How portraits by one of Ireland's most famous painters came to be in Kilkenny

Up the steep stairs of Rothe House on the top floor in the Phelan room are two striking portraits by Sir John Lavery that symbolise the connection between John and Hazel Lavery and Kilkenny. The two portraits are of the famous painter and his glamorous socialite wife who combined their roles as the toast of London society with activism to support both Irish independence and the nascent Free State.   

A third painting sits alongside the adult portraits and it is the key to the Lavery’s connection to Kilkenny - it is of Hazel Lavery’s daughter Alice Gwynn as a young girl. It was Alice who donated all three paintings to Rothe House after Lavery’s death. The famous painter died in Rossenarra House at Kilmoganny in Kilkenny on January 10, 1941 where he had been staying with Alice who had married local man, Jack McEnery.

Lavery had left a Blitz torn London to seek refuge with his step- daughter as a ‘superannuated evacuee’ earlier in 1940. He painted his last paintings at Rossenarra House notably Gypsy Encampment. On the morning of his death he had been planning to paint the local hunt in Kilmoganny before he passed away. His funeral held in Kilmoganny was attended by Liam Cosgrave the son of WT Cosgrave. 

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The Rothe House self portrait of Sir John Lavery was originally painted in 1909 for the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Its stark simplicity is striking but Lavery had second thoughts about it when friends commented unfavourably on it, after seeing it in situ in the  gallery, and he subsequently requested its return so he could replace it with a more distinguished version. The Uffizi’s loss has been Kilkenny’s gain. 

The portrait of Hazel Lavery painted in 1926 displays Lavery’s tenderness and affection for his young and beautiful wife: he painted Hazel over 400 times during their relationship. The portrait highlights Hazel’s luminous complexion and long graceful neck while also hinting at her passionate nature in the vivid colour of her lips and her intelligence in the book she holds. 

Sir John Lavery was an accomplished and successful portrait painter in London and Dublin in the early 20th century. His portraits include those of Michael Collins, Edward Carson, and prime ministers of Great Britain. He was made a Freeman of both Belfast and Dublin during his lifetime, the only one to hold such a dual honour. 

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He was born in Belfast in 1856, and after both his parents died prematurely was separated from his two siblings and sent to live with relatives first in Co Down and later in Glasgow. Unhappy in his new Glasgow home he ran away, aged 15 and was homeless. When he was found he was returned to Co Down where he first learned to draw by copying from engravings. He later returned to Glasgow where he worked as an apprentice to a newspaper photographer and attended the Halidane Academy of Art. By the second year of art school he was already expressing his ambition to become a portrait painter. 

In 1888 Lavery was commissioned to paint the state visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow International Exhibition, an event which launched his career as a society painter and he moved to London shortly after. Lavery always  worked extremely hard at his artistic career and had a prolific output during his lifetime. His first wife, Kathleen MacDermott, whom he married in 1889, died of tuberculosis in 1891, shortly after the birth of their daughter, Eileen. 

John’s second wife was Hazel Martyn, an Irish American known for her beauty and style whom he married when she was 29 and he was 53. Her first husband had died only months into their marriage and Hazel was left with a young daughter Alice to rear. She was described by her biographer Sinead McCoole as: “An astonishing beauty with an immense presence despite her five-foot two-inch stature. Her small, rather pointed face was dominated by lustrous almond-shaped hazel eyes.”

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Despite their age gap the couple had an intense and immediate attraction with Hazel moving from her native Chicago to London to a new home at 5 Cromwell Place, opposite the Victoria and Albert Museum. Here, she established not only a marital home but also a very successful social salon where the great and good of London came to meet. 

During WWI John Lavery was a war artist and after the war he was knighted to become Sir John Lavery. In 1921 he was also elected to the Royal Academy,  another professional and social elevation. By the 1920s Lavery was an extremely successful society artist aided by Hazel who used her charm and beauty to successfully promote his artistic career. Together they became a power couple and stars of London Society. Their friends and guests included politicians, writers, artists and  the city's theatre set with Winston Churchill  a close neighbour. Hazel taught Churchill to paint, a release he used to combat his depression throughout his life. 

