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Louis le Brocquy’s homage to the poet John Montague is a highlight of Whyte’s evening sale of Irish and International Art in Dublin on February 26.  The strikingly modern work entitled Reaching. Homage to John Montague is constructed in six canvasses and is presented, as the artist intended, in its original frame.  The economic use of paint echoes the work of Francis Bacon while the preoccupation with the head and spirit of the sitter resonates with le Brocquy’s later work. It is estimated at 40,000-60,000.

The most expensively estimated lot among 191 works on offer is Paul Henry’s Landscape, West of Ireland (80,000-120,000). It is thought to be an Achill scene.  The Aran Island Turf Boat by Sean Keating is estimated at 50,000-70,000) and a painting of old men bathing by Jack B. Yeats is estimated at 40,000-60,000.  Another Yeats, Winter in Galway from Lady Gregory’s House, Coole Park, 1944 is estimated at 25,000-35,000.

Among the international works are two limited edition engravings by Salvador Dali of Dante’s Divine Comedy, a Baghdad Street Scene by Iraqi artist Hafidh Al-Droubi, Kissing You, a limited edition by Tracey Emin, a print and concrete relief by Banksy and bronzes by  Charles Robinson Sykes and Ernest Rancoulet.

Lot 120, An Important Scrapbook of Art and Music compiled by Abigail Cohen in London in the 1830’s, has contributions from Daniel O’Connell, Samuel Love and the composers Michael William Balfe and George Alexander Osborne. It guides at 15,000-20,000.  A collection of 24 hand coloured aquatints of Dublin views by James Malton is estimated at 8,000-10,000.

There is a wide cross section of Irish artists including Mildred Anne Butler, Arthur Maderson, Alicia Boyle, Elizabeth Cope, Percy French, Markey Robinson, Rowland Hill,  John Kingerlee, John Phillip Murray, Basil Blackshaw, Michael Cullen, Tony O’Malley, Robert Ballagh, Sean Scully, Patrick Scott and William Scott.