THE WINTER CHATSWORTH FINE ART & ANTIQUE SALE December 3rd & 4th, 2025

98 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 “Portrait of Patrick Den of Chatsworth, Co. Kilkenny, c. 1680, ”O.O.C., approx. 120cms x 90cms (47” x 35 ½”), in ornate gilt frame. (1) Dating from around 1680, this painting has in the past been attributed to the artist Thomas Pooley (1646-1723). An artist who had trained in London and then come to Ireland in 1676, Pooley was an ardent supporter of the Williamite settlement in Ireland, and as most of his portraits are of families such as the Percevals, Southwells and the Ormond circle, it would have been exceptional for him to have painted a member of a notable Catholic family. The painting is more in the style of John Michael Wright, an artist closely associated with Irish Catholic sitters and Ireland. The pose, and treatment of the fabrics, is similar to ones found in portraits by Wright. The sitter is identified, by reliable family tradition, as Patrick Den of Chatsworth, a townland near Grenane in Co. Kilkenny. This is corroborated by the provenance of the work, which has close links with Chatsworth (Aughatubbrid). The half- length portrait depicts Patrick Den seated in an armchair, upholstered with foliage patterned ciselé velvet. Wearing a full-bottomed wig, he is dressed in silk robes, with a white lace shirt and knotted lace cravat. In the distance, through an opening or window, can be seen part of the portico of a house. The man’s left hand rests on the carved wooden arm of the chair, while his right hand holds the silk material to his chest. He appears to be about fifty years old. Historically, from Norman times onwards, the Den (or Denn) family had close associations with Grennan, near Thomastown in Co. Kilkenny. (The townland is also spelled Grenane, or Grenan). At Grennan, there is a Den burial ground in Dunkitt cemetery. A legend recounts how in the late fourteenth century King Richard II arrived at Grennan, demanding “Denn’s head on a platter” for not paying taxes, but relented after a trick was played on him. In the sixteenth century, a Patrick Den is recorded as renting Dunmore Manor, and the name Patrick occurs regularly in accounts of the family. Irish genealogies mentions a John Den of Grennan, who had a son named Patrick, who died in 1639. This Patrick married Mary, daughter of Nicholas Shortall, and they had eight sons. Although it is not certain if one of these bore his father’s name, if such is the case, this Patrick would have been of an age similar to the man in the portrait. By the 1630’s, the family, who had retained their Catholic faith, owned over a thousand acres around Grennan, but they suffered a major setback during the Cromwellian era, when their lands were confiscated. One of the family, Theobald, became a famous ‘raparee’ or rebel, hiding out in Tory Hill, near Mullinavat. [John O’Hart Irish Pedigrees; or the Origin and Stem of the Irish Nation (1892) Vol. 2] This portrait dates to the years after the Restoration of Charles II, when some of the Den family would have been restored to their former status. Born probably in London, John Michael Wright became one of the most fashionable portraitists of the Restoration Court. A convert to Roman Catholicism, he was apprenticed to the painter George Jamesone in Edinburgh. During the early 1640s, he travelled to Rome, where, like many artists from Britain and Ireland, he studied, painted and dealt in antiquities. In 1656 he returned to Britain, initially to acquire works of art from the royal collections for the Hapsburg court in Europe, but he remained in England and even before the restoration of Charles II had established a successful studio. After the Restoration he painted portraits for the court of Charles II. His most famous commission was twenty-two portraits of judges for the Guildhall in London, commissioned following the Great Fire of London in 1666. In 1678, intimidated by anti-Catholic feeling in London, Wright moved to Dublin, where he painted portraits of the Talbot and other families. After the downfall of James II, he retired as a painter. He died in London in 1694. Peter Murray 2025 €5,000 - €7,000 884. Studio of John Michael Wright (1617-1694)