ILLUSTRATION TO JOHN KEAT'S POEM, THE EVE OF ST. AGNES
Harry Clarke RHA (1889-1931)published to accompany, ‘Harry Clarke’ exhibition, Douglas Hyde
Gallery, Trinity College, Dublin, 1979
Gordon Bowe, Nicola, The Life and Work of Harry Clarke, Dublin, 1989
Moore Steenson, Martin, A Bibliographical Checklist of the Work of Harry
Clarke, London, 2003
Gordon Bowe, Nicola, ‘Harry Clarke’s Illustrations for Hans Christian
Andersen’s Fairy Tales’ in Harry Clarke 1889-1931: Ten Original
Illustrations for Hans Christian Andersen’s Fairy Tales, London, 2008.
Like phantoms, to the iron porch, they glide;
Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl,
With a huge empty flaggon by his side:
The wakeful bloodhound rose, and shook his hide,
But his sagacious eye a...Read more
Like phantoms, to the iron porch, they glide;
Where lay the Porter, in uneasy sprawl,
With a huge empty flaggon by his side:
The wakeful bloodhound rose, and shook his hide,
But his sagacious eye an inmate owns:
By one, and one, the bolts full easy slide: -
The chains lie silent on the footworn stones; -
The key turns, and the door upon its hinges groans.”
Harry Clarke’s fertile imagination was ideally suited to Keats’ sensuous poetic
narrative, steeped as it is in “the romantic atmosphere of love and religious ritual”.
Among a number of writers the young artist specially noted down in his 1914 diary
were Keats, Poe, Goethe, Ronsard, Villon, Flaubert, Coleridge and Synge – all of
whose works he was to subsequently illustrate during his tragically short working life,
either in special edition illustrated books or in stained glass panels. The previous
year, aged 24, he had made two illustrations of Keats’ poems – the illustration
featured here, to The Eve of St. Agnes, and another of similar scale to La Belle Dame
sans Merci, as part of the portfolio he prepared to take round prospective publishers
in London after he had left the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art as a prize-winning
student in the summer of 1913. Although neither was ever published, along with a
number of others illustrating Oscar Wilde, Edgar Allen Poe, Hans Christian Andersen
and W.B. Yeats, for example, they were responsible for securing his first book
illustrating commission, from the London publisher George Harrap. Keats’ name also
features among his favourite authors in the pile of books depicted in the bookplate
he drew for his first major patron, the Epicurean Dublin stockbroker and bibliophile
Laurence A. Waldron, during this period. And of course, ten years later, in 1923,
Clarke would embark on his secular masterpiece, the twenty two small stained glass
panels illustrating The Eve of St. Agnes, the “revel in blue” he made into a window for
the staircase of the Jacob family’s residence, St. Michael’s, on the corner of Ailesbury
Road, Dublin (now in the Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane).
This surprisingly large, detailed work uses a miniaturist’s technique to illustrate the
penultimate stanza of Keats’ evocative poem, in which the thwarted lovers escape
from their warring families in the wintery night of auspicious St. Agnes’ Eve. With full
artistic licence, Clarke depicts “thoughtful Madeline” poised apprehensively on tiny
slippered feet. Exquisitely coiffed and tiara’d, she is modishly made up, diaphanously
swathed in a veiled scarf and vogueishly dressed in an exquisitely embroidered
chiffon ballgown – despite the “bitter chill” and storm that awaits her outside her
family’s baronial fortress. She is framed by the billowing satin-lined cloak of her
“impassion’d” lover, Porphyro, dressed in signature Clarke chequered skull cap,
peacock feather and cape. The spiky fingers of his right hand hover around her
willowy waist while the other points the way forward to their life together beyond
the huge castle door. Theatrically made-up and wearing black-laced ballet pumps
and a belted harlequin cat-suit, he is poised like a dancer about to leap – a
marionette hero inspired by the Ballets Russes production of Carnaval (1910) which
Clarke is known to have greatly admired. These two figures are closer to the
unearthly “phantoms” Keats likens them to in his poem than to the majestically
dressed hero and heroine who re-emerge in the artist’s subsequent secular stained
glass masterpiece. Behind them, true to Keats’ vivid descriptions, we can discern the
blue-toned vaulted hall, which would re-appear in Clarke’s Jacob window ten years
later, the thick tapestry hanging that Porphyro has pulled back to unlock the heavy
door, the “chain-droop’d lamp” flickering in the deserted, moonlit night and, slumped
in the lower right-hand corner, the drunken porter clutching “a huge empty flaggon
by his side”. Similarly, as in the penultimate panel of the later Eve of St. Agnes window,
the only sign of stirring life is “the wakeful bloodhound”, who goes back to sleep
once he recognises his mistress.
