John Butler Yeats

Estimate

4,000 - 6,000 GBP

bidding is closed

Description

John Butler Yeats
Portrait of Elizabeth Pollexfen
inscribed on the reverse: GRANDMOTHER/ ELIZABETH POLLEXFEN/ B 1819 D 1892 SLIGO
oil on canvas
30.5 by 25.5cm., 12 by 10in.

Catalogue Note

Elizabeth Pollexfen was mother of Susan Yeats and the Yeats children's much adored grandmother. Her death and that of their grandfather William in close succession in 1892 marked the end of an era for the children: 'With them went Sligo for us', wrote Lily, 'and all its charm and beauty, and our childhood seemed pushed back into space" (quoted in Murphy, Prodigal Father, 1978, p.174).