==Works==
==Works==
Leech was well known for his illustrations of [[Concarneau]] harbour. The works of Leech feature coastal and harbour scenes, landscapes, interiors, still life and portraits. Some of his best-known works are ”A Convent Garden, Brittany” (1913) and ”The Sunshade” (1913), both of which are in the [[National Gallery of Ireland]].<ref>De Breffny, pg. 132.</ref>
Leech was well known for his illustrations of [[Concarneau]] harbour. The works of Leech feature coastal and harbour scenes, landscapes, interiors, still life and portraits.
Some of his best-known works are that of his first wife, Elizabeth, and include ”A Convent Garden, Brittany” (1913) and ”The Sunshade” (1913), both of which are in the [[National Gallery of Ireland]].<ref>De Breffny, pg. 132.</ref> In 2012, a national poll conducted by Ireland’s State broadcaster, [[RTE]], listed ”A Convent Garden, Brittany” in the top ten of “Ireland’s Favourite Painting”.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/2012/0416/436788-irelandsfavouritepainting/ | title=Shortlist for Ireland’s Favourite Painting | date=March 2012 | website=[[RTE News]]}}</ref>
In 1996, the National Gallery of Ireland announced that it had incorrectly attributed Leech as the artist of ”Goose Girl”, a c. 1921 painting in its collection that has the initials “WL” inscribed on the back of the canvass. The Gallery announced that new information led them to a “definitive reattribution of the painting” to Sheffield artist, [[Stanley Royle]].<ref>{{cite web | website=[[Irish Independent]] | url=https://www.independent.ie/news/stanley-royles-the-goose-girl-reunited-with-painting-that-solved-mystery-over-artist-identity/a645388923.html | title=Stanley Royle’s The Goose Girl reunited with painting that solved mystery over artist identity | first=John | last=Burns | date=3 November 2024 | accessdate=4 October 2025}}</ref>
In 1996, the National Gallery of Ireland announced that it had incorrectly attributed Leech as the artist of ”Goose Girl”, a c. 1921 painting in its collection that has the initials “WL” inscribed on the back of the canvass. The Gallery announced that new information led them to a “definitive reattribution of the painting” to Sheffield artist, [[Stanley Royle]].<ref>{{cite web | website=[[Irish Independent]] | url=https://www.independent.ie/news/stanley-royles-the-goose-girl-reunited-with-painting-that-solved-mystery-over-artist-identity/a645388923.html | title=Stanley Royle’s The Goose Girl reunited with painting that solved mystery over artist identity | first=John | last=Burns | date=3 November 2024 | accessdate=4 October 2025}}</ref>
Irish painter (1881–1968)
William John Leech (10 April 1881 – 16 July 1968) was an Irish painter and impressionist.
Leech was born in Dublin the son of Anne Louisa née Garbois (1847–1921) and Professor Henry Brougham Leech LLD (1843–1921). He went to school at St Columba’s College, Dublin in Rathfarnham, later studying at the Metropolitan School. He later transferred to the Royal Hibernian Academy (he would later become a full member) and studied under Walter Osborne. In 1903, Leech left Dublin for Paris, where he would study at the Académie Julian in Paris.[2] Leech would fall in love with the French landscape.
After he returned to Dublin from Brittany in 1906, he was soon embraced into the artistic circle of George Russell (A.E.), Constance Gore-Booth and her husband Casimir Dunin Markievicz. Leech exhibited nearly seventy paintings with them in a group exhibition at the Leinster Lecture Hall in August 1907. In December 1909, Leech exhibited with Jack Yeats, Albert Power, Eva Hamilton, William Orpen, Lily Williams, A.E., Constance Gore-Booth and Dermod O’Brien, in the first Aonach art exhibition, organised by Sinn Féin as part of the Irish Festival at the Rotunda.
On his return to France, he met and in 1912 married Saurin Elizabeth née Smith (1879–c1951),[a] a young painter of a similar style. They separated after just two years of marriage. Leech would travel throughout Europe and eventually settled in England in 1919, with frequent visits to the South of France, to Marseille, Grasse and Cagnes-sur-Mer.
In about 1919, Leech was commissioned by a London solicitor Percy Dumville Botterell CBE (1880–1950), to paint a portrait of his wife May née Pearson (1881–1965). Percy had served as a commercial attaché to the Hague in the later years of the war and May had organised a relief center for released prisoners of war; one of these was William’s brother, Lt-Col Cecil John Farran Leech (1882–1952), who made the introduction. In 1920, William painted Portrait of Suzanne Botterell, Percy and May’s daughter. William and May maintained a friendship and, after the deaths of Saurin Elizabeth and Percy, they married in 1953. In the last years of their lives they lived in Candy Cottage, West Clandon, Surrey.
In one of his last letters Leech wrote “You see not much success really but you cannot be a recluse all your life as I have been and have worldly success. I had a belief when young that if the work was good enough it would sell in the end.”[3]
Leech was well known for his illustrations of Concarneau harbour. The works of Leech feature coastal and harbour scenes, landscapes, interiors, still life and portraits.
Some of his best-known works are that of his first wife, Elizabeth, and include A Convent Garden, Brittany (1913) and The Sunshade (1913), both of which are in the National Gallery of Ireland.[4] In 2012, a national poll conducted by Ireland’s State broadcaster, RTE, listed A Convent Garden, Brittany in the top ten of “Ireland’s Favourite Painting”.[5]
In 1996, the National Gallery of Ireland announced that it had incorrectly attributed Leech as the artist of Goose Girl, a c. 1921 painting in its collection that has the initials “WL” inscribed on the back of the canvass. The Gallery announced that new information led them to a “definitive reattribution of the painting” to Sheffield artist, Stanley Royle.[6]
- ^ Daughter of Katherine Howard Lane and Francis Stribling Smith, born Jan 1879 in St Louis, Missouri, USA. She married first Fentress Gordon Kerlin (1864-1916), their daughter was Fentress Saurin Kerlin, (1897–1979). Katherine was the daughter of Rev. Saurin Eliot Lane (1818–1904).
- Ferran, Denise (1996). William John Leech: An Irish Painter Abroad. Merrell Publishers. ISBN 978-1858940342.
- Campbell, Julian (1985). The Irish Impressionists, Irish Artists in France and Belgium 1850-1914. National Gallery of Ireland. ISBN 978-0903162159.
- Denson, Alan (1968). An Irish Artist W. J. Leech R H A. An Introductory Guide to his artistic career. University of California. ISBN 9780900904035.
