Philippa is ‘painting with the angels in Heaven’

THE funeral of well-known artist Philippa Bayliss heard on Monday how painting was “in her soul” and that her deep love of art was how she connected with the world around her.

Mourners who gathered at the Church of Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Myshall were told of how Philippa believed absolutely and completely in every person’s right to reach their potential, with her brother Jack quoting Rudyard Kipling’s poem If in his eulogy about how, despite being friends with stars like Mick Jagger, “she could walk with kings and not lose the common touch”.

Philippa was tragically killed in a road traffic accident on Monday 8 December, with celebrant Fr Patrick Hughes describing the sudden and unexpected loss of a loved one as like a power cut: “The lights go out and we are left in darkness. Nothing can prepare us for this.” 

In his homily, Fr Hughes spoke of Philippa’s early life in Goresbridge, Co Kilkenny as the eldest daughter of Capt HTT Bayliss RN and Patricia (née Loftus). She received her primary education in Goresbridge before going to England for secondary school.

It was from there that she went to the prestigious Beam Shaw School of painting in London on a scholarship in the early 1960s.

Fr Hughes spoke about how, upon her return to Ireland, she began to work voluntarily in Castletown House and was eventually offered a full-time role as restorer and curator by Desmond Guinness.

In his eulogy, Philippa’s son Nicholas recited a passage from a book by Darragh McIntyre that she appears in, where she spoke of how she had “fallen in love with Castletown” at the age of 13 and that it was “the most beautiful building I had ever seen”.

Castletown house played a significant role in Philippa’s life and it was during her time working there that she met her future husband William Garner. The couple bought and renovated an old schoolhouse in Ardclough, Co Kildare and it was there that they raised their three sons, Nicholas, Temple and James.

She moved to Myshall in 2008 and quickly became immersed in the local community and the beauty of its surroundings.

Her brother Jack spoke of her love of the countryside around Myshall and one of his prized possessions, which still hangs in his dining room today, is a painting of Mount Leinster that Philippa gave to him and his wife as a wedding present.

The funeral heard of Philippa’s great ability to connect with people, particularly those who had lost their way in life, and how she would sit and listen to those people, gently nurturing them along their way and inspiring them to do great things.

Burial took place afterwards at the Church of the Good Shepherd, Lorum, near Ballinkillen, where she was laid to rest alongside her beloved American grandmother Annie Taylor and her aunt Brook, who Jack described as “equally as eccentric” as Philippa.

Philippa’s brother Jack finished his eulogy by saying: “Now, she will be painting with the angels in Heaven.”