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    WATERFORD CRYSTAL REPLICA OF THE SAME MAGUIRE CUP

    Monday, March 18th, 2024
    Waterford Crystal Replica of Sam Maguire Cup

    A Waterford Crystal replica of the Sam Maguire Cup comes up at a two day in person and online sale of 733 lots by Aidan Foley at the Castle Cinema, Oldcastle next Wednesday and Thursday, March 20 and 21. It is one of five made. One was presented to President Bill Clinton. The auction, in association with Niall Mullen, will include contents from Middleton Park House, Westmeath, formerly a wedding venue. The replica is estimated at €2,000-€4,000.  Viewing is underway in Oldcastle and the catalogue is online.

    IMPORTANT IRISH ART SALES AT ADAMS AND DE VERES

    Sunday, March 17th, 2024
    The Rebuilding of Monte Cassino (1951) by Patrick Hennessy at Adams

    In Dublin viewings get underway on March 22 for upcoming sales of important Irish art at both James Adam and de Veres.  The sale at James Adam on March 27 features some of Ireland’s best loved artists with estimates of from €500 to over €60,000 for The Bog by Paul Henry (€60,000-€80,000).A number of paintings by Patrick Hennessy and Harry Roberston Craig from the collection of Pamela and George Fegan, a Dublin couple who were friends of both artists and bought directly from them, will feature. The catalogue cover lot is a 1951 painting by Patrick Hennessy, The Rebuilding of Monte Cassino, located about 130 kilometres south east of Rome and site of a major Second World War battle in 1944.  This work, which has not been on the market before, is estimated at €10,000-€15,000.

    Eliza Doolittle in Dublin by Sean Keating (€50,000-€70,000) is the most expensively estimated lot at de Veres sale on March 26.  Based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw the 1965 work depicts a daffodil seller against a background of Georgian buildings and thunderous clouds. Sean Keating, along with many others, was vociferous in his condemnation of the destruction of Georgian Dublin which got underway in the 1950’s. Among the other highlights at de Veres are John B Vallely’s Heading for the Final Sprint with a pack of cyclists in full flight and  Letitia Hamilton’s Wind Blown Tree, Killary. There is a collection of works on paper by Mainie Jellett.  All catalogues are online now.

    Eliza Doolittle in Dublin by Sean Keating at de Veres.

    KILMICHAEL AMBUSH RECALLED AT VICTOR MEE SALE

    Saturday, March 16th, 2024

    A full page account of the Kilmichael Ambush carried out by a Flying Column of the West Cork Brigade comes up as lot 87 at Victor Mee’s sale on March 19.  Complete with photographs and a hand drawing of the ambush site, where 36 IRA volunteers commanded by General Tom Barry ambushed and killed 16 members of the RIC in Kilmichael  in November 1920 the sepia coloured broadsheet newspaper page with some staining comes up as lot 87 and is estimated at €200-€400. The Battlefields and Silver Screen auction, with  523 lots,  offers military artefacts, Irish silver and film posters. A framed 19th century silk Fenian Sash is, at €2,000-€4,000, the most expensively estimated lot in a sale with everything from a Wanted poster for Billy the Kid to Georgian Irish silver sauce boats, a 19th century Dublin flintlock blunderbuss, the Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook of Easter 1916, a film poster for Jaws and original World War I enlistment posters.

    LAVERY STUDY FOR CASEMENT TRIAL PAINTING MAKES TEN TIMES ESTIMATE

    Friday, March 15th, 2024
    The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement, a Study, by Sir John Lavery (1856-1941)
    sold for £155,200 against an estimate of £15,000-£25,000

