William John Hennessy N.A., R.O.I. 1839-1917
SOLD
En Fête, Normandy
Oil on canvas, 108 x 183 cm.
Signed ‘W.J.Hennessy’, lower-left; signed again with initials on basket
Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1876, no. 523
Provenance: Collection of Simon Joseph Selkin, Cropwell Grange, Cropwell Butler
William John Hennessy was born in Thomstown, County Kilkenny, on 11 July 1839, the son of John Hennessy and Catherine Hennessy, née Laffin. John immigrated to Canada in 1848 when his involvement in the unsuccessful rising of the Young Ireland movement forced him into exile. He moved to New York in 1849 where he was joined by Catherine and their children at 87, Franklin Street. In New York, William entered the National Academy of Design at the age of 15. He first exhibited there in 1857 and continued to do so until 1870. He was elected as an Associate of the Academy in 1861 and as an Academician in 1863.
On 19 June 1870, William married Charlotte Amelia Mather, and the couple left America for Europe soon thereafter. While travelling, they developed a social circle that included artists such as Joseph Pennell (1857-1926) and James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834-1903). In 1875, Hennessy moved to Normandy, France, where he rented Le Manoir de Pennedepie in Honfleur, Calvados.
This work, En Fête, Normandy was painted in France and exhibited at the Royal Academy, London in 1876. During the mid to late 1870s, Hennessy produced a small number of large-scale paintings depicting the daily lives of Normans, those inhabitants of Normandy, including: The Votive Offering, 1875 and Fête Day in a Cider Orchard, Normandy, 1878, the latter forming part of the Ulster Museum’s permanent collection.
En Fête, Normandy was roundly praised by contemporary critics who highlighted the work as being ‘painted with great care and elaboration’ (The Pall Mall Gazette, 2 June, 1876) and possessing ‘variety and opulence of detail’ (The Academy, 27 May, 1876). The Academy specifically spotlighted ‘the young woman disengaging her skirt from a bramble-branch’ as ‘one of the most telling and pleasant figures.’ Later that same year, an engraving after the work was included in the illustrated weekly newspaper, The Graphic (30 September, 1876). In Henry Blackburn’s Academy Notes, 1876, the author concluded that ‘Mr. Hennessy, who has painted this subject in France, has seldom been happier than in depicting nature en fête.’