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CAPTAIN RICHARD BRYDGES BEECHEY RHA (1808-1895)Irish River Landscape with waterfall, Possibly Co. Kerry Oil on canvas, 60 x 91cmSigned and dated 1888Born in 1808 in London, the son of Sir William Beechey RA, Richard entered the Navy in 1822, retired as a Captain in 1864 and became a Vice-Admiral in 1879. Throughout his naval career he painted many accomplished marine works and exhibited numerous paintings at the Royal Academy, the British Institution and at the Society of British Artists. Strickland notes that Beechey was employed on the survey work at the mouth of the Shannon and the west coast of Ireland, during which time he sent works to the Royal Hibernian Academy, becoming an honorary member in 1868. After his retirement from the Navy in 1864 he settled in Ireland, living for many years at Monkstown, and later in Pembroke Road, Dublin.The present work is of an, as yet, unidentified view, quite possibly in Kerry where the artist holidayed and painted, submitting a number of Kerry views such as Upper Lake, Killarney (1873), Magillicuddy’s Reeks (1876), The Great Skellig (1883) for exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. The artist’s depiction of such a beauty spot in Ireland is treated in a typical fashion for the mid-19th century, with the contrasting uses of the lake being observed - on the left is a group of women and children washing clothes, while to the right of the composition is a small group of gentlemen fishermen in a rowing boat, with another fisherman beyond on the lake’s shore. The lake is seen below a cascading falls from which emanates a hazy curtain of spray. The dramatic landscape is held together by the inclusion of a road bridge just above the top of the falls and a horse and cart add scale and interest. While Beechey is rightly famed for his marine pictures, it is fair to say that his handling of the landscape, the composition and atmosphere is well beyond the level usually ascribed to an ‘amateur’ artist.