Painting of family preparing for daughter’s emigration to America to be sold at Whyte’s

A HAUNTING picture of an Irish family preparing for a daughter’s emigration to America is expected to attract intense interest at Whyte’s art sale on March 14th. As emigration again tops the social and political agenda in Ireland, the poignant 19th century painting has become uncannily topical and may appeal to collectors both at home and among the Irish diaspora overseas.

The Finishing Touch, by Cork-born artist James Brenan, was first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin in 1867 where it was sold for the, then significant, sum of £35. Now, 135 years later, it has a pre-sale estimate of €15,000-€20,000.

The artist was alarmed at the devastating scale and impact of post-Famine emigration from his native Munster. His 25in x 30in oil-on-canvas shows the interior of a rural Irish house where a family prepares for the dreaded American Wake – the traditional gathering of family and friends to bid farewell to a departing emigrant. Such occasions lacked the jollity and celebration associated with traditional Irish wakes for the dead.

In the painting, the girl’s father is almost overwhelmed by sadness as he rests his hand on the wooden “emigrant’s box” that will carry his daughter’s possessions on the ship sailing to the New World. A seated signwriter is shown painting the girl’s name (O’Connor) and destination (New York) on the box.

The girl herself is seen in the background trying on a new hat while conversing with her mother. On the right, her little brother is shown carrying a creel of turf on his back with a look on his face suggesting that he realises he, too, may one day have to depart.

Brenan, who was born in 1837, himself emigrated – to London – but eventually returned to Ireland where he became head of the Crawford School of Art in his native Cork and subsequently head of the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin where his pupils included William Orpen. He died in 1907.

His most famous painting, News from America, (1875) is in public ownership at the Crawford Municipal Art Gallery Collection in Cork. It has been described as a sequel to The Finishing Touchas it shows a family gathered around a kitchen table as a girl reads aloud a letter to home from an emigrant.

The Finishing Touchis among almost 300 works in Whyte's sale of Irish and British art. Other highlights include paintings by Sir John Lavery, Daniel O'Neill and Gerard Dillon and three rare photographs of Athy, Co Kildare by photographer John Minihan.

A pastel Portrait of Liv Hempel(daughter of the German envoy to Dublin in 1939) by Patrick Hennessy and a self-portrait by the same artist have also been attracting considerable interest.

* Whyte’s Irish and British Art Auction, 6pm, Monday March 14th at the Clyde Rooms, RDS, Ballsbridge, D4. Viewing, at the same venue, on Saturday-Monday, March 12-14, from 10am-6pm. Catalogue and online bidding is at whytes.ie