Fine Arts: O’Neill’s unabashed romanticism comes with a feminine tinge
A new Daniel O’Neill retrospective at the Farmleigh Gallery illustrates the influence that the women in his life had on his career
From the get-go, Daniel O’Neill stood out from the crowd. A working-class Belfast Catholic child in the 1920s, he painted lofty castles with knights in shining armour while his classmates drew pictures of cowboys and Indians.
From the age of 12, his favourite haunt was the Belfast Reference Gallery, where he could study the Italian Renaissance painters. His luck was to have a mother who had won a drawing prize in her youth. Recognising her ...
