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   © Milmo-Penny Fine Art Ltd.

T A G  S A L E S

Henry Jones Thaddeus 1859–1929



A Study

Oil and wax crayon on canvas, 28 x 23 inches
Signed by the artist
Inscribed Florence and dated 1891
Exhibited:
Milmo-Penny Fine Art, December 2010, no.11

This is a study of Princess Victoria Mary, painted from sketches made by Thaddeus at an earlier date. Within her family, the Princess was affectionately known as May, the month in which she was born, a name which remained with her until her marriage in 1893. She was a daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Teck and, as a cousin of Queen Victoria, her childhood years were spent between Richmond Park and Kensington Palace. The Princess referred to Victoria as Aunt Queen and, in her childhood, Grandmamma.

The Duchess lived an extravagant lifestyle, which eventually led to her banishment from the Royal household. In the spring of 1883, the Tecks arrived in Florence, which coincided with that of the Irish artist, Henry Jones Thaddeus. According to Brendan Rooney, [‘Thaddeus’, Dublin, 2003] Thaddeus was introduced to the Tecks in the autumn of that year and a lifelong friendship was formed. Portraits of the Duke and Duchess were commissioned in 1884 and sent to London for exhibition at the Royal Academy.

In the following year, Thaddeus painted a formal portrait of Princess May, and when the family visited Switzerland, he was invited to join them. There he painted a second portrait of the Princess at Bodensee. Both paintings remain untraced, although one was exhibited at the Irish Exhibition in Olympia in 1888. Many sketches were made at this time and it is most likely that the present work was based on these. James Pope-Hennessy, [‘Queen Mary’, London, 1959] draws a comparison between the formal portraits of the Princess and earlier studies for which she sat informally. Afterwards, May studied art in Florence with Thaddeus as her mentor.

In March 1891 Thaddeus unexpectedly cleared his studio and left Florence for good. The current work is one of the last paintings he did there and may have been painted in sorrowful memory of bygone days with his beautiful Princess. He developed a wanderlust, which took him far afield before he returned to Italy. He remained in contact with the Tecks and met them when he attended the funeral of James Healy in Wicklow in 1894. On the occasion of Princess May’s marriage to the Duke of York, Thaddeus sent a gift of a fine painting, The Origin of the Harp of Elfin, now in the Royal collection.

To be included in our Irish Masters catalogue in December.

Photos on request: dominick@mpfa.ie


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Private Dealers in Fine Irish and European Paintings
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