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  • OLD SCANDAL RESURFACES IN YEATS PORTRAIT

    John Butler Yeats (1829-1922) – Mrs. Herbert of Muckross with a Maltese terrier

    There is a whiff of scandal around this portrait of Mrs. Herbert of Muckross with a Maltese terrier. It is from the first big commission by John Butler Yeats, to paint members of the Herbert family at Muckross House in Co. Kerry.

    The house had been completely rebuilt in 1843 and the gardens extensively worked for a visit by Queen Victoria in 1861. The portrait was finished in 1873 but shortly afterwards Mrs. Herbert absconded with a lover, never to return to Muckross.

    Her husband refused to take the painting. It ended up in the room of the artists friend Edward Dowden at TCD.  On  his death it was returned to the Yeats family and it is at Sotheby’s sale of the Yeats Family Collection on September 27 with an estimate of £15,000-20,000.  Family tradition has it that the lover was the footman.

    UPDATE:  THIS MADE £43,750 AT HAMMER

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