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Joseph Patrick Haverty, R.H.A (1794 - 1864), Oil on canvas, The Limerick Piper, Inscribed on t...

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Joseph Patrick Haverty, R.H.A (1794 - 1864), Oil on canvas, The Limerick Piper, Inscribed on t...
Joseph Patrick Haverty, R.H.A (1794 - 1864)
Oil on canvas
The Limerick Piper
Inscribed on the reverse 'J. Gore Booth Lissadell'
Sold together with a framed lithograph engraving by J.S. Templeton for the Royal Art Union, indicating that the original picture is in the collection of Sir Robert Gore-Booth (2)
391/2 x 351/2in. (100.5cms x 90.5 cms)
e40,000/60,000
Exhibited: London, British Institution, 1844.
PROVENANCE: Sir Robert Gore Booth and by descent.
LITERATURE: W. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists, I, Shannon, 1969, p.454
A, Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, The Painters of Ireland, London, 1978, p.223.
Engr: J.S. Templeton for the Irish Art Union
Joseph Patrick Haverty, who came from Galway, was a distinguished portrait painter and one of the first associates of
the Royal Hibernian Academy. His early careeer was greatly assisted by the inspired patronage of John Lushington Reilly, himself an amateur artist, who seems to have noticed Haverty's talent when the latter was still a boy in Galway and
helped with his education. Haverty later lived principally in Dublin but also worked in Limerick. Although Haverty was
predominantly a portrait painter he also painted a number of genre pictures. Of these his Limerick Piper is the most
celebrated. The subject is melancholy; the piper Patrick O' Brien (circa1773-1856) was born in Co. Clare and was the son of a small farmer, who was able to afford him a relatively good education which seemed certain to promise him a good career. Unfortunately, however, he became blind at the age of twenty-six from cataracts, and was obliged to turn to music for
a livelihood, learning the uillean pipes and moved to Limerick where he became a street musician, his usual stand being the Crescent near Harstonge street. It was probably there that he was discovered by Haverty on a visit to Limerick, who seems to have been struck by his fine head and figure and persuaded him to give a few sittings. The young girl beside him is reputed to be the pipers' daughter.
A fine lithograph engraving was made of this picture by J. S. Templeton for the Royal Irish Art Union and copies were
distributed among the the prize-winners of the Union. The original picture was bought by Sir Robert Gore-Booth, one of the Union's vice presidents. It is the first of three known versions of the subject. A smaller version, dated 1844, is in the collection of the University of Limerick, and another smaller version (76 x 59 cm.), commissioned by William Smith O'Brien in 1864, is now in the National Gallery of Ireland (see National Gallery of Ireland, Illustrated Summary catalogue of Paintings, no. 166). This composition, which was widely known through the lithograph, was hugely popular, acquiring a status as a national icon.