John Doyle (1797-1868) – Portrait of Daniel O’Connell holding a pistol.
Daniel O’Connell’s monogrammed leather gun case made a hammer price of €950 at Marshs online sale in Cork today. It had been estimated at €1,000-€1,500. By coincidence a half length portrait of Daniel O’Connell holding a pistol by John Doyle (1797-1868), the Irish artist who was grandfather to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, came up last week at Bonhams Irish sale. The estimate was just €700-€1,000. It was unsold in an auction where Paul Henry’s Killary Bay, Connemara made €140,500 and a portrait of Harry Clarke by Margaret Clarke made €51,200.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for December 3, 2023).
A leather L shaped sofa by Fendi (€600-€1,000). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Art by Patrick Scott, Frank McKelvey, Charles Brady and Louis le Brocquy feature in the Christmas art and design sale at de Veres. The timed online auction closes next Tuesday (December 12) and offers 20th century pieces by designers like Charles and Ray Eames, Rolf Benz and Fendi.
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn – The Adoration of the Kings
Rembrandt’s rediscovered Adoration of the Kings sold for £10.9 million (€12.7 million) at Sotheby’s in London on December 6. Just two years ago – when it was attributed to the Circle of Rembrandt – it was valued at just €10,000-€15,000 at Christie’s in Amsterdam. The complex monochromatic painting had been almost entirely unseen by scholars since the 1950’s when it came to light.
It was included in museum exhibitions and referenced as a Rembrandt work by leading Rembrandt scholars in the 1950s, but in 1960 German art historian Kurt Bauch, who only knew the painting from a black and white photograph, described it as a product of the Rembrandt School and omitted it from from the catalogue raisonné he was compiling. Thereafter, the painting was “entirely overlooked and completely ignored in the Rembrandt literature,” according to Sothebys. Following an 18 month research programme by Sotheby’s it was recognised as a work of great significance from Rembrandt’s early career.
The Adoration of the Kings was acquired by collector J.C.H. Heldring in Amsterdam in 1955. His widow sold it to a German family in 1985, where it remained until it was sold by Christie’s in Amsterdam two years ago. The painting, which measures 9.6 x 7.3 inches, was purchased by an anonymous buyer for €860,000 at the Christie’s sale — more than 50 times the estimated value. It was later identified as the work of the Dutch master.
The vast majority of Rembrandt’s works hang in museums around the world, and almost all of those that have come to auction over the past three decades have been portraits or studies of single character heads.
The National Gallery of Ireland announced today that it had acquired Titania Enchanting Bottom by Harry Clarke. It is undergoing conservation treatment and will be on display in the New Year. The luminous stained glass panel was sold by Morgan O’Driscoll last October 24 for a hammer price of €160,000. The acquisition was supported by the Patrons of Irish Art of the National Gallery of Ireland. Born in Dublin on St Patrick’s Day in 1889, Harry Clarke is one of Ireland’s best known and most beloved artists. He achieved significant acclaim in his short lifetime, working across different media including book illustration. His principal career was in the production of stained glass windows, mainly for churches and religious houses across Ireland, as well as in the UK, US and Australia. He also produced a small number of secular works in glass.
Titania Enchanting Bottom is the only glass work by Clarke that is inspired by Shakespeare. It depicts Act IV, Scene I, from Shakespeare’s comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Featuring characters from the play including Bottom, Puck, Titania, Peaseblossom, Cobweb and Moth, the work is adorned with botanical elements – a detail typical of Clarke’s work. From 1917 to 1922, Clarke made a unique series of miniature panels inspired by literature – including this one – adapting his talent and passion for book illustration to the medium of stained glass. These panels were set into bespoke cabinets, of which several, including this example, were designed by Dublin-born furniture maker James Hicks (1866-1936). Titania Enchanting Bottom is one of just five panels that survive. At the National Gallery of Ireland, it joins The Song of the Mad Prince (1917) which is on display in Room 20 and was acquired by the Gallery in 1987. These panels are significant to the understanding of Harry Clarke as an artist. They are the forerunners to the The Eve of St Agnes based on the Keats poem and The Geneva Window now at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami.
Jack Butler Yeats RHA (1871-1957) – The Captain (1948)
The Captain by Jack B Yeats was the top lot at the James Adam sale of important Irish Art in Dublin tonight. It made €95,000 at hammer. Near Leenane by Paul Henry made €80,000, Aran Harbour by Sean Keating made €75,000, The Colloquy of Monus and Una, a pencil, ink and watercolour by Harry Clarke made €70,000, Keem Bay by Paul Henry made €65,000 and Paysage Sinistre by Henry made €60,000.
Harry Clarke RHA (1889 – 1931) – The Colloquy of Monos and Una (1923)
MARY SWANZY HRHA (1882-1978) – BOAT IN THE BAY. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
Boat in the Bay, a creation in coloured pencils by Mary Swanzy, comes up as lot 116 at Whyte’s Christmas online art auction which runs until the evening of December 13. It is estimated at €600-€800. The sale is one view at Whyte’s on Molesworth St. from December 9 and the catalogue is online. There is a wide ranging selection of artists from Elizabeth Cope and Markey Robinson, Cecil Maguire and Kenneth Webb to Mabel Young and Moyra Barry, to Roderic O’Conor, Sarah Purser, Sir William Orpen, Jack B. Yeats, Beatrice Elvery (Lady Glenavy) and Mary Cottenham Yeats among more than 300 lots on offer.
