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  • Archive for January, 2017

    AN ATTIC SALE AT SHEPPARDS IN DURROW THIS WEEK

    Sunday, January 22nd, 2017

    Paintings, furniture and collectibles will come under the hammer at the Attic2 auction at Sheppards in Durrow on January 26.  This clear out sale, which is now on view, will feature objects from the attics, stables and storerooms of the clients of this auction house.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

    NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRASS MOUNTED AMBOYNA, SATINWOOD AND FRUITWOOD BANDED GLOVE BOX (100-150)

    NINETEENTH-CENTURY RUSSIAN PAINTED POLYCHROME ICON (100-150)

    NINETEENTH-CENTURY MAHOGANY CIRCULAR LOW TABLE (200-300)

    AN EDWARDIAN PERIOD CHINESE CHIPPENDALE BOOKSTAND (200-300)

    A c1800 writing bureau (800-1,200)

    A PORTRAIT BY JOHN SINGLETON COPLEY GIFTED TO THE TATE

    Sunday, January 22nd, 2017

    John Singleton Copley, The Fountaine Family, 1776 – Accepted under the Cultural Gifts Scheme by HM Government from David W Posnett OBE and allocated to Tate 2016

    Born in Boston of Irish parents John Singleton Copley is considered the greatest of American 18th century artists. His father was from Limerick, his mother was a Singleton from Co. Clare. Active in Boston from 1753 to 1774 he moved to England in 1775 and was elected at Royal Academcian. A Loyalist he never returned to the US after the American Declaration of Independence in 1776.

    His portrait of The Fountaine Family has just been acquired by The Tate through Arts Council England’s Cultural Gift Scheme, introduced in 2013 to encourage life time giving to UK public collections. It shows the family, wealthy members of the Norfolk gentry, standing in an elegant drawing room at Narford Hall, their ancestral home.
    The work complements three Copleys in the Tate Collection, Portrait of Mrs. Gill c177071, painted in America and The Death of Major Peirson (1781) and The Collapse of the Earl of Chatham (1779-80), both painted in Britain.

    AN ONLINE SALE OF IRISH ART

    Thursday, January 19th, 2017

    Bidding is underway on Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of Irish art.  It runs until Monday, January 23.  The catalogue, which lists 213 lots, is online.  Here is a small selection:

    James Humbert Craig RHA RUA (1878-1944)
    Cushendun (4,000-6,000)  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Basil Blackshaw HRHA RUA (1932-2016)
    Trees in Winter (1,500-2,500)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER

    Abstract Composition by Barrie Cooke (1931-2014) (3,000-5,000)  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    Kenneth Webb RWA FRSA RUA (b.1927)
    Sweet Pea in a Black Pot (3,000-4,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,600 AT HAMMER

    AN IRISH IMPRESSIONIST LEADS BONHAMS 19TH CENTURY SALE

    Thursday, January 19th, 2017

    WALTER FREDERICK OSBORNE – WHEN THE BOATS COME IN

    When the Boats Come In by Irish impressionist Walter Osborne will lead Bonhams 19th Century European, Victorian and British Impressionist Art sale in London on March 1. Born in Dublin in 1859 he studied in his home city and in Antwerp. Osborne spent most of the years 1884 – 1891 in England, and it was during that period that he painted When the Boats Come In. At the time he was living in Rye in Sussex and this work is closely linked stylistically and in subject matter to another work he completed there, The Ferry. These, and other mid-career pictures such as Cherry Ripe and Boats in Rye Harbour, are regarded as among Osborne’s finest.

    His works can be found in major collections in Ireland, including the Hugh Lane Gallery of Modern Art and the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin. His paintings also hang in Tate Britain and the National Portrait Gallery in London.  Bonhams Director of 19th Century Paintings, Charles O’Brien said, “When the Boats Come In is a wonderful example of Osborne’s English period. It has many of the details – grazing geese, fishermen and villagers at work, a basket of fish with some of them spilling onto the quay – that the artist loved to include in his paintings and which have made them so popular and sought-after at auction.”  It is estimated at £100,000-150,000.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £125,000

    THE RISING MEDAL AWARDED TO JOSEPH PLUNKETT AT WHYTE’S

    Wednesday, January 18th, 2017
    THE 1916 Rising Medal awarded posthumously to Joseph Plunkett comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on Saturday January 21.  In 1941 Grace, the patriot’s widow, refused to attend a ceremony to receive the medal, probably in protest against the wartime policy of internment of IRA members. Grace Gifford married Joseph Plunkett in the prison chapel at Kilmainham seven hours before his execution, became a prominent republican, opposed the Treaty and was imprisoned by the Irish Free State government.   When the medal was posted to her she threw it in a bin, where it was rescued by a friend, Cathal Gannon.  Grace told him to keep it as she did not want to have it. It is estimated at 40,000-60,000.

