G O RRY G ALLERY

‘On Seeing Mulvany’s Battle of Aughrim’ by Anne Weber (Great Grandniece of the Artist)
The very word ‘Aughrim’, like ‘Custer’, carries with it current connotations as well as historical ones. I know the facts of the Battle of
Aughrim, but I lack the deep emotional connection of the native born Irish to her history. Nevertheless, I reacted strongly.
The little shop was dark, narrow and crowded. There was a three-foot path through the jumble of tables, statuary, baskets and antiques.
The walls were covered with paintings, hung salon style, in every technique imaginable, nothing newer than the 1940s. We, my brother, the pho-
tographer and I, stopped just inside the door while the owner moved through the maze to turn on a light switch, somewhere in the back of the shop.
Once the small ceiling light was on, we walked forward, single file. The painting hung mid-way into the shop on the right hand wall in
a narrow, plain frame labeled ‘John Mulvany c. 1839-1906’. This could be bad, I thought. Was it the original? I asked myself. I immediately
looked to the right hand corner. And there it was, Uncle John’s signature. I had a million questions but I couldn’t say a word. I tried to step
INDEX OF ARTISTS
Page
Bradley, Basil .........................................................23, 24, 25
Burton, Frederick William ................................................27
Collins, Charles ...........................................................10, 11
Colvill, Helen ....................................................................30
Danby, James Francis .......................................................22
Faulkner, John .............................................................19, 29
Hayes, Edwin ..............................................................22, 31
Helmick, Howard ...............................................................8
Hone, Horace ....................................................................21
Page
Kavanagh, Joseph Malachy .............................................19
Lawless, Matthew James .....................................16, 17, 18
Luttrell, Edward.................................................................21
Marquis, James Richard....................................................28
McCloy, Samuel ................................................................26
Mulvany, John...................................................................2-7
O’Connor, James Arthur ......................................12, 13, 14
O’Kelly, Aloysius ..............................................................30
Topham, Francis William..................................................26

back to take in the entire image and bumped into my brother. Both of us were silent. To actually see this painting, to know it was our uncle’s, to Hone, Nathaniel ..........................................................20, 21 Watkins, Bartolomew Colles ...........................................29

know what he had gone through to paint it, what his hopes had been for it, to know what had happened to those hopes and his career, was incredibly Inglis, J. Johnston ..............................................................15

bittersweet. My eyes filled with tears.

The owner opened the curtains at the front of the shop and more light seeped in. I stepped
close again to look at the brush strokes. I marveled at the loose layering of subtle color in the foreground.
My eyes followed the compositional elements to the center where one stroke of color held the plane, de-
fined the form and marked the middle space. He knew what he was doing; he was a good painter;
this is in good shape. I hope Niamh agrees.

I began to ask my questions. Mulvany’s commitment to the painting, and the cost he paid,
were all there in the journey the painting had taken since it left his easel – from great praise in Ireland to being found in a storage shed of a con-
signment dealer somewhere north of San Francisco, one hundred and twenty-five years later.
We are grateful to the following for their kind assistance in the preparation of this catalogue:

Christopher Ashe William Laffan Colin Rafferty

Gillian Buckley Susan Mulhall F. GlennThompson
Dr. Paul Caffrey Prof. Niamh O’Sullivan Anne Weber
Claudia Kinmonth M.A. (R.C.A.) PhD Joe Woods

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COvER: JOHN MULvANY C. 1839 - 1906 (DETAIL) Saturday (during Exhibition only) 11.30 a.m. - 2.30 p.m.
CATALOgUE NUMbER 11 www.gorrygallery.ie

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