FRANK MCKELVEY RHA RUA (1895 - 1974)

Title: Tending her Goats (C. 1925) Medium: Watercolour over Pencil Signature: Signed Lower Left and Titled in Margin Lower Left Provenance: Roy Edwards Fine Arts Ltd, Portadown (Label Verso); Ulster Museum, Belfast (Label Verso); Sotheby's, New York, 22 May, 1997, Lot 326; Jorgensen Fine Art, Dublin (Label Verso); Whyte's, Important Irish Art, 25 May, 2015, Where acquired by the Previous Owner; Private Collection Exhibited: Frank McKelvey Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast, 4 March - 25 April 1993 Literature: S.B. Kennedy, Frank McKelvey RHA RUA: A Painter in his Time, Irish Academic Press, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, pp. 28 and 36 (illustrated, colour plate No. 14) Notes: The Old Woman in the work was possibly the model for McKelvey's prize-winning entry to the Taylor Art Competition in 1918, The Grandmother. Framed Lot Description: Frank McKelvey’s Tending the Goats is a delicate yet characterful example of his watercolour mastery, capturing the warmth and quiet dignity of rural Irish life. The old woman depicted—hands on hips, observing her goats—was a favoured model in McKelvey’s early 1920s work, believed to be a friend or neighbour from around Bessborough, Co. Armagh, where his in-laws owned a farm. Her presence links this piece to several other key works in his oeuvre, including the celebrated The Potato Gatherers (1922), in which she appears in a strikingly similar pose, as well as Feeding the Hens (1920), where her lined and expressive features are unmistakable. Art historians also suggest she may have been the model for The Grandmother, McKelvey’s prize-winning entry to the Taylor Art Competition in 1918. As such, Tending the Goats is more than a pastoral scene—it is a testament to McKelvey’s intimate connection with his subjects, his skill in rendering character through posture and expression, and his enduring contribution to Irish watercolour painting in the early 20th century. Image: 20 x 29 cm. Framed: 49 x 59 cm. PICTURES AND PRINTS Tuesday 16th September 2025 19:51:40 Biography FRANK MCKELVEY RHA RUA (1895 - 1974) Frank McKelvey, born in Belfast, was renowned for both his landscape and portrait paintings. Before beginning formal studies at the Belfast School of Art, he worked as a poster designer for David Allen & Sons. Early in his career, he received a commission from Thomas McGowan to create views of Old Belfast, a series later exhibited at the Ulster Museum in 1930. McKelvey’s reputation grew quickly after his first showing at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin, where his work was met with immediate acclaim. He became a member of the Belfast Art Society and the Ulster Society of Painters in 1921, was elected an Associate of the RHA in 1923, and advanced to full membership in 1930. Alongside contemporaries such as James Humbert Craig and Paul Henry, McKelvey formed part of a recognised group of Northern Irish landscape painters. Their work was praised in The Studio for its sincerity, careful observation, and confident execution. He also became one of the founding Academicians of the Royal Ulster Academy, cementing his place in Irish art history.