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John Butler Yeats , Irish, 1839-1922

Title

Portrait of Susan Mary (Lily) Yeats (1866 -1949), Embroiderer and Designer

Date1901

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

91.7 x 71 cm

Signedupper left: J.B. Yeats, 1901

Credit LinePresented, Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1949

Object numberNGI.1180

DescriptionLily was JBY’s favourite model. A devoted daughter, she wrote regularly to him during his time in New York. Here, her warm personality is conveyed through her deep-brown eyes. An aura surrounds her head, a device the artist adopted for his portraits of distinguished personalities. In March 1901, JBY wrote to the artist Sarah Purser about portraits of Lily and Lolly that he was making great efforts with for the RHA exhibition. Both portraits were rejected by the selection committee, which led Purser to mount a historic joint exhibition of JBY and Nathaniel Hone’s work in the Royal Society of Antiquaries in October 1901.
ProvenancePresented, Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1949Exhibition HistoryLoan Collection of Irish Painters, Giuldhall, London, 1904

W.B. Yeats: A Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1965

John Butler Yeats and the Irish Renaissance, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1972

At a Glance - Portraits by John Butler Yeats, National Gallery of Ireland, 24 October 2015 - 17 January 2016

Yeats; Portrait of a Family, The Model, Sligo, 09 June - 16 December 2018
Label TextLily was JBY’s favourite model. A devoted daughter, she wrote regularly to him during his time in New York. Here, her warm personality is conveyed through her deep-brown eyes. An aura surrounds her head, a device the artist adopted for his portraits of distinguished personalities. In March 1901, JBY wrote to the artist Sarah Purser about portraits of Lily and Lolly that he was making great efforts with for the RHA exhibition. Both portraits were rejected by the selection committee, which led Purser to mount a historic joint exhibition of JBY and Nathaniel Hone’s work in the Royal Society of Antiquaries in October 1901. Label TextLily was her father’s favourite model. A devoted daughter, she wrote regularly to him, especially during his last years in New York. John Butler Yeats began this intimate portrait in 1900 in Devon, where his son Jack had a studio, and finished it in London. Lily worked as an embroiderer for William Morris & Co. for six years in the 1890s. In 1902, with her sister Lolly and Evelyn Gleeson, she founded the Dun Emer Guild, which pioneered the Irish Arts and Crafts movement. Its aim was to ‘find work for Irish hands in the making of beautiful things’.