Collection of 10 Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys, 2015 to 2023. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,500 AT HAMMER
This collection of Midleton Very Rare Irish Whiskeys from 2015 to 2023 comes up as lot 7 at Dolan’s timed online December sale with an estimate of €7,000-€9,000. The catalogue for this sale, which features 240 lots of 20th century and contemporary Irish artists along with antiques, collectibles, whiskeys rugs and books, is now live and will run until December 11.
Cecil Maguire RUA – SOME SHEEP FOR INISHLACHEN (€3,000-€5,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,400 AT HAMMER
SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) – SWITZERLAND [HAZEL AND ALICE], 1913 SOLD FOR €230,000 AT HAMMER
Switzerland, Hazel and Alice by Sir John Lavery made a hammer price of €230,000 over a top estimate of €220,000 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. Dooega, Achill Island, Co. Mayo by Paul Henry made €155,000 on the hammer. London Hospital, 1914 by Lavery made €64,000, The Goose Girl by Sean Keating made €62,000 over a top estimate of €35,000, On the Beach by Gerard Dillon made €34,000 over a top estimate of €30,000, Abstract Composition c1929 by Mainie Jellett made €27,000 over a top estimate of €15,000, The Desert Charge by Aloyosius O’Kelly made €16,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €15,000, a 19th century Irish school painting of The Ruins of the Royal Arcade, Dublin made €12,000 over a top estimate of €8,000, Wicklow Mountains by Peter Collis made €7,000 over a top estimate of €5,000, Coming Home by Mark O’Neill made €8,500 over a top estimate of €8,000, The Club by Graham Knuttel made €9,000 over a top estimate of €7,000, Aquainted with Grief by Leo Whelan made €4,600 over a top estimate of €2,000 and Tonight we Dance by William Conor made €5,200 over a top estimate of €2,000.
SEÁN KEATING PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) – THE GOOSE GIRL, 1917 made €62,000 at hammer.
Daniel O’Connell’s gun case. UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
Daniel O’Connell’s leather gun case is one of the more unusual lots at Marshs sale in Cork on December 9. The case, stamped with his name and Derrynane Abbey, is estimated at €1,000-€1,500. There is a similar estimate on a rare 19th century watercolour, The Strand at Tivoli, Cork by John E Bosanquet. Antique furniture on offer includes a Georgian four door breakfront bookcase, a four piece ivory inlaid bedroom suite, a set of Cork dining chairs, a Georgian inlaid chest and a French walnut ormolu mounted vitrine. The online only sale will be on view from December 6.
“The Strand at Tivoli Cork” attributed to John E. Bosanquet. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
A pair of 18th century or earlier marble busts of Julius Caesar and Cleopatra. UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD
A collection of 17th and 18th century marble busts are among part contents from Drumleck House, Howth – home of notable collectors John and Gertrude Hunt – at the Dublin and Provincial sale by Sheppards in Durrow next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. (December 5, 6 and 7). The Hunts lived at Drumleck for over 30 years from the 1950’s. Most of their collection was donated to the State and is now at the Hunt Museum in Limerick. Weathered outdoor busts of Julius Caesar wearing laurel leaves and Cleopatra with an asp from the garden at Drumleck are among the highlights. They are estimated at €2,000-€3,000.
The garden was decorated with ornaments and statuary from demolished properties of the Anglo-Irish Ascendency including a statue of Neptune from Ballinagarde House in Co. Limerick. This now lost statue was acquired by a member of the Croker family on his Grand Tour. John Hunt liked to claim it came from the workshop of Bernini in Rome. The statue has never been identified and informed collectors are still on the look out for the lost Bernini.
Sir William Orpen – Portrait of Mrs. Wertheimer (nee Trautz). UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A Regency library table from the Merrion Square home of Sybil Connolly (€1,500-€2,500) and a collection of Regency furniture from the Ardsallagh Estate in Co. Tipperary are features of the auction.So is a re-discovered portrait of a lady identified as Jessica Wertheimer painted in 1904 by by William Orpen. Charles Wertheimer was Orpen’s leading patron and a portrait of him by Orpen was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1904. Portraits of Wertheimer and his one time companion Sarah Hammond by John Everett Millais are in the Musee d’Orsay. The Orpen at Sheppards, from the Macroom collection of Dr. Kevin Moynihan, is estimated at €30,000-€50,000.
An extremely rare 1st Period Belleek Carnation, one of only two known. UPDATE: THIS MADE 700 AT HAMMER
Among the lots of architectural salvage are the original double entrance doors to Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton St. in Dublin. This iconic cafe, extensively modified in the 1990’s, had originally been built to designs by Millar & Symes in 1927 with an extravagant Egyptian Revival facade. The doors are estimated at €3,000-€5,000. A rare Belleek carnation (€500-€800) is a collectors item too. It is believed to be one of only two in existence. The other is at the National Museum in Dublin. The sale features Meissen parrots, silver pheasants, Irish sculpture and art, 17th and 18th century Dutch art and furniture from the 18th to the 20th century including a large mid-century Italian cabinet by Smania. More than 1,200 lots will come under the hammer. Viewing gets underway today in Durrow.
