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Still life

Artist: Hennessy, Patrick (attributed) · 1915-1980

Still life

The painting's authorship had become lost and various artist's names had been put forward as potential candidates. These included James Cowie RSA,…

The painting's authorship had become lost and various artist's names had been put forward as potential candidates.

These included James Cowie RSA, William Littlejohn RSA and Edward Baird.

Further research subsequently identified it as probably a student piece by Patrick Hennessy HRA (1915-80).

This was after reference to a Still Life by him 25 x 19 inches framed was found on a typed list of c.1955/56 of pictures in RSA Front Store.

This prompted a comparison on-line with other examples of Hennessy's work.

In particular there are similarities between this work and Hennessy's student piece The Window o/c, 19.5 x 11.5inches, c.1940 which was sold from a private collection at Sothebys London 1999-05-21 (lot 399) and again at Whyte's in Dublin, Important Irish Art, 2016-05-30 (lot 32).

The attribution to Hennessy was finally endorsed in 2017 by colleagues in Ireland responsible for the major Hennessy Retrospective.

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