    A bidding battle between a telephone bidder and an online bidder saw an origin an original unseen study by Sir John Lavery of The Trial and Roger Casement sell for a hammer price of £124,000 (£155,200 with fees) at Dreweatts Modern and Contemporary art sale at Newbury in Berkshire. The final price was over ten times the original low estimate. The high-profile case against Roger Casement for treason took place in 1916 in the High Court in London and was witnessed by Lavery. The full-scale painted version of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement was proposed by the presiding judge, Sir Charles Darling 1st Baron Darling, PC (1849-1936). Having commissioned the artist to paint other portraits of his family and having seen the artist’s other publicly exhibited works, he invited him to capture the court proceedings. The finished final painting of the work was produced in Lavery’s studio and completed in 1931. It remained there until the artist’s death in 1941, when he left it to the nation. It hung firstly in the Royal Courts of Justice and in 1950 at the request of Sergeant Sullivan, who had been part of Casement’s defence team, it was lent to King’s Inn, Dublin.

    Lavery’s portrait of Lieutenant John Clive Darling, 20th Hussars (1887-1933), son of the Honourable Mr Justice Charles John, 1st Baron Darling sold for £8,190 against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000. A portrait of Mary Caroline Darling, mother of Major John Clive Darling, made £5,040 against an estimate of £3,000-£5,000. A Grey Day by Lavery made  £32,700 against an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 and a study by Laver for a full length portrait of Minnie Plowden and her son Humphrey, painted in c. 1897 made £8,190 against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 14, 2024)

    THE ART OF BRINGING THE JOY OF CHELTENHAM TO AUCTION

    Thursday, March 14th, 2024
    PETER CURLING (B.1955) – OWNERS

    There is something highly appropriate about this print by Peter Curling in this Cheltenham Festival week. Entitled Owners it comes up as lot 250 at Whyte’s Spring online art auction with an estimate of just 200-300. Numbered 139 from an edition of 500 it is one of three racing prints by the artist. The others are entitled Lads and Jockeys and all estimates are the same. The catalogue, with 284 lots, is online and bidding is underway. Viewing gets underway at Whyte’s at Molesworth St., Dublin on March 20.

    HIGH HORIZON IN RODERIC O’CONOR PAINTING AT CHRISTIE’S

    Wednesday, March 13th, 2024
    RODERIC O’CONOR (1860-1940) – Marée Montante

    Marée Montante by Roderic O’Conor comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish art evening sale in London on March 20. The composition employs an unconventional perspective with an unusually high horizon line and a lack of traditional recession, reminiscent of the aesthetic language of Japanese wood-block prints so fascinating to fellow artistic pioneers around Pont-Aven at the time. This departure from the typical expansive landscape format plunges the viewer into a vertiginous exploration of vertical depth, evoking an awe-inspiring portrayal of the sea as a living, breathing entity. The work was exhibited at the Salon des Indépendants in 1906 and it is estimated at £100,000-£150,000.

    PAUL HENRY MAKES THE TOP PRICE AT WHYTE’S IRISH ART SALE

    Monday, March 11th, 2024
    PAUL HENRY RHA (1876-1958) – COTTAGES BY A LAKE, ACHILL, CONNEMARA MADE 220,000 AT HAMMER

    Paul Henry’s Cottages by a Lake, Achill, Connemara was the top lot at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. It made a hammer price of €220,000. Jug and Pear 1983 by William Scott made €120,000 at hammer, Waves at Bowmore, Rosses Point 1936 by Jack B Yeats made 85,000 and The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at Rue du Bois by Fortunino Matania made 61,000. Among the other leading prices A Professional Man by Jack B Yeats made 34,000, Little Waves, Achill by Grace Henry made 30,000, Tide Coming In, Ballycastle, Co. Mayo made 28,000, Fair Day, Roundstone 1959 by Frank McKelvey made 26,000, Autumn Coastline by Donald Teskey made 18,000, Sunshower by Dan O’Neill made 18,000, Wild Cherry by Norah McGuinness made 14,000, Like a Dream by Barbara Warren made 12,500, Beyond the Bog by Patrick Collins made 11,500, Captive Man of ’83 from 1983 by Rowan Gillespie made 11,500, Surface, 1995 by Linda Brunker made 9,500 and a Facsimile of the Book of Kells made 18,000.