    The silk flag of the Costello Volunteers, raised in Mayo and Roscommon in 1779, is a rarity estimated at 20,000-30,000. The sale features 40 lots of early printed maps and charts of Ireland and its coast, a collection Staffordshire figures of Irish nationalists including Tone, O’Connell, Parnell and Gladstone, the George V ministerial box used by Sean Lemass from 1932-39, the 1886 bandleaders mace from the Brian Borhoime Band, Clontarf, a piece of shrapnel recovered from Rathdown Park, Terenure following the bombing by German aircraft in January 1941, gold coins and banknotes among almost 550 lots.

    The 1916 Rising medal awarded to Joseph Plunkett (40,000-60,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 40,000 AT HAMMER

    19th century Staffordshire figure of Daniel O’Connell (300-500)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 360 AT HAMMER

    1654 Maps of Ireland by Joan Blaeu, from Theatrum or Novus Atlas. A set of six hand-coloured, engraved maps of Ireland, Ulster; Munster, Connaught (1,500-2,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER

    The 18th century silk flag of the Costello Volunteers (20,000-30,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    ROTHKO AND RAUSCHENBERG AT CHRISTIE’S IN MARCH

    Tuesday, January 17th, 2017

    Groundbreaking works by Mark Rothko and Robert Rauschenberg will feature at Christie’s Post-War and Contemporary Art evening auction on March 7 in London. Mark Rothko’s groundbreaking No. 1 1949 is one of the earliest examples of his mature artistic vocabulary. Robert Rauschenberg’s Transom (1963) comes to auction alongside a major retrospective of his work at London’s Tate Modern, and demonstrates the radical new visual language that went on to lead a generation of American artists towards global domination. Together these two masters of 20th-Century painting will lead the field of American talent due to take centre stage during 20th Century at Christie’s, a series of sales from February 28 to March 10.   The works will tour to Hong Kong (January 17-20), Shanghai (February 8), Beijing (February 11-13) and New York (February 24-26).

    Francis Outred, Chairman and Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christies: “America is a profound force on the global stage and has been unstoppable in defining the contemporary culture of the last century. It is a privilege to present two seminal works that date from the beginning of this cultural dominance. Mark Rothko’s No.1 dates from 1949 and was one of his first works to incorporate the planes of colour as mood that defined his career. Robert Rauschenberg’s Transom is one of the breakthrough series of Silkscreen Paintings with which he not only sparred with Warhol but also became the very first American artist to win the Golden Lion at the 1964 Venice Biennale.”

    AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF BOULLE FURNITURE AT CHRISTIE’S PARIS

    Tuesday, January 17th, 2017

    The sale of contents of the Palais Rose in Paris by Christie’s  on March 7 will give collectors and connoisseurs an opportunity to acquire Old Master paintings and drawings, fine furniture, porcelain and jewellery.  Christie’s will offer the collection of Boni de Castellane & Anna Gould, legendary figures of the late 19th and early 20thcenturies.  Boni de Castellane, a celebrated dandy of the Parisian scene, married Anna Gould, daughter of an American millionaire who made his fortune in railways, in 1895.  Their Palais Rose was completed in 1902 and hosted some of the most celebrated parties in Paris with guests including the Queen of Naples, Queen Isabel II of Spain, Kapurthala’s Mahardjah and the Kings of Spain and Portugal in 1905.  Anna Gould filed for divorce in 1906, mainly due to the exorbitant expenses he had generated. Diane de Castellane lived in this home surrounded by treasures, the majority of which she had inherited from her grandmother Anna Gould, and of which the impressive collection of Boulle furniture is the most significant of all. (All images courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2017).

