Original Signed Watercolour by Maurice C. Wilks RUA ARHA of The Rosses, Donegal

Artist: MAURICE CANNING WILKS RUA ARHA (1910–1984)
Coastal Cottages, Trawenagh Bay, The Rosses, Co. Donegal

Original Signed Watercolour

Beautiful original watercolour by important Belfast-born Irish landscape painter Maurice Canning Wilks RUA ARHA (1910–1984).

The scene has been identified from its topography as Trawenagh Bay in The Rosses, County Donegal, looking across the coastal landscape towards the mountain range beyond. As the work does not appear to carry an original title, the precise location is presented as an identification rather than an artist-inscribed title.

This is a particularly attractive Wilks composition, combining several of the subjects for which he became known: traditional whitewashed cottages, the Donegal coastline, water and the mountains of Ireland’s northwest.

THE ARTIST

Maurice Canning Wilks was born in Belfast in 1910 and studied at Belfast College of Art, where he received the Dunville Scholarship.

He first exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy at only 19 years of age and became an early exhibitor with the Ulster Academy of Arts. He retained his status as an academician when it became the Royal Ulster Academy (RUA) and was subsequently elected an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy (ARHA).

Wilks went on to exhibit not only in Ireland but internationally, including London, Montreal, Boston and Toronto, and held solo exhibitions during his career. His paintings are represented in important public collections including the Ulster Museum and Limerick City Gallery of Art.

The landscapes of Donegal and the West of Ireland formed an important part of his career.

The Rosses in particular is a documented Wilks subject. Ross’s has sold In the Rosses, Lough Anure, Donegal for £750, while Adam’s records Clouds, Ross’ Country, Co. Donegal at €4,400 and Sunlight and Shadow, Ross’s Country, Co. Donegal at €3,600. These are larger oils rather than direct valuations of this watercolour, but demonstrate the importance of the Rosses within Wilks’s established oeuvre.

His original watercolours also have an established collector market: a signed Wilks watercolour, McCormick’s Farm in the Glens, realised €465 in April 2026, while Ross’s records the small signed watercolour Maghergallon, County Donegal at £260.

THE PAINTING

Executed in watercolour and pencil, Wilks uses loose transparent washes and economical pencil drawing to capture the cottages, shoreline and distant Donegal mountains.

The unusually vivid blue-green water contrasts beautifully with the whitewashed cottages and muted mountain landscape beyond.

The painting is clearly signed:

“MAURICE C. WILKS”

lower left.

The reverse retains an older Art & Home, 147 High Street, Holywood picture-framing label, maintaining the work’s Northern Irish history.

DETAILS

Artist: Maurice Canning Wilks RUA ARHA
Dates: 1910–1984
Subject: Coastal cottages, Trawenagh Bay / The Rosses, Co. Donegal
Medium: Original watercolour and pencil on paper
Signature: Signed lower left
Presentation: Framed, mounted and glazed
Provenance/presentation: Art & Home, 147 High Street, Holywood label verso
Condition: Good vintage condition overall. Some minor age-related spotting/foxing visible, principally in the sky.

Please examine photographs carefully.

A very attractive original work by an established RUA/ARHA Irish artist, and a particularly appealing example for collectors of Maurice C. Wilks, Donegal art, The Rosses, Ulster/Irish art and traditional Irish landscape painting.

Collection preferred due to the original glazed frame.