Benton Fine Art has dated this French Townscape Oil Painting to the 1920s.
Irish, (1878-1964)
Gateway, Semur
Image size: 24 inches x 20 inches
Size including frame: 33 inches x 29 inches
A lovely painting of the town of Semur-en-Auxois, France by Letitia Marion Hamilton. The work with its airy lightness shows figures outside a grocers shop next to the Guillier Gate showing a glimpse of the central square of the famous medieval town. The use of white pigment in her colours applied in a thick impasto was a trademark of her work.
Letitia Marion Hamilton was born in Dunboyne, County Meath on 30 July, 1878, the daughter of Charles Hamilton and Louisa Brooke. She came from a family of famous Irish women artists: her great-grandmother was Caroline Hamilton (1771-1861), her elder sister Eva Hamilton (1876-1960) was also a talented painter, and her cousin Rose Maynard Barton (1856-1929) was a townscape and watercolour artist. The family lived at Hamwood, Dunboyne, Meath in Ireland.
She trained at the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin alongside her sister Eva under Sir William Orpen (1878-1939) before attending the Slade School of Art where she was taught by Sir Frank Brangwyn (1867-1956). She made her debut at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1909 where she continued to exhibit regularly. In 1912, she was awarded a silver medal by the Dublin school and received another from the Board of Education National Competition.
After the death of her father in 1913, she and her family moved to 40 Lower Dominick Street in Dublin, later living at Monasterevin, in Co. Kildare. By 1920, they had relocated to Font Hill in Palmerstown, Dublin. In the same year, Hamilton formed the Society of Dublin Painters together with Paul Henry, his wife Emily Grace Mitchell, Mary Swanzy, Jack Butler Yeats and others. Around this period she began using the initials of her full name LMH, instead of MH (May Hamilton) and travelled widely painting views of France and Italy as well as her homeland. She also began exhibiting at the Paris Salon.
She was elected associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1939 and became a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1944. She was also a committee member of the Water Colour Society of Ireland. From 1945, she held a number of solo exhibitions in Dublin at the Victor Waddington Galleries and later at the Dawson Gallery. In 1948 she won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games Art Section for her painting of a Meath Hunt point-to-point race.
Towards the end of her life she returned to Ireland where she lived at Woodville House, Lucan County. Hamilton died in Dublin on 9 August, 1964. Examples of her paintings are held by the National Gallery of Ireland, Ulster Museum, Williamson Art Gallery and the York Museum.
Presentation: The painting is housed in a new English made gilt frame of the appropriate style for the period, which is in excellent condition.
Condition: As with all of our original antique oil paintings, this work is offered in ready to hang gallery condition, having just been professionally cleaned, restored and revarnished.
© Benton Fine Art
Benton Fine Art has dated this French Townscape Oil Painting to the 1920s.
Specialists in 19th & early 20th century original oil paintings by listed artists
You can view the stock and full dealer information on the Benton Fine Art Profile Page
Benton Fine Art is a registered member of LAPADA BADA CINOA
Townscape Oil Painting of Semur, France by Letitia Marion Hamilton