    In the catalogue note to Barbara Warren’s Like a Dream estimated at €4,000-€6,000 (pictured below) Adelle Hughes of Whyte’s pointed out that the work feels distinctly Modern and European yet the feeling it inspires also sits comfortably within the traditional West of Ireland scene.  Warren’s death at the age of 91 in 2017 marked the end of a living connection to a generation of pioneering Irish female artists like Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, May Guinness, Norah McGuinness and Elizabeth Rivers who, like Warren, studied in Paris with Andre Lhote.

    UPDATE: THE AUCTION REALISED 1.2 MILLION

    BARBARA WARREN – LIKE A DREAM MADE 12,500 AT HAMMER

    POIGNANT WORLD WAR I SCENE REMEMBERED IN ARTWORK AT WHYTE’S

    Saturday, March 9th, 2024
    Fortunino Matania –  The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at the Rue du Bois. UPDATE: THIS MADE 61,000 AT HAMMER

    In Flanders fields in May 1915 a battalion of soldiers from the Royal Munster Fusiliers lined up for a general absolution from a Tipperary priest on the day before the catastrophic Battle of Aubers Ridge on the Western Front.  The following day one in six of the soldiers were killed. A unique extant painting of the poignant scene by Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), the Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of trench warfare, comes up as lot 116 at Whyte’s evening sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on March 11.
    The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at Rue du Bois is estimated at €30,000-€40,000.  The blessing was administered by the Jesuit Fr. Francis Gleeson (1884-1959) from Templemore, a then 31 year old who served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers at the first Battle of Ypres and is said to have taken command of the Battalion after all the officers were incapacitated by the enemy. The original painting was made at the request of the widow of the battalion’s commanding officer.  It was destroyed during World War II. This copy was painted by Matania in 1919 at the request of Alfred Robinson, whose son Edmond fought in the battle.  It was to celebrate Edmond’s safe return from the war. Exactly a  century later, on May 8, 2015, a memorial was placed at the site of the blessing. The auction at Whyte’s includes works by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Lilian Lucy Davidson, Frank McKelvey, Grace Henry, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, Patrick Collins, William Scott, Louis le Brocquy, Donald Teskey and many other well known artists. 

    A BUSY WEEK FOR JAMES ADAM IN DUBLIN WITH THREE SALES

    Saturday, March 9th, 2024
    A Famille Verte “Lady with Children” Kangxi charger. UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER

    A c1920 synthetic sapphire and diamond bracelet with an estimate of €7,000-€8,000 is the most expensively estimated lot at The Jewellery Box sale at James Adam on March 11. A Famille Verte Lady with Children charger (€8,000-€10,000) takes that honour at a sale entitled The Awakening Dragon on March 12.  It all adds up to a busy week for the Dublin firm, which will follow up on March 13 with an online picture sale to include a number of works to be sold without reserve. The most highly estimated art lots are Figures with Two Cottages by Markey Robinson and a bronze of Three Galloping Horses by Siobhan Bulfin, each estimated at  €3,000-€5,000.

    A SUNSHOWER BY DAN O’NEILL AT WHYTE’S

    Friday, March 8th, 2024
    DANIEL O’NEILL (1920-1974) – SUNSHOWER. UPDATE: THIS MADE 18,000 AT HAMMER

    Sunshower by Dan O’Neill comes up as lot 53 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art on March 11 with an estimate of 20,000-30,000. The auction is on view at Molesworth St. in Dublin on today, tomorrow. Sunday and Monday. On Monday evening there will be a live auction room sale at Freemason’s Hall, Molesworth St. from 6 pm with room, internet, absentee and telephone bidding for 150 lots. There are significant works by Paul Henry, Jack B Yeats, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, William Scott, Norah McGuinness, Lilian Lucy Davidson and many more. The catalogue is online.