Robert George Kelly Paintings & Artwork for Sale | Robert George Kelly Art Value Price Guide

May. 14, 2026
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) A Killarney Colleen Oil on board, 60 x 44.5cm Signed and titled, verso; further inscribed 'Ellen Leahy / daughter of Matthew Leahy / Boatman / Muckross, Killarney' Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy, 1879, no. 60
Est: €3,000 - €5,000
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) A Killarney Colleen Oil on board, 60 x 44.5cm Signed and titled, verso; further inscribed 'Ellen Leahy / daughter of Matthew Leahy / Boatman / Muckross, Killarney' Exhibited: Royal Hibernian Academy, 1879, no. 609 When the work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1879 it was identified by the generic title A Killarney Colleen but when inscribing it the artist broke with convention by identifying the subject. She is Ellen Leahy the daughter of Matthew Leahy, the boatman at Muckross House, Killarney, County Kerry. Rejecting the tendency of both the Romantic and Picturesque traditions to anonymize the rural figures which populate so much nineteenth-century Irish landscape art, Kelly allows us to put a name to a face and, in so doing, offers insight into the individuality of life in County Kerry. Ellen is shown barefoot but neatly dressed with a cloak of green woollen tartan. She carries a noggin, the multi-purpose vernacular vessel used for eating and drinking. Earlier, when Lady Chatterton explored Ireland in the 1830s, she noted a similar encounter, noting ‘some girls brought us milk in the pretty white vessels so universally used for that purpose in Kerry’ (cited Claudia Kinmonth, ‘Noggins, “the nicest work of all”: traditional Irish wooden vessels for eating and drinking’, IA&DS, Vol XVIII (2015)). Kelly’s treatment of Ellen Leahy is noticeably sympathetic. He makes her the subject of what is a portrait rather than a genre painting or ethnographic document and, most unusually in Irish art, a portrait not of the gentry but of the rural working class. This empathetic treatment of the rural poor should not surprise, as Kelly was responsible for ‘perhaps the most remarkable and atypical painting by an Irish artist during the Famine’. An Ejectment in Ireland, also known as A Tear and a Prayer for Ireland, caused a furore when it was exhibited at the British Institution in 1853 (fig). Kelly’s radical painting was attacked in the press and its controversial subject matter was even discussed in the House of Commons. Adding to the offence caused by the sympathetic treatment for the evicted family’s plight, was the fact that it depicted ‘agents of the state enforcing the landlord’s will’ (Tom Dunne in Whipping the Herring, Crawford (Cork, 2006) p. 58). Here, as in An Ejectment, Kelly shows himself a talented landscape painter with an ability to capture surface and detail – clearly apparent in the treatment of the noggin. Kelly was born in Dublin on 22 January 1822, studying at the Royal Dublin Society and subsequently at the Royal Hibernian Academy, and, in 1842, from an address in Glasnevin, began to exhibit at the R.H.A.. Three years later his portrait of his mother ‘attracted attention as the work of a young artist of promise’, and his precocity is clearly apparent in the ambition of his self-portrait in the chamber of the R.H.A. dated 1847 (fig). Kelly later worked in England, settling in Manchester and Birkenhead, and exhibiting at the Royal Academy. He mostly painted landscapes, some portraits but also ambitious figurative works including Elijah Running before the Chariot of Ahab. Muckross House was built for Henry Arthur Herbert and his wife, the watercolourist, Mary Balfour, to designs by William Burn. It was famously visited by Queen Victoria in 1861, and today forms the focal point of Ireland’s oldest national park. The house sits on Muckross Lake, one of the lakes of Killarney which is glimpsed in the background, and on which Matthew Leahy, Ellen’s father plied his trade as a boatman.
Adam's
Oct. 25, 2025
Robert George Kelly (Irish 1822-1910), "The Thames", Depicting a bustling scene on the River Thames with barges, sailing vessels, and figures in the foreground, with London’s skyline, including St. Paul’s Cathedral an...
