Jack B. Yeats
, Irish, 1871-1957
Title
And So my Brother Hail and Farewell for Ever MoreDate1945
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
35.5 x 53 cm
Signedlower right: JACK B YEATS
Credit LinePurchased, 1997
Object numberNGI.4643
Label TextThe title of this painting is an approximation of the final line of an elegiac Roman poem of the first century BC, in which its author Catullus laments the death of his brother. That poem was also the source for the title of George Moore’s memoir Hail and Farewell (1911-14), in which William Butler Yeats, Jack’s own brother, features prominently. William’s death in 1939 was followed by that of another sibling, Elizabeth, in 1940.