'Painting by Sir John Lavery for Mrs. McEnery, Kilmoganny' is the catalogue title for this shot from the Poole Collection. Featuring a dog allowing itself to be held by a young lady it looks a really lovely portrait. I am no dog expert but it appears to me to be a Pekinese which would have been quite uncommon at that time. Who is the subject and can we date the painting itself?
Based on inputs from
Niall McAuley,
BeachcomberAustralia, and
sharon.corbet the general consensus is Sir John Lavery painted this in the 1910s. If so it could well be a portrait of his step-daughter Alice Trudeau (born c.1904), and she later commissioned a copy herself, as Mrs. McEnery. Some time after he marriage to a Jack McEnery in 1930. Seems imminently plausible to us Marys.....
Photographer:
A. H. Poole
Collection:
Poole Photographic Studio, Waterford
Date: Catalogue range c.1901-1954. Original painting perhaps c.1910s (Alice as child). Copy likely after c.1930 (Alice marries)
NLI Ref:
POOLEWP 4298
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at
catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner:
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Source:
Flickr Commons
Views: 18778
Niall McAuley
There were 10 McEnerys in Kilmaganny Co. Kilkenny in the 1911 census. Mrs. Margaret McEnery had at least 6 daughters, census does not record a little dog.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Sir John Lavery, the artist, had an interesting life - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lavery
Niall McAuley
Here is Rossenara House at the NIAH.
Niall McAuley
Per wikipedia: Sir John Lavery, the Irish artist celebrated for his portraits and related to the McEnerys through marriage, resided at Rossenarra during the last few years of his life and died there on 10 January 1941
domenico milella
Congratulation for your beautiful Album
sharon.corbet
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley The wiki article also mentions: with her he had one step-daughter, Alice Trudeau (Mrs. Jack McEnery).
Niall McAuley
So Lavery's 2nd wife Hazel had a daughter Alice who married Jack McEnery. Jack is presumably the 17 year old John in the 1911 census, so we are some years after that.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
[I am getting confused] Does this help with something? - "The Artist's Studio: Lady Hazel Lavery with her Daughter Alice and Stepdaughter Eileen" onlinecollection.nationalgallery.ie/objects/3099/the-arti... Ed. Flickr is sometimes amazing - [https://www.flickr.com/photos/jessi1126/12198300734/]
Niall McAuley
On Alice's wedding: The March 5, 1930 New York Times, covered her wedding in Cannes, France, so we are probably after that.
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomberaustralia The little one in that pic is Alice, who grows up and marries Jack, which is how Lavery meets the McEnerys.
Niall McAuley
In 1941 Alice's uncle wrote to her: I was indeed terribly interested to hear what a large family you have raised and how well they are divided as regards boys and girls. Children: Martyn, Mary, Robin and Jacqueline McEnery Could this be Mary, aged perhaps 9?
Niall McAuley
Or is it Alice, here shown in 1919 aged 15?
Niall McAuley
"John painted a wonderful painting of Alice, Jack and the family in Rossenarra House. Kilmoganny in 1935"
DannyM8
A photograph of a painting of Dog, Is better than no Dog at all!!
Niall McAuley
I am going to guess that this is Alice, painted by Lavery when she was young. Many years later, Alice (now Mrs. McEnery) has Poole photograph the painting.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley I think you may be right. Odd that there is no frame. It would be good to see the portrait in colour ...
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Alice Trudeau in The Peerage (she married again in 1963) - www.thepeerage.com/p62004.htm#i620039 Sir John Lavery - www.thepeerage.com/p41357.htm#i413561
National Library of Ireland on The Commons
Thanks https://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomberaustralia, https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley, and https://www.flickr.com/photos/scorbet! That seems like an imminently plausible theory to me. I've updated the description/date/etc to reflect. And updated the map to pin the location to the Poole studio on the Mall...