D. Howard Hitchcock 1866 - 1932
Kilauea Eruption, 1894
Oil on Canvas
20.50 x 36.25 x 3.50 in (52.07 x 92.08 x 8.89 cm)
29.50 x 45.25 in
Sold
Unknown until 1945, when it was documented in the possession of Robert McNeil Boyd (see note below), a bishop in the Anglican Church in Derry, Northern Ireland. Bishop Boyd died in 1958, and the painting was purchased at an auction of his personal effects in Derry.
1958 - Sold at auction to Charles and Georgina Lee in Londonderry and later of Ballymoney, Ireland. Charles died in 1993, but the painting remained in the Lee family home until 2012 when it was passed to their son, Mr. T. Lee.
Trevor Lee sold the painting in 2013 through a chance meeting with the current owner, an avid collector of Hawaiian paintings who does not live in Hawaii full time.
Condition: Until the painting was purchased in 2013, it had been framed with glass protecting the surface. Aside from a nominal cleaning in 2013, this work is in remarkable, unmolested condition. An inscription verso describes the area where the scene is located and the month and year of creation. Some of the writing is not readable, but it is clearly titled Kilauea Volcano, and dated April 1894). Signed and dated lower left, pencil inscription verso.
Historical reports of Kilauea eruptions indicate that the main caldera of the volcano had calmed down from a long and continuous eruption by 1894 but it was possible to get closer to other areas where there was still some activity. The crater in the foreground seems hot, but docile. Behind the blue smoke in the middle ground another crater erupts with magma exploding above the lip of the crater with orange superheated vapor above. The large ridge at the right and back of the scene may be the far edge of the main caldera with the deep crater opening up between the middle ground and the background.
This painting has not been offered for sale in any public sale since it passed hands from Robert McNeil Boyd estate at a small auction then passed within the Lee family to the and has only changed hands once since it first showed up in Ireland nearly 80 years ago.
Robert McNeil Boyd MC (12 February 1890 – 1 July 1958) was the 11th Bishop of Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1943 until 1945, when he was transferred to Derry and Raphoe.
Educated at St Andrew's College and Trinity College, Dublin and ordained in 1912, to the title of the assistant curacy of Fiddown. From 1915 to 1919 he was a Chaplain to the Forces. He served in France from May to October, 1915, in Egypt for a short time and then for nearly three years, as Senior Chaplain in Salonika where he was awarded the Military Cross and Mentioned in Despatches. In Salonika, he contracted Malaria and he was invalided out of the Army in 1920. He then held incumbencies at Ballingarry and Shinrone after which (1936 to 1945) he was Dean of St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe, a post he held until his ordination to the episcopate. Boyd was elected Bishop of Derry and Raphoe on 18 March and confirmed on 20 March 1945. Wikipedia.
1958 - Sold at auction to Charles and Georgina Lee in Londonderry and later of Ballymoney, Ireland. Charles died in 1993, but the painting remained in the Lee family home until 2012 when it was passed to their son, Mr. T. Lee.
Trevor Lee sold the painting in 2013 through a chance meeting with the current owner, an avid collector of Hawaiian paintings who does not live in Hawaii full time.
Condition: Until the painting was purchased in 2013, it had been framed with glass protecting the surface. Aside from a nominal cleaning in 2013, this work is in remarkable, unmolested condition. An inscription verso describes the area where the scene is located and the month and year of creation. Some of the writing is not readable, but it is clearly titled Kilauea Volcano, and dated April 1894). Signed and dated lower left, pencil inscription verso.
Historical reports of Kilauea eruptions indicate that the main caldera of the volcano had calmed down from a long and continuous eruption by 1894 but it was possible to get closer to other areas where there was still some activity. The crater in the foreground seems hot, but docile. Behind the blue smoke in the middle ground another crater erupts with magma exploding above the lip of the crater with orange superheated vapor above. The large ridge at the right and back of the scene may be the far edge of the main caldera with the deep crater opening up between the middle ground and the background.
This painting has not been offered for sale in any public sale since it passed hands from Robert McNeil Boyd estate at a small auction then passed within the Lee family to the and has only changed hands once since it first showed up in Ireland nearly 80 years ago.
Robert McNeil Boyd MC (12 February 1890 – 1 July 1958) was the 11th Bishop of Killaloe, Kilfenora, Clonfert and Kilmacduagh from 1943 until 1945, when he was transferred to Derry and Raphoe.
Educated at St Andrew's College and Trinity College, Dublin and ordained in 1912, to the title of the assistant curacy of Fiddown. From 1915 to 1919 he was a Chaplain to the Forces. He served in France from May to October, 1915, in Egypt for a short time and then for nearly three years, as Senior Chaplain in Salonika where he was awarded the Military Cross and Mentioned in Despatches. In Salonika, he contracted Malaria and he was invalided out of the Army in 1920. He then held incumbencies at Ballingarry and Shinrone after which (1936 to 1945) he was Dean of St Flannan's Cathedral, Killaloe, a post he held until his ordination to the episcopate. Boyd was elected Bishop of Derry and Raphoe on 18 March and confirmed on 20 March 1945. Wikipedia.