THE SOCIAL NETWORK:The former president of the RHA, Thomas Ryan, told me that he "is reconciled to posthumous acceptance" at the opening of his exhibition in the Oriel Gallery in Dublin on Sunday afternoon. He is not overly enthusiastic about the 10 pictures which have been shortlisted for Ireland's favourite painting. People have told him that his Flight of the Earls, which is on view in the State Apartments of Dublin Castle, should have been included.
The painter was commissioned by the Irish Club in London to paint a portrait of Douglas Hyde in 1965. He told me he charged the club £105. It is included in Whyte’s forthcoming Irish Art Sale on May 21st, with an estimate of €5,000 to €7,000.
Ryan is the president of the United Arts Club, and the chairman of the club, Mary Dunne, turned up to lend her support on Sunday. Dunne told me that John and Francis Brennan, the presenters of RTÉ’s At Your Service, have been visiting the club lately to film for their new series. Not since two other brothers, namely William Butler Yeats and his brother Jack, frequented the club, has there been such a kerfuffle.
Who we spottedGallerist Mandy Nulty, who is expecting her first child in three weeks; James English RHA; Prof Dervilla Donnelly and her sister, the barrister Keara Donnelly.
What we drankWhite wine. Red wine is banned in the gallery, since a tray of it was spilled on the carpet.