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV BOULLE MARQUETRY OF ‘PREMIERE PARTIE’ CASKETS, ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, EARLY 18TH CENTURY (200,000-300,000)  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 173,000

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ‘CONTRE PARTIE’ BOULLE LATE 17TH CENTURY MARQUETRY MEUBLES A HAUTEUR D’APPUI STAMPED BY JEAN-LOUIS FAIZELOT-DELORME, CIRCA 1775 (1-1.5 million)  UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI BOULLE MARQUETRY ‘PREMIERE PARTIE’ MEUBLES A HAUTEUR D’APPUI STAMPED BY ADAM WEISWEILER AND ETIENNE LEVASSEUR, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY (800,000-1.2 million)  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 818,500

    A PAIR OF 18TH CENTURY SEVRES PORCELAIN AND ORMOLU-MOUNTED “VASES EN BURETTES”(100,000-150,000) UPDATE: THESE MADE 140,500

    PAIRE DE “VASES OVOIDE” EN PORCELAINE TENDRE DE SEVRES DU XVIIIe SIECLE c1770 (80,000-120,000)  UPDATE: THESE MADE 206,500

    A PAINTING FROM THE COLLECTION OF AN EXECUTED MONARCH

    Monday, January 16th, 2017

    Orazio Gentileschi
    HEAD OF A WOMAN

    Head of a Woman  by Orazio Gentileschi, which once hung outside the bedroom of King Charles I at Whitehall Palace in London, is a highlight Sotheby’s sale in New York on January 25.  It was sold off after his execution as his famous art collection was scattered across Europe and comes to auction now for the first time in 380 years.  In the interim the work, described as “Naked Woman” in the original inventory which detailed “the Picture of a woeman with her left breast naked her right breast covered with a part of her Smock”, has been altered.  The bottom of the canvas has been removed, possibly by a prudish owner. It dates from the early 1630’s and is one of two surviving works by the artist on panel.

    The impressive art collection of King Charles I was sold off by Parliament after his execution in 1649 to pay the late king’s debts. More than 1,300 paintings were consigned by Cromwell to Somerset House, where they were offered to the public. The sale has gone down in history both as a tragic loss of national art and for its odd detail, with a Titian painting famously given to a plumber to pay his bill.  Estimated at $2-3 million the proceeds of the sale will in part benefit the department of European Painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

    UPDATE: This sold for $1,812,500

    A BELFAST SHIPYARD WORKER ON THE DAY THE TITANIC SANK

    Monday, January 16th, 2017

    William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
    Belfast Shipyard Worker on 15th April 1912  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER

    The significance of this image of a Belfast shipyard worker made by William Conor (1881-1968) is the date – April 15, 1912. The seated worker looks contemplative. It is easy to imagine from the image that he has just had a real shock.

    The significance of the date is that this was the day the Titanic sank in the early hours. The pose of the sitter suggests that the news had just broken at the Harland and Wolff  shipyard where she was built.

    The wax on crayon is both signed by William Conor and, unusually, dated. He did not normally date his work. Estimated at 1,500-2,500 it comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s first Irish art online auction of 2017 which runs to January 23.  It is one of 213 lots in total and the catalogue is online.

    These days the Titanic Centre in Belfast is one of the most visited attractions on the island of Ireland.

    WHYTE’S PRESENT REPLICA OF HISTORIC PAINTING TO CORK CHURCH

    Saturday, January 14th, 2017
    A replica of an historic painting of The Consecration of St. Mary’s, Pope’s Quay, has been presented by Dublin auctioneer’s Whyte’s to the Cork Dominican church and priory. The original was sold by Whyte’s in September 2015.  It was bought for the collection of Ireland’s Great Hunger  Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut. They paid 19,000 on the hammer for the c1842 work estimated at 8,000-10,000.  St. Mary’s was the disappointed underbidder.
    “We felt very sorry that they didn’t get it” said Ian Whyte. “We got permission from the Famine Museum to create a full sized replica and this was finally completed and framed just before Christmas and we were delighted it arrived at St. Mary’s, where it can be appreciated by the people of Cork and visitors to the city”.
    The work had been presented to Kearns Deane, architect of St. Mary’s and had been passed down through the Deane family. At the time it was auctioned it had not been seen in public since being shown at the RHA in 1842. It depicts the ceremony in the newly built catholic church shortly after Catholic emancipation and includes the figure of Daniel O’Connell in the congregation.  The foundation stone of St. Mary’s was laid in 1832 and it opened in 1839. The Cork artist James Mahony is best known for his harrowing illustrations of the Irish famine for the Illustrated London News.  According to art historian Dr. Julian Campbell his illustrations were admired by, among others, Vincent van Gogh.
    St. Mary’s have placed the painting in the sanctuary and will install overhead lighting to ensure that it can be easily seen and appreciated by all visitors.

    THE CONSECRATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. MARY’S, POPE’S QUAY, CORK, c.1842 by James Mahony RHA (c.1815-c.1859).

    The replica of the work being admired at St. Mary’s by Fr. Gerard Dunne, Prior and Mr. John O’Flynn