Lot 24: Joseph Patrick Haverty, R.H.A. (1794-1864)

Group portrait of a family, thought to be the Reilly family, of Scarvagh, stepping ashore from a boat on a lough, with mountains beyond
indistinctly signed (lower left)
oil on canvas
48 x 59 1/2 in. (122 x 155 cm.)

A. Crookshank and the Knight of Glyn, Ireland's Painters 1600-1940, New Haven and London, 2002, p.227.

Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 25 May 1979, lot 210.
with Grace Pym Gallery, Dublin, October 1979.
William and Joan Roth; Christie's, London, 14 May 2004, lot 67 (sold £45,410).

Joseph Patrick Haverty came from Galway and, although not much is known of his education, he travelled extensively during the early part of his career and exhibited at the Royal Academy in London. He became one of the earliest Associates of the Royal Hibernian Academy, becoming a full Academician in 1829. Haverty's group portraits are among his most charming works.

This large scale family portrait is believed to show the family of John Lushington Reilly, of Scarvagh. John Lushington Reilly and his wife Louisa (née Temple) had twelve children and it seems likely that the young women in the portrait are some of their seven daughters and the younger members their grandchildren.
John Lushington Reilly was an artist himself, and according to the Reilly family, he had noticed Haverty's talent early when he was still a boy in Galway, and had helped with his education. Haverty is known to have based a pair of aquatints of George IV processing down Sackville Street in Dublin and his departure from Kingstown on drawings made on the spot in 1821 by Reilly. This portrait can be compared to Haverty's group portrait of the Reilly family standing before Scarvagh House, Co. Down.
Crookshank and the Knight of Glin have suggested that the landscape in the background shows Carlingford Lough and in the Mourne Mountains (Crookshank and Glin, op. cit., p.226). More recently, however, it has been suggested that the portrait is set against a view of the lower reached of the River Ban where it widens fifteen miles North West of Warrenpoint and that the village apparent in the distance is Burren, with, Tamnagharie, the Reilly family's estate, to the left.

We are grateful to Patrick Pilkington for providing additional information on the identity of the sitters and the topography of the scene.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.