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Patrick Hennessy RHA (1915-1980) CARAPACE signed lower left oil on canvas 89 by 64cm....

Currency:EUR Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 12,000.00 EUR
Patrick Hennessy RHA (1915-1980) CARAPACE signed lower left oil on canvas 89 by 64cm....
Patrick Hennessy RHA (1915-1980)
CARAPACE
signed lower left
oil on canvas
89 by 64cm., 35 by 25in.
Provenance:
The artist's estate;
Private collection, Co. Wexford
Exhibited:
'Patrick Hennessy', David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin, 9 November - 2 December 1972, catalogue no. 20
The present work depicts the armour of Edward IV (1330-1376), the so-called Black Prince of England, who is buried in Canterbury Cathedral. There, in the Trinity Chapel, his tomb supports an effigy of the prince lying in state in full armour. Hennessy is believed to have visited Canterbury en route from Ireland to north Africa, where he and Robertson Craig lived from 1968 onwards. Rather than being a mere exercise in virtuoso tromp l'oeil effect, the painting is remarkably literary in its explicit play on words, that is to say, in the double entendre of the "carapace" (or shell) of the painting's title, which refers equally to the empty shell of the suit of armour (which ironically is not empty at all, but rather solid cast alloy metal) and the large conch shell painted in superb realism in the lower right hand corner of the composition.
€10,000-€12,000 (IR £7,800-£9,400 approx.)
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