Portrait by John Butler Yeats
Samhain with pencil drawings by John Butler Yeats of Lady Gregory
December 1904
Dublin, Sealy, Bryers & Walker; London, T. Fisher Unwin
John Butler Yeats, Yeats’s father, left a budding career as a lawyer in 1867 to become a portrait painter. His impracticality as a businessman and inability to finish his work in timely fashion severely limited his success and often left his family in straitened circumstances. Although he was somewhat jealous of Gregory’s forceful management of his eldest son, he greatly admired her pragmatism and energy and deeply appreciated the patronage and encouragement she also gave to both him and his son Jack. His drawing of Gregory in this 1904 issue of Samhain suggests something of her kindness to him, while also highlighting the simple style with which she usually appeared, unadorned and dressed in black.
: Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature
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