In The Window, Seán Keating captures a moment of quiet domestic intimacy. His wife, May, sits absorbed in a book, framed by the soft light of a great window overlooking a leafy landscape. Richly observed details and a gentle interplay of light and shadow lend the scene a contemplative beauty.
Mounted with conservation grade boards and tapes and framed in a matt-black scooped frame with a real gold-leaf slip, and real glass glazing.
Frame: 37 x 550 x 605mm
The Window features Keating's wife, May (nee Walsh) (1895-1965), who was originally from Eadestown in County Kildare. In need of the heat of the sun for her health, May was educated by nuns in Spain. She returned to Dublin, a devout agnostic, in 1916, and met Keating at a local branch of Cuman na nGaedheal. The pair married in the University Church on St Stephen's Green in Dublin in 1919.
The artist initially painted The Window, titling it Sunday Evening, for exhibition in the RHA in 1923, but he changed his mind about showing it. One of ten works that Keating exhibited at the Aonach Tailteann games, the large window in the background accentuates May's contemplative pose, a metaphor, perhaps, for the emerging post-civil war nation, and at the same time, alluding to a series of similar work by his mentor, Sir William Orpen.
Dr Eimear O'Connor HRHA, HRUA. - Sean Keating: Art, Politics, and Building the Irish Nation.
The piece comes fitted with high quality hanging hardware and arrives ready-to-hang. Professionally packed and shipped on a fully trackable service with DPD.
Made-to-order - ships within 10 working days.
