Lot 105: Richard Thomas Moynan RHA (1856-1906) CATTLE GRAZING or AFTER THE MILKING signed and dated [1894] lower left oil on canvas 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in.

Richard Thomas Moynan RHA (1856-1906) CATTLE GRAZING or AFTER THE MILKING signed and dated [1894] lower left oil on canvas 51 by 76cm., 20 by 30in. Exhibited: probably exhibited as After the Milking RHA, Dublin, 1894, catalogue no. 147 (œ30-0-0) Richard Thomas Moynan was born at Eldon Terrace, South Circular Road, Dublin in 1856. Having initially chosen to study at the Royal College of Surgeons, he later abandoned the medical profession to pursue his love of art. He exhibited at the RHA for the first time in 1880 and proceeded to win several prizes and medals for both drawing and painting over the following years at the RHA and the Royal Dublin Society's School of Art. In 1883 he entered the Academie Royal des Beaux-Arts in Antwerp with fellow artist Roderic O'Conor and studied under the Belgian artist Charles Verlat (1824-1890). His contemporaries Walter Osborne, Joseph Malachy Kavanagh and Dermod O'Brien were also studying in Antwerp at this time. After just six months study he won first place for figure painting, out of over 100 students of various nationalities He continued his studies in Paris where he had similar success in painting and drawing competitions. He returned to Dublin in 1886 and five years later exhibited his highest priced work at the time, Military Manoeuvres, now one of the most well known works in the National Gallery of Ireland. Moynan was a leading and most popular exhibitor at the RHA and had every prospect of a long and successful career. However, his output was limited due to ill health and in April 1906 he died at the age of 50.