Seàn Keating: Contemporary Contexts
Resource Pack for Secondary Schools
Section Eight: Celebrating Modern Life
_____________________________________________________
In the painting Sacred and Profane
Love, we see Keating’s playfulness
and humour, as the weight of the
internecine (mutually destructive)
violence of the civil war had begun
to fade. Here, modern Ireland is
tentatively opening up and there is a
space to play and explore.
Right in the centre of this large oil
painting a loving, stout, Irish
Mammy has caught her son by the
collar and is wiping his nose. None
of the other characters in this work
are too concerned about the boy’s embarrassment, and a carousel of life
revolves around mother and son.
The two men on the right chat and smoke, in what appears to be a goodnatured exchange with the boy’s father. On the left, two carefully, stylish
women cast their heads backwards, in a flirtatious exchange with the men.
While familial love remains central, new images, romantic even forbidden
love, are on display. The poster in the background of the work is an
advertisement for a contemporary film, possibly Camille (1936), or Seventh
Heaven (1937), both of which featured romantic and slightly irreverent
themes.
Seventh Heaven is an American romantic drama released in 1937. It is set in
a working class district in Paris. In the film a man called Chico is criticized for
being an atheist. One day he rescues a woman who is being beaten by her
domineering sister for failing to entertain a wealthy customer in her sleazy bar.
Chico takes the timid young woman, called Diane under his wing. Diane has
strong religious belief and this starts to influence Chico. They fall in love and
decide to marry, but Chico suddenly receives a draft notice, he is called to
serve on the battlefront during the Second World War. Chico promises Diane
that they are married in the eyes of God. When Chico fails to return, she is
heartbroken, she renounces her belief in God, but in the morning she strongly
feels her lover's presence. She finds Chico who has been blinded in battle.
Reunited, the couples’ faith in God and each other is restored.
The mother and child in Sacred and Profane Love were modeled on Keating’s
wife May, and their son, Justin, who was seven at the time. May was a
political activist throughout her life, and the couple were very much to the left
in their political views. Justin was destined to have a career in Labour politics.
_____________________________________________________
Sacred and Profane Love, 1937, oil on canvas, 121 x 148.5cm.
Private collection.
Footnote: the information in this worksheet is derived from Éimear O’Connor, ‘Celebrating Modern Life. Seán
Keating: Contemporary Contexts’, catalogue essay for the exhibition, Crawford Gallery, Cork, 2012, and further
sources therein.
www.crawfordartgallery.ie