Martin Cregan, P.R.H.A. (1788-1870)
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VA… Read more
Martin Cregan, P.R.H.A. (1788-1870)

Portrait of Colonel Henry John Clements of Ashfield, Co. Cavan, half-length seated in a brown coat fur-lined

Details
Martin Cregan, P.R.H.A. (1788-1870)
Portrait of Colonel Henry John Clements of Ashfield, Co. Cavan, half-length seated in a brown coat fur-lined
signed and dated 'MC[linked]regan/Pxt' and with identifying inscription
oil on unlined canvas
30 x 25 3/8 in. (76.2 x 64.5 cm.)
Provenance
By inheritance in the family of the sitter.
Literature
W. G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists, Shannon, 1969, I, p. 225, recorded in the collection of of Mrs Clements, Ashfield Lodge, Cootehill.
Special notice
No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.

Lot Essay

Colonel Henry John Clements (1781-1843) was the eldest son of Robert Clements, 1st Earl of Leitrim's brother, The Rt. Hon. Henry Theophilus Clements, and married in 1811 Louisa Stewart, daughter of James and the Hon. Mrs Elizabeth Stewart of Killymoon. He was Member of Parliament for Co. Leitrim (1804-1818) and for Co. Cavan (1840-1843), Colonel of the Leitrim Militia (1807-1816) and a Lord of the Irish Treasury (1812-1817). All his life, he was dogged by financial difficulties, many of them inherited from his father. For a time, it looked as if Clements and his brother-in-law, Colonel William Stewart of Killymoon, were neck-and-neck in the bankruptcy stakes. But Clements pulled back, and took his family and himself abroad between 1829 and 1840 in order to economise. On his return, he was elected Tory Member of Parliament for Co. Cavan, on the ground that his 'unflinching support of Protestant principles calls on all true Protestants to support you'. Clements was a popular country gentleman - as witness the fact that he represented two different counties without being a considerable landowner in either of them. Cregan's portrait captures much of the affability and good nature of the man.

More from THE IRISH SALE

View All
View All