€800 - €1,600
Star Lot: A stunning original antique watercolour titled "Delphi, Mayo" by the artist Jospeh William Carey and dating to 1936. Showing the titular glacial valley with quiet lake, and a small thatched cottage in the distance. Artfully rendered with nice attention to form and tone. Signed bottom right. Carey has a brilliant auction history. selling in the thousands and his highest sale at Whytes fetching €3000. Mm: 54 x 32 cm
J.W. Carey was predominantly a watercolour painter of land- and sea-scapes, but also did some illustrative work. Born in Kilwarlin, Co. Down, Carey and his artist brother John began their careers as illustrators with Marcus Ward & Co., Belfast. A close friend and contemporary of William Percy French, Joseph was one of the original members of Belfast Ramblers’ Sketching Club and a lifelong friend of Hugh Thomson RI (1860-1920). His first recorded exhibition was with the Ramblers’ in 1888, when, alongside his brother he showed illustrations for In Southern Seas, an account of a trip to The Antipodes. It was never established whether they actually sailed to New Zealand but this exposure to maritime subjects was to become a recurring and lasting theme in Joseph’s oeuvre, lot 61, showing the ill-fated Titanic at Belfast docks, is testament to this. Carey began exhibiting with the Watercolour Society in 1893 and from 1915-1935 with the RHA. Following the failure of Marcus Wards’ in 1899 he was employed by John and Ernest Hanford and later with the brother of Hugh Thompson. Carey and Thompson specialised in illuminated addresses; miniature scenes in watercolour by Carey. Works by both can be found in the Armagh County Museum, The Ulster Museum, Ballycastle Museum and The Linen Hall Library, Belfast. Carey died in Belfast in 1937. The most prestigious commission of his career was a series of thirteen scenes from Belfast history painted on canvas for the Ulster Hall and completed in 1903. There is a video of this lot on our Facebook, Instgram and tic Tok page under South Dublin Auction.
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