Date: No Date
Dimensions: 70.75 x 92cm
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Collection: Niland Collection
Provenance: Bequest of Ms K Goodfellow, 1980

Description:

Born in Dublin, Francis Beckett or Cissie, as she was known, studied in Dublin and Paris. She was close to the better known artist Estella Solomons and this striking portrait which belonged to Solomons friend and benefactor Kathleen Goodfellow, is believed to date from the early period of their acquaintance c. 1904 (1). In that year Beckett and Solomons, accompanied by the artist sisters Beatrice and Dorothy Elvery, travelled to Paris to study life drawing.

Beckett exhibited at the RHA from 1897 until 1908 when she married William Sinclair, a Jewish antiques dealer and friend of William Orpen, who was known as The Boss Sinclair. Although Beckett continued to paint, the pressures of marriage and motherhood meant that she seldom if ever exhibited. In 1922 the couple and their four children moved to Kassel, Germany, where Sinclair hoped to find success as an art dealer. Their decision to choose Kassel was influenced by Sinclairs friend, the Irish artist Cecil french Salkeld, who was based there (2). Cissies nephew, the writer Samuel Beckett, was a frequent visitor to their home in Kassel where she helped to foster his interest in visual art.

1. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, 20th century, 2nd ed. Dublin, 2002, p.31.
2. Anthony Cronin, Samuel Beckett: The Last Modernist, London, 1997, p.75.

Written by Riann Coulter