THE STORY OF “LET THERE BE JOY”
The painting “Let There Be Joy” 30x30 oil on linen, framed in a 23-carat gold, hand-carved museum-quality frame, notes a tradition of a very European family brought up in America.
Julia’s father, Niall O’Malley-Keyes, was born in London of Irish descent linked to County Mayo in Ireland. His family, to this day, continues to live in various parts of Europe but still maintains the family home in Westport, County Mayo, Ireland.
As is done in many European families, daughters are seen as entering womanhood at the age of thirteen. This is very young by American family standards but not for families so tightly attached to their European roots.
A special gift is given to the daughters of these families as they enter this very important time in their lives. In Julia’s family, a tradition had been in place long before Joy’s arrival in 1929: giving her a beautiful bottle of perfume on her thirteenth birthday. Julia was thirteen in 1961 and at that time, it was specifically Joy by Jean Patou that was given to all females when arriving at this important birthday.
Before Joy became available, it was Narcisse Noir by Parfums Caron, 1911, and Les Parfums de Rosine -Nuit de Chine available in 1913, and before that lovely scent, in the O’Malley-Keyes Clan, it was Eau de Cologne Impériale, created by the French house Guerlain in 1853.
The actual bottle given to Julia on her thirteenth birthday, which she has kept with her all of her life, was used to create the painting “Let There Be Joy”.
