Morgan O'Driscoll Irish & International Art Auction 30th April 2018 at 6pm

I RISH & I NTERNATIONAL A RT A UCTION M ONDAY 30 TH A PRIL 2018 AT 6.00 PM 45 Daniel O’Neill ( - ) THE CANAL signed lower right oil on board 41 x 61.25cm (16.14 x 24.11in) Provenance: The Waddington Galleries, London (label verso); Irish Life Assurance Company Limited; De Vere’s Dublin, 20th November 2001 Lot 304A; Private Collection The Lagan was O’Neill’s stamping ground during his early years as a Belfast electrician - quietly taking evening art classes, fuelled by the optimism of youth. His ship came in when Ireland’s most influential art dealer, Victor Waddington, decided he was worthy of investment and guaranteed him an income so he could paint full time. The gamble paid off with a series of highly successful paintings possessed of a dreamlike, melancholy quality. Doyen of Irish art critics Brian Fallon described them as being ‘within measuring distance of Yeats’. O’Neill moved with his wife and child to an artists’ colony in the village of Conlig Co. Down where his colleagues included Gerard Dillon and George Campbell. Locals still recall the sight of the tall handsome young man out walking with his wife and small daughter. The good times didn’t last. He descended into alcoholism and he died, while drunk, in the back of a taxi. He should be remembered for the haunting beauty he produced at the height of his powers. €12,000-18,000 (£10,434-15,652)