NEWPORT HOUSE October 20th & 21st 2026

94 IMPERFECTIONS NOT STATED Fonsie Mealy’s Est. 1934 641. Hugh Douglas Hamilton RHA (1739-1808) A magnificent and important large full-size Portrait of “Colonel Hugh O’Donel (1760-1799),” O.O.C., 229cms x 152cms (90” x 60½”) in original frame. (1) The subject of Hugh Douglas Hamilton’s portrait, Colonel Hugh O’Donel, M.P., is depicted wearing a brown coat, white cravat and cream breeches, holding a tricorn hat and cane, in a pose derived from the famous statue of the Apollo Belvedere in the Vatican, standing at the entrance to an unidentified Roman (?) sculpture gallery. The Irish M.P. pays homage to the memory of Julius Caesar by touching his marble bust mounted on a reddish-pink pedestal. The significance of the gesture reflects, perhaps, his deep concern about the extinction of the Irish Parliament by the tactics of the Government in London. Literature: Colonel Hugh O’Donel (1760-1799), M.P., was the eldest son of Sir Neal O’Donel of Westport, Co. Mayo, a lineal descendant of Sir Niall Garbh O’Donel (1568-1626) who married the sister of Red Hugh O’Donnell. Colonel O’Donel reputedly attended Glasgow University, but is not recorded in the list of graduates. In 1793 with the threat of a French invasion, he raised a company of troops and became Lieutenant Colonel of the South Mayo Militia. Two years later in 1795 he was elected to the Irish House of Commons representing Donegal town. Along with his brother, Captain James Moore O’Donel (also elected to Parliament in 1795) he joined the parliamentary faction who strenuously opposed the proposed Act of Union with Great Britain-saying he would never surrender Ireland’s legislative independence. For his passionate opposition, and the Militia, to the Act of Union he was dismissed by the government from his colonelcy in 1799. The Lord Lieutenant, Lord Cornwallis, who suppressed the Rebellion of 1798, had offered him a peerage to vote for the Union but he refused. Hugh O’Donel died M.P., in Tralee, Co. Kerry in 1799. As Hugh Douglas Hamilton left Rome for good in 1792, this painting was probably executed circa 1796, as suggested by Fintan Cullen in his article ‘The Oil Paintings of Hugh Douglas Hamilton’The Walpole Society 1984, pp. 164-208, No.92, fig. 96. Exhibited: Colnaghi’s, London , The British Face: A View of Portraiture 1625-1850, March 1986, No. 39 Sold at Christie’s London , Important British Pictures, 20 April 1990, lot 47. Provenance: The well-known dealer and collector Donald Angus, of Tangiers and Honolulu. National Gallery of Ireland , Hugh Douglas Hamilton, A Life in Pictures, (edited Anne Hodge), 2009. Exhibition No. 58 (22nd November 2008 – 15th February 2009). * An extremely fine Portrait of a member of an important Gaelic Family. Dr. Joseph McDonnell €80,000 - €100,000