Beschreibung:

Daniel O'Neil (1920-1974) Portrait of Writer Laurence James Ludovici Oil on board, 57 x 48.25cm (22½ x 19'') Signed Provenance: Sold in these rooms 'Important Irish Art' sale, 11th December 1996, Catalogue No.63 Following the success of a joint exhibition with Gerard Dillon at the Contemporary Picture Gallery in 1943 and a solo exhibition in 1946 at Victor Waddingtons gallery, ONeill received critical acclaim in Dublin and his native city, Belfast. His popularity led to private commissions and a contract from Victor Waddington, which continued till the late 1960s. With Waddingtons help, ONeill also met new patrons and his work was seen in America, United Kingdom, Sweden, and Holland. The sitter, Laurence James Ludovici was a non-fiction American writer whose focus in the late 1940s was the subject of Anesthesia and Penicillin. There were significant advances in monitoring Anesthesia following scientific discoveries in the 19th century which led to modern anesthetic techniques, moreover as a direct result of the war Penicillin was mass-produced and by 1944, the benefits of the medicine were advertised on public buildings throughout Europe. This portrait may have resulted from the writers published findings on Anesthesia or his published manuscript Fleming, Discover of Penicillin in 1952. Admiring the Italian Renaissance painters, ONeills depictions of the sitter gazing directly at the viewer with a narrative element in a formal setting are characteristics of Florentine portraiture during the 1500s. The lemon, bird and notebook may symbolize longevity, experimentation and mortality. The date and initials under the quill pen suggest the writers published medical findings. When this painting was first sold in these salerooms in 1996 (11 December, Lot 63) it was illustrated in black and white. Catalogue details state that it was painted at Bryansford, Co. Down. After his marriage to Eileen Lyle in 1943, the ONeills moved to a small mining town of Conlig in Co. Down where ONeill became known in the locality. It is doubtful if ONeill knew the sitter personally so it is likely this portrait was a private commission from an American collector who had viewed his paintings from the mid 1940s. ONeill had shown several works in a group exhibition in association with the American Artists Galleries, in New York in 1947 and once more in 1948 in a group show held in Los Angeles. In addition to these exhibitions in 1950, Victor Waddington organized a travelling group exhibition in America, which included ONeill and his friends Gerard Dillon and George Campbell in association with the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, and New Irish Painters. Dr Theodore Goodman who assisted in the selection of the artists to show in the New York exhibition in 1947 reviewed ONeills first one-man exhibition in October 1946 at the Waddington Galleries, There is another side to ONeills art which is worthy of mention, his gift of portraiture. I have only seen one of his portraits, the one of Lady Nelson, but he has succeeded in the most difficult thing in portraiture, expressing personality and at the same time composing a painting. Karen Reihill Daniel O'Neil (1920-1974) Portrait of Writer Laurence James Ludovici Oil on board, 57 x 48.25cm (22½ x 19'') Signed Provenance: Sold in these rooms 'Important Irish Art' sale, 11th December 1996, Catalogue No.63 Following the success of a joint exhibition with Gerard Dillon at the Contemporary Picture Gallery in 1943 and a solo exhibition in 1946 at Victor Waddingtons gallery, ONeill received critical acclaim in Dublin and his native city, Belfast. His popularity led to private commissions and a contract from Victor Waddington, which continued till the late 1960s. With Waddingtons help, ONeill also met new patrons and his work was seen in America, United Kingdom, Sweden, and Holland. The sitter, Laurence James Ludovici was a non-fiction American writer whose focus in the late 1940s was the subject of Anesthesia and P