Oil on canvas, 1951. 910x355 mm; 35 7/8x14 inches. Signed in oil, lower left. With a partial Associated American Artists label on the frame back.
Fionn MacCumhaill, later Anglicised to Finn MacCool, a semi-mythological hunter-warrior in Irish mythology was said to sleep in a cave beneath Dublin, poised to rise and defend Ireland in her hour of need. MacCool features heavily in modern Irish literature, most notably, he appears frequently in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake. The title, taken from the ballad "Finnegan's Wake," may be a portmanteau of "Finn again is awake," and refers to MacCool's rise from slumber to defend Ireland.
Folklore surrounding MacCool and his band of loyal followers is also said to have served as the basis for the legends of the Knights of the Round Table.
