PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973) – Femme et jeune garcon nus
A retrospective of Picasso will be among the highlights of next year’s programme at the National Gallery of Ireland. The gallery, in collaboration with the Musée Picasso national-Paris, will present Picasso: From the studio from October 11, 2025 to February 22, 2026. Picasso lived surrounded by his art. His personal life and his work, his homes and his studios were always intimately linked. This exhibition places Picasso in the context of his studios, highlighting the various facets and phases of his art and life. It will explore the key locations that defined him, from his arrival in Paris at the start of the twentieth century to his studio in Villa La Californie (1955-1961) in Cannes. It will feature paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and works on paper, as well as photographic and audio-visual works. Pictured here is a 1969 work on paper entitled Femme et jeune garcon nus which comes up at Christie’s 20th century evening sale in New York on November 19 with an estimate of $1 million – $1.5 million.
JACK BUTLER YEATS, R.H.A. (1871-1957) – O’Connell Bridge
This painting by Yeats is among the highlights of the private collection of Alan and Mary Hobart comes up at Christie’s in London on November 19. The estimate is £400,000-£600,000. Their personal collection — at Farm Street, Mayfair and Cap Ferrat — bears witness to the Hobarts’ highly renowned expertise and discerning taste.
A dazzling portrait by an artist dazzled by his subject is among the leading lots at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish art auctions in London on November 14 and 15.
Sir William Orpen’s portrait of Mrs. Evelyn St. George depicts his lover and the woman he was in love with for much of his life. They met around 1906 through family connections. The artist’s mother, formerly Annie Caulfield, was related to Howard St. George, an Irish land agent. Evelyn was an American millionaire, daughter of George Fisher Baker, president of the National Bank of America. He was considered to be the third richest man in America after Henry Ford and John D Rockefeller.
Evelyn was eight years older than Orpen and a foot taller. Both were married. Their relationship was long and enduring and they became known as little and large. She commissioned a number of portraits of herself. Orpen was known for his brilliant portraits of wealthy and fashionable members of Edwardian society. He was knighted in 1918 for his wartime service as an official war artist. A collection of his work is held at the Imperial War Museum in London.
Sotheby’s describe this painting as one of his greatest masterpieces of portraiture. Estimated at €720,000-€960,000 it is on display today and tomorrow at the RHA in Dublin alongside a collection of Irish artworks to be offered later this month in London.
George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson – The Steam Yacht Victoria and Albert in Cork Harbour 1849.
The exhibit and sale will include maritime paintings by the Atkinson family of Cobh collected by the late Dr. Denis Wilson of Cork. All were exhibited at the Maritime Paintings of Cork exhibition by the Port of Cork at the Crawford Gallery in 2005. The White Squadron in Cork Harbour and The ironclad battleship Alfred in Cork Harbour by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson are each estimated at £8,000-£12,000 (€9,600-€14,400); The steam yacht Victoria and Albert in Cork Harbour, 1849 and Two Naval Ships at anchor in Plymouth by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson are each estimated at £7,000-£10,000 (€8,400-€12,000) and Three masted barque and two sailing ships at Queenstown by Richard Peterson Atkinson is estimated at £5,000-£7,000 (€6,000-€8,400).
Colin Middleton – The Piano Player
The Bathing Hour, Lido, Venice by Sir John Lavery is estimated at €720,000-€960,000 and the auction will include two works by Gerard Dillon and art by Colin MIddleton, Paul Henry, Nanon Reid, Jack Coulter, Hughie O’Donoghue, Maser, Melissa O’Donnell, Gareth Reid (Sky Portrait artist of the Decade, 2023) Richard Hearns and Blaise Smith. There is sculpture by John Behan, F.E. McWilliam, Patrick O’Reilly, Rowan Gillespie and Orla de Bri.
Friday Fare by Nano Reid is from 1945 and was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1950. One of her best known works it is estimated at €24,000-€36,000. There will be a pre-sale exhibition at Sotheby’s on New Bond St. in London from November 9-14.
A French 1970’s cocktail table. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,800 AT HAMMER
With everything from Norwegian wood to French cocktails the art and design sale at de Veres is for collectors with an eye to design. There are Danish and Italian pieces from the 1960’s and ’70’s and contemporary labels by designers like Philippe Starck, Vittorio Nobili, Eileen Gray, Marcel Breuer, Gianfranco Frattini alongside art by Donald Teskey, Patrick Scott, Conor Harrington, Mark Francis, John Shinnors and many others.
A 1960’s sideboard from Norway. UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,000 AT HAMMER
The rosewood sideboard illustrated here is a Norwegian 1960’s piece by Fredrik Kayser with four cupboard doors, shelves and drawers. The estimate is €3,000-€5,000. A burl walnut coffee table bar by Paul Michel is French from the 1970’s. The sliding hinged top opens to reveal a fitted bar interior on a mirrored base. The estimate is €1,000-€2,000. The catalogue is online and the sale is on view at de Veres on Kildare St. and Buswell’s Hotel on today, tomorrow, Monday and Tuesday.
