Label TextWhelan was best known as a portrait painter, whose sitters included figures from political, religious, professional and military circles. However, he also produced and exhibited modern genre scenes, occasional landscapes, and informal portraits of Irish types. This painting may depict the kitchen at 65 Eccles Street, Whelan’s family home and the hotel of which his mother was proprietor. While the theme calls to mind seventeenth-century Dutch interiors, the draughtsmanship and handling of light suggest the influence of Whelan’s former master William Orpen.
Label TextWhelan was best known as a portrait painter, whose sitters included figures from political, religious, professional and military circles. However, he also produced and exhibited modern genre scenes, occasional landscapes, and informal portraits of Irish types. This painting may depict the kitchen at 65 Eccles Street, Whelan’s family home and the hotel of which his mother was proprietor. While the theme calls to mind seventeenth-century Dutch interiors, the draughtsmanship and handling of light suggest the influence of Whelan’s former master William Orpen.