Est: $1,000 - $2,000
Robert George Kelly (Irish 1822-1910) "The Thames" Depicting a bustling scene on the River Thames with barges, sailing vessels, and figures in the foreground, with London's skyline, including St. Paul's Cathedral and surrounding church spires, rising in the distance. Painted in the topographical style popular with Victorian audiences and travelers. Watercolor, gouache, pastel on paper Signed lower left R.G.Kelly 28" x 46" Provenance: Gift of Mr. Novogrod, W&E Sloane 414 Fifth Avenue New York, NY Property of a Northeast Private Institution
Nadeau's Auction Gallery
Dec. 04, 2024
Robert George Kelly (Irish, 1822-1910)
Est: £200 - £400
Robert George Kelly (Irish, 1822-1910) Portrait of Margaret Thornely (1858-1949) signed lower left 'Robt. Geo Kelly.' oil on canvas 56 x 44cm Provenance: Crossbrook, Hilton, Cambridgeshire
Cheffins
Feb. 23, 2023
Robert George Kelly (British, 1822-1910)
Est: £100 - £150
Robert George Kelly (British, 1822-1910) Cattle drover on a highland road watercolour with scratching out, signed and dated 1856 lower left, modern gilt frame 12 x 18½in. (30.5 x 47cm.)
Martel Maides
Apr. 25, 2018
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
Est: £100 - £150
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Nov. 15, 2017
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
Est: £120 - £180
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Sep. 13, 2017
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
Est: £150 - £250
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) British. "Two Children", the Children of Mr & Mrs John Carrick Moore, Watercolour and Pencil, Signed and Dated 1846, and Inscribed on labels on the reverse, 20" x 14".
John Nicholson's Fine Art Auctioneers & Valuers
Jul. 30, 2017
ROBERT GEORGE KELLY (BRITISH 1822-1910), OIL ON CANVAS, "PORTRAIT OF SUZANNA REILY", SIGNED 1852. 36 X 28"; FRAMED 48 X 40"
Est: $600 - $900
ROBERT GEORGE KELLY (BRITISH 1822-1910), OIL ON CANVAS, "PORTRAIT OF SUZANNA REILY", SIGNED 1852. 36 X 28"; FRAMED 48 X 40"
William J Jenack Auctioneers
Aug. 23, 2016
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) 'The Conway Valley at Trefriw' 21 x 37.5in.
Est: £800 - £1,200
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) oil on canvas 'The Conway Valley at Trefriw' 21 x 37.5in.
Gorringes
Aug. 23, 2016
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) 'On the river, Wigtonshire' 19 x 31in.
Est: £400 - £600
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) oil on canvas 'On the river, Wigtonshire' signed 19 x 31in.
Gorringes
Jun. 22, 2016
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) 'The Conway Valley at Trefriw', 21 x 37.5in.
Est: £2,000 - £3,000
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) oil on canvas, 'The Conway Valley at Trefriw', 21 x 37.5in.
Gorringes
Jun. 22, 2016
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) 'On the river, Wigtonshire', 19 x 31in.
Est: £1,000 - £1,500
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) oil on canvas, 'On the river, Wigtonshire', signed, 19 x 31in.
Gorringes
Oct. 12, 2014
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) The Meeting of the
Est: €2,000 - €3,000
Robert George Kelly (1822-1910) The Meeting of the Waters, Killarney Oil on canvas, 52 x 93cm Signed; remnants of artist's label verso
Adam's
Jun. 26, 2011
ROBERT GEORGE KELLY (1822-1910), 'Landscape with
Est: £400 - £700
ROBERT GEORGE KELLY (1822-1910), 'Landscape with town - possibly Cork', oil on canvas, 42cm x 62cm, signed lower right, framed.
Lots Road Auctions
Apr. 10, 2008
ROBERT GEORGE TALBOT KELLY A Pylon at Karnak,
Est: £600 - £1,200
ROBERT GEORGE TALBOT KELLY A Pylon at Karnak, signed and dated 1901 and titled on the mount, watercolour, 25.75 x 20.75". See illustration Provenance: Private Collection.
Duke's
May. 18, 2001
Robert George Kelly
Est: £4,000 - £6,000
Robert George Kelly 1822-1910 meeting of the waters, killarney signed l.l.: R.G.Kelly; signed, inscribed with title and artist's address on a label attached to the stretcher oil on canvas 54 by 95 cm., 21 1/4 by 37 1/2 in.
Sotheby's