Paintings of Leixlip Castle

Someone pinned these paintings. I saw the kitchen first and I thought it might be the kitchen at Leixlip Castle. When I saw the one with the window, I was sure it was Leixlip Castle.  It took some looking to find the artist. The paintings are by Hector McDonnell.

This is what his website says;

Essentially a realist painter, McDonnell is one of the finest figurative Irish artists of his generation. Best known for his observations of daily life he captures the mundane and ordinary with an extraordinary quality.

hectormcdonnell.com

Hector McDonnell was born in Belfast in 1947. He was educated at Eton and Oxford, then studied painting in Munich and Vienna. He has won prestigious prizes and had prestigious exhibitions. He lives and works in Northern Ireland and New York.

Leixlip Castle Corridor

This doesn’t look like the halls I was in. Perhaps it is upstairs. Upstairs has the same windows.

The catalog from Delahunty, one of London’s principal fine art galleries, says;

I have been working on the paintings in this exhibition over the last two years. They concentrate on what has been a constant theme for me – an endless fascination with interiors both for what they tell us about the people who inhabit these places even when they are not there and the curiosity aroused by half-seen glimpses spied through windows and doors. The mystery of the not-quite-known is forever enticing.

Delahunty Fine Art Hector McDonnell Catalogue

Leixlip Castle Kitchen

This painting is in the Past Auctions at artnet Auctions on the artnet website.

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This is the first time I have seen any pictures of the kitchen at Leixlip Castle. When I visited, we came in through the kitchen. I love the artist’s descriptive line, “the curiosity aroused by half-seen glimpses spied through windows and doors.”

Leixlip Castle Kitchen >