In Flanders fields in May 1915 a battalion of soldiers from the Royal Munster Fusiliers lined up for a general absolution from a Tipperary priest on the day before the catastrophic Battle of Aubers Ridge on the Western Front. The following day one in six of the soldiers were killed. A unique extant painting of the poignant scene by Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), the Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of trench warfare, comes up as lot 116 at Whyte’s evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 11.
The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at Rue du Bois is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. The blessing was administered by the Jesuit Fr. Francis Gleeson (1884-1959) from Templemore, a then 31 year old who served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers at the first Battle of Ypres and is said to have taken command of the Battalion after all the officers were incapacitated by the enemy. The original painting was made at the request of the widow of the battalion’s commanding officer. It was destroyed during World War II. This copy was painted by Matania in 1919 at the request of Alfred Robinson, whose son Edmond fought in the battle. It was to celebrate Edmond’s safe return from the war. Exactly a century later, on May 8, 2015, a memorial was placed at the site of the blessing. The auction at Whyte’s includes works by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Lilian Lucy Davidson, Frank McKelvey, Grace Henry, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, Patrick Collins, William Scott, Louis le Brocquy, Donald Teskey and many other well known artists.