As in his contemporary and slightly later illustrations to Hans Andersen’s Fairy Tales,
Clarke shows himself a master of decoration. The Irish Times wrote that even “if he
were to produce a drawing of, let us say, an isosceles triangle, on an otherwise blank
sheet of paper, he would somehow or another contrive to make it decorative”.
Madeline’s distinctive profile, immaculately arranged and decorated hair, subtle
maquillage, her voiled stole, pointy ringed fingers and exotically patterned robe
recall those of the Elf Maidens from Hans Andersen’s The Elf-Hill, the Princess in the
tale of The Travelling Companions, even the Emperor in The Nightingale (all three,
National Gallery of Ireland collection). The two large whorling medallions decorating
Madeline’s skirt and her floriated bodice indicate that the artist was well acquainted
with currently fashionable Japanese mon and katagami ornamental devices, while his
subtle colour palette, posturing protagonists and use of surface pattern mirror Kay
Nielsen’s illustrations for the recently published book, In Powder and Crinoline (1912).
This finely wrought image heralds Clarke’s consummate Lady of the Decoration and
his Hans Andersen illustrations completed over the next two years. It also anticipates
his imaginative textile designs for Sefton five years later, and shows how close text
and image were always to be in his work - even at such an early stage in his career.
Dr. Nicola Gordon Bowe
October, 2010
For works by the artist’s son, David Clarke, see lots 120-122.
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Clause 1
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(a) Each buyer, by making a bid, acknowledges that he has satisfied himself as to the physical condition, age and catalogue description of each lot (including but not restricted to whether the lot is damaged or has been repaired or restored).
(b) All lots are sold with all faults and imperfections and errors of description and the Auctioneer and its employees, servants or agents shall not be responsible for any error of description or for the condition or authenticity of any lot, save for Clause 5 (c) below. Written or verbal condition reports may be supplied by the Auctioneer on request but these are merely statements of opinion, and any error or omission in these reports may not be taken as grounds for a cancellation of sale or refund of any part of the purchase price or the cost of any repairs to the lot or lots reported on
(c) A purchaser shall be at liberty to reject any lot if he - (i) gives the auctioneer written notice of intention to question the genuineness of the lot within seven days from the date of sale; AND (ii) proves that the lot is a deliberate forgery and (iii) returns to the auctioneer within 20 days from the date of sale the lot in the same condition as it was at the time of sale; provided that the auctioneer may, at his discretion, on receiving a request in writing from the purchaser, extend for a reasonable period the time for return of the lot to enable it to be submitted to expertisation. NOTE: The onus of proving a lot to be a deliberate forgery is on the purchaser.
(d) Where a lot has been submitted to expertisation, all costs of such expertisation shall be paid by the person who retains the certificate of expertisation and item or items to which the certificate relates.
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(f) No lot shall be rejected if, subsequent to the sale, it has been marked by an expert committee or treated by any other process unless the auctioneer's permission to subject the lot to such treatment has first been obtained in writing.
(g) Any lot listed as a "collection, range, portfolio etc." or stated to comprise or contain a collection or range of items which are not described shall be put up for sale not subject to rejection and shall be taken by the purchaser with all (if any) faults, lack of genuineness and errors of description and numbers of items in the lot, and the purchaser shall have no right to reject the lot; except that, notwithstanding the foregoing provisions of this sub-clause, where before a sale a person intending to bid at the sale gives notice in writing to, and satisfies the auctioneer that any such lot contains any item or items undescribed in the sale catalogue and that person specifically describes that item or those items in that notice, then that item or those items shall, as between the auctioneer and that person, to be taken to form part of the description of the lot.
Clause 6
The respective rights and obligations of the parties shall be governed and interpreted by Irish law, and the buyer hereby submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Irish Courts.
Special Conditions
a) The buyer shall pay the Auctioneer a commission at the rate of 20% (Art sales) or 24% (Collectibles sales). The Buyer's Premium is added to the hammer price of all lots and is subject to VAT at the prevailing rate.
