traditions that had formed Irish society. In many ways Keating became the official artist of the Irish Free state helping to shape, in visual terms, the new identity of an independent Ireland.