CHATSWORTH SUMMER FINE ART SALE 18th & 19th June 2025

117 Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 961. Garret Morphey (Attributed.) 1655 – c. 1716 “Portrait, possibly of a member of the Devonsher family of Kilshannig,” O.O.C., c. 1700, approx. 134cms x 107cms (53” x 42”), in later gilt frame. (1) Wearing a tall wig, and metal cuirass beneath his coat, the man depicted in this portrait stands, hand on hip, with a confident, even pugnacious expression. The pommel of a sword can be seen at his waist, while his left hand rests on a helmet. Judging by the style of the painting and the costume, this portrait can be dated to around 1700. Although the artist has not been identified, the painting bears many of the attributes of a work by Garret Morphey, an artist who had close connections with Ireland. Many of Morphey’s portraits were of members of families such as the Plunketts, Nettervilles, Talbots, Nugents and O’Neills, and he often depicted men wearing armour, as in his portrait of Sir Edward Villiers at Dromana House in Co. Waterford. Associated with the Devonsher family of Kilshannig in north County Cork, the present portrait may depict Jonas Devonsher, or his father Thomas, who married Sarah Weber in 1662. Weber’s father had acquired land at Kilshannig, and Thomas and Sarah settled there. Jonas’s son, Abraham, went on to build a Palladian house at Kilshannig. Designed by Davis Ducart and embellished with plasterwork by the Lafrancini brothers, it is one of the finest Georgian country houses in Ireland. Provenance : Kilshannig House, Co. Cork, formerly home of the Devonsher Family. Dr. Peter Murray 2025 €2000 - €3000 “Market Scenes,”O.O.C., (a pair) c 1775, each approx. 36cms x 36cms (14” x 14”). (2) Painted around the mid-eighteenth century, this pair of matching canvases depict a street market, with stall-holders chatting, laughing and arguing. In the foreground of the first painting, two women appear to be fighting in front of a fountain, while on the left a man carries, on a yoke, two pails brimming over with liquid. His mouth open, he seems alarmed at what is happening behind him. Other figures gathered at the fountain are talking and gesticulating. Behind them, on a plinth, a statue of Neptune stands holding a trident aloft. In the background can be seen a curved Classical building. This same architectural feature is in the background of the second painting, but this time it is embellished with a slender obelisk, rather than a statue. The second canvas again depicts a street market, with tents made of ragged canvas stretched over poles. In front of the tents, three women are engaged in animated conversation. One, wearing a white bonnet, looks quizzical. Beside her, her head in a scarf, a woman holding her hands up in an attitude of surprise, listens to the story told by a market woman, who sits with clenched fist raised. Whether or not these two lively paintings are by William Hogarth is open to debate, but in their vivid depictions of street life, they are captivating and skilled works of art. Using the architecture to identify the location is tempting, but the setting may well be a ‘capriccio’, or imagined scene. There are few enough statues of Neptune in British or Irish cities: there was one in Bristol, but not beside a curved Classical arcade. The paintings are ascribed to Hogarth, and certainly the tumult of figures in a street setting accords with his work. However, the bonnets and dresses, and the sharp features of these market women, suggest the scene could well be located in the Netherlands or France. The features of Hogarth’s revellers are generally more rounded. Were the scenes to be set in Ireland, these two delightful paintings could, with reasonable confidence, be attributed to the Cork artist Nathaniel Grogan. Dr. Peter Murray 2025 €1000 - €1500 963. William Hogarth (Attributed.) (1697-1764)