Louis le Brocquy, H.R.H.A.

Taylor Galleries, Dublin;
Private collection, Dublin;
Adam's, Dublin, 5 December 2006, lot 59;
Private collection

Dublin, Taylor Galleries, Louis le Brocquy, Procession with lilies and other new work, 1985, no.16.

Original canvas. The work appears in good original condition with passages of impasto. Under ultraviolet light there appear to be no signs of retouching. Held under glass in a white wooden box frame; unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Le Brocquy began his first paintings of Fantail pigeons after a memorable visit to Italy in 1956. At his guesthouse, casa Pezzoli, he encountered a flock of pigeons in the courtyard and he responded energetically to the intense life of the birds, bustling together and turning and tumbling in flight. The visual motif resounded with him, resulting in joyful and lyrical creations with quick and deft brushwork. Dorothy Walker observed: ‘In his paintings of doves or fantailed white pigeons their fluttery featheriness is transmuted into fluttery white paint not by attempting any realistic reproduction of a dove but by means of an image having its own inherent reality.’ In so doing, the works have an amazing vitality and emotion realised far more fully than a faithful representation.

The present work, dated 1984, originates from le Brocquy’s home in France, Les Combes, where fantail pigeons also gathered. On pondering these new works, Le Brocquy said at the time: ‘Perhaps this is simply a temporary release from the heads and their rather intense reflective consciousness, their tragic aspect, a return to a simple state of being, emerging in its own nature, filling out its little volume of reality with the various natural possibilities of its form.’ The paintings, together with his still lifes, reveal the aesthetic and technical interests that occupied le Brocquy at various times and are no less ambitious than his major series. Yet they have a delightful vivacity and as Medb Ruane wrote: ‘they open a painterly space into the little incidents the world sometimes offers, chance encounters glimpsed if you’re willing to look.’