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Seán Keating , Irish, 1889-1977

Title

Thinking out Gobnait

Date1917

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

76.2 × 76.2 cm

Credit LinePresented, Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland (Patrons of Irish Art Funds), 2021

Object numberNGI.2021.50

DescriptionSeán Keating and Harry Clarke met at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in 1911 and quickly became friends. In 1912, Clarke introduced Keating to the Aran Islands, a place that became a recurring motif in Keating’s work. Here, he depicts Clarke sitting within the ruins of St Kevin’s Church on Inisheer, deep in thought. He imagines Clarke planning out the Honan Chapel’s stained-glass scheme that includes an image of St Gobnait. An inscription on the reverse of the work reveals that Keating gifted the painting to Clarke in 1917.

(Katie Buckley, Curatorial Fellow - Prints and Drawings, An Artist's Presence, 2025, Print Gallery)
InscriptionFrom Seán Keating/to Harry Clarke/29 Aug 1917(in Irish, on reverse, upper right)
ProvenancePresented by the artist to Harry Clarke, 1917; private collection; James Adam & Bonham’s, 7 December 2005, lot 78; private collection; Whyte’s, ‘Irish & International Art’, 1 October 2018; private collection; Whyte’s, ‘Irish & International Art’, 31 May 2021, lot 45; Presented, Friends of the National Gallery of Ireland (Patrons of Irish Art Funds), 2021Exhibition HistoryRHA, Dublin, 1918, no. 339

The Arts and Crafts Movement: Making It Irish, Boston College, McMullen Museum of Art, 6 February-5 June, 2016

Conflicting Visions in a Turbulent Age 1900–1916, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, 3 June-20 August 2016.