During this time Hazel had many admirers including the Prime Minister Asquith, Lord Londonderry and Sir Shane Leslie. She and John Lavery were reported to have a tempestuous relationship with both indulging in extra marital affairs, yet still remaining loyal to their marriage. 

As an Irish American, Hazel had always had an interest in Ireland and she suggested to John that he paint Irish subjects including Edward Carson and Sir John Redmond. The couple made their first visit to Ireland in 1913 and as a mixed marriage (John was Catholic and Hazel was Protestant, though she later converted to Catholicism) they were always keen to promote reconciliation between the two traditions. 

The 1916 Rising shocked them  but after the executions, Lavery pledged support to the interned. He also painted the trial of Sir Roger Casement, which Hazel attended and was deeply affected by. After Casement was condemned to death she became passionate about Ireland's welfare.

Seeing the devastation wreaked on Ireland by the Black and Tans during a visit Hazel became more active in her campaign. She pleaded Ireland’s cause  with Lloyd George and wrote to Churchill who was then the Minister for War for the Dublin Castle administration to leave Ireland. When a truce was declared in July 1921, the Laverys offered their London home as neutral ground where both sides could meet and interact on a more human level. When De Valera and Arthur Griffith travelled to London for negotiations, John Lavery not only hosted them in Cromwell Place, he also painted their portraits. 

These initial talks failed and when a second Irish delegation went to London in September 1921 it featured Griffith and Michael Collins. Throughout October the negotiations continued by day with social  sessions at the Lavery’s home by night. Sir John painted Michael Collins on November 16, 1921 while Hazel interceded with Lloyd George to promote Ireland’s cause. Hazel and Michael Collins met at 8am Mass daily at nearby Brompton Oratory, with their intense friendship leading to rumours of a romance. 

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The pair did have an intense bond and it seems that  Collins used Hazel as a de facto agent, writing frequently to give her instructions but always phrased in almost romantic language, a tactic he adopted with all his most successful agents, who were largely female. 

In the end Lloyd George manipulated Griffith into signing up for the boundary commission claiming that it would solve the North South issue. Hazel too urged Griffith to compromise and defer their long term goal of total independence to later. When George declared an ultimatum to the Irish delegation on December 5, 1921, they conceded and signed the Treaty at 2am on December 6. Collins returned to the Lavery’s home in a state of agitation at the situation. The Dáil voted on the Treaty on January 2, 1922 by a majority of 64 to 57 upholding the agreement and De Valera and his followers walked out. 

By June 1922, the country was in a state of Civil War. The Laverys arrived in Ireland the day after Arthur Griffith’s death that  August and spent time with Collins, now the Commander in Chief of the Free State Army. They were also with him when attempts were made on his life, once when his car was fired on and another, when a sniper was apprehended in the grounds of the Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire. Despite escaping these attempts within a week Collins was dead, shot at Béal na Bláth. On his body was a book of poems by Rossetti within which was a letter from Hazel. 

John Lavery painted two images in tribute to Collins. One Love of Ireland depicts Collins in death with  the emblems of the crucifix and tricolour emphasising that he died for his country. The other Pro Cathedral Dublin 1922 was sketched from the gallery of the Pro-Cathedral while the funeral Mass was taking place. 

Lavery’s high profile continued throughout the ‘20s and ‘30s while  he continued to support Irish causes. As reward he received the task of designing the new currency for which he used Hazel’s image as Mother Ireland,  Kathleen Ni Houlihan. These notes remained in use for  nearly fifty years from 1928 to the ‘70s. Lavery also continued to paint people from both traditions while Hazel continued to lobby on Irish issues. 

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When Hazel Lavery died in 1935, John Lavery was  utterly devastated and at a loss. Her funeral was held at the Brompton Oratory and she was buried in Putney Vale. When he died  six years later in Kilmoganny, his body was brought back to London to be reunited with his beloved Hazel, where they now share a very simple and unadorned headstone. 

Today, the Laverys remain united too in Rothe House, their serene portraits revealing little of the eventful and exceptional lives they led.