PAUL HENRY, R.H.A., R.U.A. | Windy Day, Co. Kerry

Adams, Dublin, July 1983, where purchased by the present owner

Irish Times, 2 July 1983, illustrated

Original canvas. A very faint upper horizontal stretcher bar mark; otherwise the work appears in very good overall condition with a strong areas of impasto. No signs of retouching under ultraviolet light. Held in a gilt plaster 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."

Paul Henry went in September 1934 with Mabel, his second wife, to County Kerry. He stayed in a bungalow that belonged to a friend, Patrick Browne, then Professor of Mathematics at St Patrick's College, Maynooth. This was Paul's second visit to Co. Kerry, the first having taken place a year or eighteen months earlier. 'It is lovely. Wherever one turns there is material for dozens of pictures', he told James Healy in America. In the main he stayed in the neighbourhood of Glenbeigh, but also explored the Dingle peninsula, which reminded him of Cape Cod, 'very lonely & wild but not very paintable...nicer at a distance'. This picture was probably made on his return home. He was in good spirits at the time and recounted to Healy that economically 'things are definitely brighter in Ireland [after the recession of the 1930s] than I have known them for several years'. On his return home in early October he had been very busy working at his sketches and doing 'some large things for exhibitions,' he told Richard Campbell, such as his majestic The Mountains and Lake, Connemara (1934) and his equally majestic The Village by the Lake (1935). In the present work, his characteristic compositional technique remains unchanged: the visual aspect of the scene is as before, but he has inserted a lake before the distant mountains and a fishing boat to stimulate the eye. The blue of the lake is particularly vibrant and the reflections of the water superbly achieved with impastoed highlights. His tonal variation in the mountains is equally effective and enhances their monumentality, while above the voluminous clouds loom. The overall effect creates a dramatic view in keeping with the glory of Paul Henry's best pictures.

S. B. Kennedy. The present work is numbered 1341 in Kennedy's ongoing catalogue raisonné of Paul Henry's oeuvre.