![Leo Whelan - The Mirror [1912]](http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8584/16166279268_44e3ecfc90_o.jpg)
This self-portrait, entitled The Mirror was shown at the RHA in Dublin in 1912. It shows the young smartly dressed Whelan, leg firmly planted on the easel, palette and brush in hand studying his reflection in a large mirror. The composition with the cascading curtain on the left and the use of the mirror device nods to his academic training at the Metropolitan, where, under Sir William Orpen, he was considered 'a promising youth.’ Holding the velvety fabric in place in the left foreground is a maquette depicting an Irish peasant group digging for potatoes (possibly referencing the Famine). A rare subject for sculptural treatment for this period; its inclusion suggests Whelan's interest in Irish rural social subjects, the influence of French social realists like Millet and their unromanticised, realist approach to depicting genre scenes.
[Whyte’s, Dublin - Oil on canvas, 84 x 66 cm]