Historic 'lost' Mayo island art discovered in Belgium

Almost a century after the famous Belgian artist Marie Howet painted Brigitte (Brigid) McNulty Burke’s portrait on Achill, her ‘lost’ picture has finally turned up!

While the finished portrait was exhibited in Brussels in 1978, this preliminary sketch has never been seen in Ireland, or on the island before, so its discovery is of immense historic and artistic note.

The location of the completed portrait remains unknown – for now – but the appearance of this Howet work brings to an end a 100-year wait for members of the Burke family, who have never seen either portrait of their mother.

Anne, her daughter, expressed enormous delight at the find, saying: “Oh how wonderful that someone has found it at last! Along with my sister Kay and my brother Edward, I am looking forward to seeing it after all this time. They both said that it’s a pity that our mother is no longer with us to hear the great news.”

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The sketch was located in Belgium, after a lengthy collaboration with a colleague of writer Mary J Murphy, Monsieur J Martin. He is a custodian of Howet’s effects, and Murphy has been hot on Howet’s heels since she first learned of the painter from John 'Twin’ McNamara 20 years ago. Just back from a further adventure in Belgium, France and Holland, Murphy launched her book, 'Achill Remembers Marie Howet' on the island at a tribute event in August 2024, at a time when this precious portrait was still ‘missing in action’.

RTÉ’s Joe Duffy, who discussed her book with Murphy on his Liveline books show last December, described the Howet publication as 'a magnificent production' whose 'reproductions are beautiful and whose colours are sensational'.

An accomplished painter himself, Duffy. who during a separate Liveline Nollaig na mBan conversation with Murphy in January ’25, also whole heartedly supported the erection of a memorial on Achill to the magnificent Eva O’Flaherty as soon as possible, confessed to having never heard of Howet before this 'very important book'. He described Howet’s distinctive style as “as instantly recognisable as that of Paul Henry, which is half the battle”.

Brigitte (whom Howet re-christened in the French style), was just six years old when the painter stood at Eva O’Flaherty’s Dooagh door in August 1929. It was one of the first portraits that the Belgian executed as well as those of Annie McNulty, O’Flaherty (her host), Mary McNulty, the well-connected Dublin artist Maude Ball, and many others.

Fifty-three years later, Howet painted Brigitte’s portrait once more, this time in Belgium in 1982, when her island friend of over half a century finally made it to Marie’s Libramont home. Mary J Murphy continues her dogged detective work into the lost Achill paintings of Marie Howet, and has been assured that there are many of them still held in private hands across Europe, so the hunt goes on!

‘Achill Remembers Marie Howet’ by Mary J Murphy is widely available online.