The Madonna and Child stand at the centre of a carefully balanced composition, flanked by the statuesque figures of the two saints most closely identified with Ireland — Patrick and Brigid. By this point Jellett had come to see cubism as a modern route back to the clarity she admired in medieval Irish art, arguing that its discipline guarded against what she called "fussiness and over-elaboration" and let rhythm and design govern the form.
The painting was shown at the inaugural Irish Exhibition of Living Art in 1943, whose committee Jellett chaired.
Mainie Jellett (1897-1944), born in Dublin, studied under William Orpen before training in Paris with André Lhote and Albert Gleizes. With Evie Hone she exhibited the first abstract paintings shown in Ireland in 1923, and went on to found the Irish Exhibition of Living Art.
About the original
Artist: Mainie Jellett (Irish, 1897–1944)
Title: The Virgin of Éire
Date: 1940s
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 64 × 92 cm
Collection: National Gallery of Ireland — bequeathed, 1978 (NGI.4319)
Sizes & Format
30x45 cm / 12x18″
60x90 cm / 24x36″
Available framed (black, white, wood) or unframed
Print & Frame Details
Archival matte paper, 250gsm (110lb), acid-free and FSC-certified — off-white, uncoated. Framed prints: solid oak or ash wood frame, 20mm thick, with shatterproof protective glazing. Ready to hang, hanging kit included. Unframed prints up to A4 ship flat; larger sizes ship rolled in a protective tube.
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