(b) The Auctioneer or its employees, servants or agents may, on request organise packing and shipping of lots purchased or may order on the buyer's behalf third parties to pack or ship purchases. Under no circumstances does the Auctioneer accept any liability whatsoever for any loss or damage howsoever occasioned in the course of such service.
(c) The buyer authorises the Auctioneer to use any photographs or illustrations of any lot purchased for any or all purposes as the Auctioneer may require. The placing of a bid will be taken as full agreement to all the above conditions.
WHYTE AND SONS AUCTIONEERS LIMITED, 2022
We hold two types of auction - TIMED and LIVE SALEROOM
1. TIMED AUCTIONS
WHAT IS A TIMED AUCTION?Timed auctions do not have an auctioneer calling the bids – there’s just a bidding time frame and whoever bids highest during the time frame wins. Each lot can be bid on for a defined time period. At the end of this period, the bidder who has submitted the highest bid wins the lot, provided the bid exceeds the reserve price. You tell us the most you’re willing to pay – and we’ll bid intelligently for you, only bidding enough for you to meet the reserve or stay in the lead. Don’t worry, your maximum bid is not disclosed, and is held in confidence on our bidding system.
WHEN ONLINE BIDDING STARTS - YOU CAN LEAVE BIDS online and your bid will start at one step above the previous bid or at the start price if no other bid. You will be notified by email if you get outbid before the auction starts.
ONCE THE AUCTION BEGINS TO FINISH, ON THE DATE AND TIME SPECIFIED, THE EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS CEASE and you should follow the auction on-line to see how your bids are doing. Make sure you have logged in if you wish to bid.
WHEN THE AUCTION BEGINS TO FINISH ON THE DATE AND TIME SPECIFIED,THE BIDDING FOR EACH LOT REMAINS OPEN FOR 45 SECONDS at a start price determined by the reserve or bids already received. Each lot will be open and remain open for bidding until its end time is reached; the end time will be extended by 45 seconds if another bid is received. At the end time, if there are no further bids and the highest bid received equals or exceeds the reserve price the lot is sold to highest bidder.
The Buyers Premium for Art sales is 20% plus VAT ( 24.6% gross). The Buyers Premium for Collectibles sales is 24% plus VAT (29.52% gross). The Buyers Premium will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars.
2. LIVE SALEROOM AUCTION:
If you can't attend the auction in the saleroom you can email or post or telephone bids to us, or you can book a telephone line to bid during the sale. Contact us on +353 16762888 or bids@whytes.ie
To bid on-line at a Live Saleroom Auction:
• Log in or register bid.whytes.ie
• Visit the online auction catalogue
• Find the lot number you are interested in.
· The current highest bid will be displayed
• The minimum bid required to beat the highest bid will also be shown.
· You can place your bid. The screen will show the new highest bid and will indicate if that bid is yours. Note: if a previous bidder has left a bid that equals yours the previous bidder will win the lot unless you outbid them. If the screen doesn’t confirm that your bid is winning you will need to bid again if you wish to buy the lot. Don’t worry -the system will not allow you to bid against yourself.
• The live auction will begin at the announced date and time and will be sold in lot number order by the auctioneer.
• Invoices will be issued to successful bidders on the next working day after the sale has ended.
BIDDING STEPS:
Up to €300 x€10
Up to €700 x €20
Up to €1,300 x €50
Up to €3,000 x €100
Up to €7,000 x €200
Up to €13,000 x €500
Up to €30,000 x €1,000
Up to €40,000 x €2,000
Up to €70,000 x €2,000
Up to €130,000 x €5,000
Up to €500,000 x €10,000
A FEW TIPS FOR ABSENTEE BIDDERS:
Bid the maximum price you would pay for the lot; we will try and secure the lot for you at the lowest possible price. For instance if you bid €2,000 on a lot and the highest other bid we receive is €1,200 you get it for €1,250. Most people tend to bid in round numbers, e.g. €500. It’s often a good idea to bid an odd number, e.g. €520, or €540 which will outbid an even number. Check the results the day after the sale: these are published on our website www.whytes.ie at about 10am on the day after the sale. Successful bidders are also notified of results by mail.
TIE BIDS: if two or more equal bids are received the lot will be sold to the first received.
The Buyers Premium for Art sales is 20% plus VAT ( 24.6% gross). The Buyers Premium for Collectibles sales is 24% plus VAT (29.52% gross). The Buyers Premium will be added to your winning bid amount. Your invoice will detail all the payment, collection and shipping particulars.