In the Dairy by the Cork born artist William Magrath (1838-1918) features in the exhibition of 18th to 21st century Irish Paintings at the Gorry Gallery in Dublin until November 14. The scene is probably in Co. Cork and it shows butter being churned during a period when it was mostly produced in households on a small scale. Cork was the centre of butter production and the product made in homes like these was exported around the world.
A print of Banksy’s “Girl with Balloon” embossed with the P.O.W. (Pictures on Walls) seal sold for $104,000 at Julien’s auction of the Steve Lazarides archive in Los Angeles last night. Hundreds of bidders and collectors from around the world vying took part in the sale of a collection unseen in over 25 years. It was put together by his closest associate and partner Steve Lazarides and featured Banksy’s early career sketches and handwritten raw notes that would forge his signature style. Girl with Balloon, estimated at ¢60,000, was the top selling lot. Banksy’s Hooded Figure, an original painting, made $78,000.
Irish art at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish evening and day sales in London on November 14 and 15 will be on display in Dublin this weekend. Viewing at the RHA Gallagher Gallery is from today until November 3. Aran Islanders, the oil on board by Gerard Dillon pictured here, is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. The sale will include art by Sir William Orpen, Nano Reid, Colin Middleton, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, Richard Hearns and many more.
A framed partial life jacket made from cork and covered with canvas from the Lusitania, torpedoed off Cork in 1915, comes up at Hegarty’s sale in Bandon on October 30. Only one complete version of this type of lifejacket from Lusitania has survived and is held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The estimate is €200-€400. Antique furniture, jewellery and silver is on offer including a pair of George II Irish silver candlesticks by Isaac D’Olier, Dublin c1750 (€3,000-€4,000). UPDATE: The candlesticks made €2,900.
In the artist’s garden by James Brohan at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
In the artist’s garden, an oil on canvas by James Brohan, comes up as lot 5 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Off the Wall online art auction which runs until October 29. The estimate is €1,000-€1,500. The auction includes works by Markey Robinson, Damien Hirst, Arthur Maderson, Mr. Brainwash, Sean Scully, Cecil Maguire and many more artists. The catalogue is online.
James Barry – Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
Breaking new ground with old paintings is the mission at James Adam. The venerable Dublin firm is launching a new category of sale – Irish Old Masters – on November 5.
James Barry, Nathanial Hone, George Barret, William Brocas, Adam Buck and Nathanial Grogan are among the many artists who feature in this fascinating art auction of 84 lots.
We tend to not think of Irish artists when Old Masters are on the agenda. Strictly speaking the term is applied to trained artists who worked in Europe before or around 1800. The terminology in art history is loose and Adams has slipped in a few Victorians like Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy, Michael Angelo Hayes, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson and Robert Lowe Stopford though Erskine Nicol, who lived until 1904, is a bit of a stretch. Many of our artists – like Cork born James Barry appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in 1782 – clearly fit any definition.
Cork Savings Bank (1842) by James Mahony (1810-1879) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The sale sets out, according to a catalogue note by Stuart Cole of Adams, to reintroduce the exceptional and subtle mastery of Irish artists from previous centuries in an environment of their peers and contemporaries. The explosion of interest in art in Ireland during the last half century means that Irish art sales nowadays feature a far greater quantity of modern art than before. So Adams reckon the time is right for this new category of the artists – the backbone of early Irish art auctions – and to make it an annual sale.
No less than nine engravings by James Barry, with estimates ranging from €600-€2,000, grace the catalogue. Barry’s inscription on his 1793 engraving of Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators refers to the delusion of considering William Penn as the first coloniser to establish laws of religious and civil liberty. According to his inscription Cacilius Cavert, Baron of Baltimore and a catholic, originated them in his Colony of Maryland.
The River Lee at Inniscarra is listed in the Adams catalogue as by William Brocas (1794-1868), but a label on the back suggests that it is by John Butts. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The most expensive lots in the sale are a pair of portraits of Thomas Carter (Secretary of State for Ireland) and his wife Mary by Charles Jervas (c1675-1739) (€60,000-€80,000), a landscape by Thomas Roberts (1748-1777) (€40,000-€60,000), a River Landscape by George Barret (1732-1784) (€40,000-€60,000) and Travellers resting on a Country Road by Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) (€20,000-€30,000). An 1809 folio of James Malton’s Views of Dublin from 1791 is estimated at €8,000-€10,000.
An oval watercolour of Glanmire Church from the River Lee by Nathanial Grogan (€3,000-€5,000), a water colour of Cork Savings Bank by James Mahony (€3,000-€5,000), Sailing vessels in Cork Harbour by Matthew Kendrick (€6,000-€8,000) and The Fleet Getting Away from Cork by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson (€15,000-€20,000) should create plenty of local interest in this evening auction. There is some confusion around an oil of the River Lee at Inniscarra which is by either William Brocas or John Butts (€4,000-€6,000),
With a fine selection of maritime views, portraits and topographical views of Ireland in the olden days and estimates from €400 up this sale is well worth a view.
Coloured engravings after Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806) published in 1806 – The White Abbey in Adare and The Roughty Bridge, Kenmare. UPDATE: THESE MADE 420 AT HAMMER.
