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Price: Enquire
‘Awaiting the Chieftain—On the Battlements of Shean[sic] O’Neill’s Castle of Ardglass, Co. Down’
Watercolour, 67 x 50.5cm
Signed; further signed, inscribed and annotated on the artist’s original labels, verso
In the original Watts frame
Exhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, 1919, no. 60, £31 10s
William Arthur Fry attended the Saltaire School of Art (now the Saltaire Art Gallery & School), where he showed an aptitude for watercolour painting and lithography, winning prizes in the lat- ter. Shortly after his marriage to Annie Holloway in 1897, Fry moved to Holywood, Co. Down. It was there that he became a freelance artist, work- ing in portraiture, graphic design, and book illus- tration, including children’s books. Fry exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy between 1904 and 1931, and also exhibited with the Yorkshire Union of Artists and the Royal Ulster Academy, later becoming vice-president of the Ulster Academy of Arts. In this watercolour, exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1919, two servant guards at Ar- dglass Castle await the arrival of their chieftain, Shane O’Neill. In anticipation, the men ready themselves to sound a welcome with uilleann war pipes and to hoist a flag bearing a red hand, a symbol believed to have been used by the O’Neills during the Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) against English Rule in Ireland. The war cry “lámh dearg Éireann abú!” (“the Red Hand of Ire- land to victory!”) is also attributed to the O’Neills.
Price: Enquire
‘Awaiting the Chieftain—On the Battlements of Shean[sic] O’Neill’s Castle of Ardglass, Co. Down’
Watercolour, 67 x 50.5cm
Signed; further signed, inscribed and annotated on the artist’s original labels, verso
In the original Watts frame
Exhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, 1919, no. 60, £31 10s
William Arthur Fry attended the Saltaire School of Art (now the Saltaire Art Gallery & School), where he showed an aptitude for watercolour painting and lithography, winning prizes in the lat- ter. Shortly after his marriage to Annie Holloway in 1897, Fry moved to Holywood, Co. Down. It was there that he became a freelance artist, work- ing in portraiture, graphic design, and book illus- tration, including children’s books. Fry exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy between 1904 and 1931, and also exhibited with the Yorkshire Union of Artists and the Royal Ulster Academy, later becoming vice-president of the Ulster Academy of Arts. In this watercolour, exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1919, two servant guards at Ar- dglass Castle await the arrival of their chieftain, Shane O’Neill. In anticipation, the men ready themselves to sound a welcome with uilleann war pipes and to hoist a flag bearing a red hand, a symbol believed to have been used by the O’Neills during the Nine Years’ War (1594-1603) against English Rule in Ireland. The war cry “lámh dearg Éireann abú!” (“the Red Hand of Ire- land to victory!”) is also attributed to the O’Neills.