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Artist: John Butler Yeats RHA (1839-1922) Title: Self Portrait Medium: pencil on paper Size: 50 x 37cm (19.7 x 14.6in) Framed Size: 78 x 65.5cm (30.7 x 25.8in) Provenance: Yeats Family Collection; Private Collection a#morebtn { color: #de1d01; } a#morebtn:hover { cursor: pointer;} Although there are several self-portraits by John Butler Yeats, painted in oil, the most important is a late work, commissioned in 1911 by the lawyer John Quinn but not completed until almost a decade later. In preparation for this oil painting, which shows the artist standing beside his easel, the ... Read more John Butler Yeats Lot 5 - 'Self Portrait' Estimate: €4,000 - €6,000 Although there are several self-portraits by John Butler Yeats, painted in oil, the most important is a late work, commissioned in 1911 by the lawyer John Quinn but not completed until almost a decade later. In preparation for this oil painting, which shows the artist standing beside his easel, the artist made several self-portraits in pencil, of which the present is one. The drawing was made at the Pettipas boarding house at 317 W.29th Street in New York. There is a related drawing in the Niland Collection in Sligo, while another was gifted by Jack B. Yeats to Ernie O'Malley. These drawings are more direct and immediate than the finished oil painting, and give an insight into how Yeats saw himself in old age. One is inscribed 'Myself - seen through a glass darkly - Oct 1919'. In the present work, a drawing that remained with the Yeats family until four years ago, the artist depicts himself standing in front of a tall wooden bookcase, looking directly at the viewer. Bearded and dressed formally in coat and winged collar, he looks more like a banker than an artist living a bohemian life in New York. The son of a Church of Ireland rector, John Butler Yeats was born in 1839 in Co. Down. Although best-known nowadays as the brilliant (but improvident) father of Jack. B. Yeats and W. B. Yeats, he was a talented artist, specialising in portraits. After attending Atholl Academy on the Isle of Man, Yeats was educated at home while living with his Pollexfen relatives. In 1857, Yeats was a student at Trinity College Dublin, during which time he stayed with the Corbets-also family relatives-at Sandymount Castle. During a visit to Sligo in 1862, he and Susan Pollexfen became engaged, and the following year, after the death of his father, the couple married. Yeats then studied law in Dublin, but became dissatisfied with the prospect of life as a middle-class lawyer, and elected to move with his wife and young children to London, where he wanted to study art. However, at 23 Fitzroy Road, the house north of Regent's Park where the family initially settled, the blue plaque commemorates William Butler not his father, who was destined always to be overshadowed by his talented offspring. Pursuing his training, Yeats enrolled first in Heatherley's School of Art, and afterwards attended the Slade. Initially the family spent summer holidays at Sligo, but by the early 1870's, Susan and the children were staying for longer periods in Ireland, while John Butler remained in London. In 1872 they moved to West Kensington, but in 1879, three years after the death of their daughter Jane, the family moved again, to 8 Woodstock Road, Bedford Park, a newly-built Arts and Crafts estate west of Shepherd's Bush. Around 1881 Yeats returned to Dublin, where he rented a studio in York Street and looked after his son William, who was attending High School. For two years, they lived at Balscadden Cottage in Howth, before moving to Terenure. Returning to London in 1887, the family rented 3 Blenheim Road in Bedford Park, and lived there for four years, in relative poverty, while Yeats struggled to establish himself as a portrait painter. Always a perfectionist, with an uncompromising and dogmatic natur