Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715) A portrait of Margaret O'Cahan, standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads. Oil on canvas, 176 x 89cm. Ref: Gurr Johns Inventory...
Attributed to Garret Morphy (c.1655-1715) A portrait of Margaret O'Cahan, standing in a black habit, and holding a string of rosary beads. Oil on canvas, 176 x 89cm. Ref: Gurr Johns Inventory 1914 p.109 ?200 ''Gallery'' Traditionally called Margaret O'Cahan by the family, this portrait has always been in the collection. Professor Anne Crookshank doubts the attribution to Garret Morphy and feels that being on a continental canvas it is French, although Morphy probably did go to France. The cap worn, known as fontage was popular in France in the 17th Century and never seen after 1710. It was habitually worn at the Court of King James II in France. The lady is certainly Catholic and probably a Jacobite. Professor Crookshank feels that this portrait is quite possibly of Florence O'Cahan, Margaret's mother, and as such is a rare depiction of a member of the old Irish aristocracy in exile. The King family were quick to dismiss Margaret O'Cahan as a papist serving wench and they were aghast at James 3rd Baron Kingston becoming a Jacobite and converting to Catholicism. It was some manoeuvre in damage limitation that enabled the family to regain political acceptance. In fact the O'Cahans of ancient ancestry were the Lords of Limavady and built a substantial castle overlooking the Roe River, but had suffered confiscation at the hands of Sir Thomas Phillips and in the 17th Century were firm supporters of the Stuarts in exile. Provenance: Rockingham House