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Art and history coincide in a large watercolour by James Mahony of some lost Cork city fabric at the James Adam evening sale of important Irish art in Dublin on May 30.  The 1852 work is of the opening of the National Exhibition of the Arts, Manufactures and Products of Ireland in a building designed by the brilliant John Benson which stood where Cork City Hall now graces the riverside. Benson designed some iconic Cork buildings such as the English Market, the Waterworks, the Firkin Crane and the Butter Market.  Because they were mostly made of wood all of them have lost their original truss roofs as a result of fire. After the exhibition the building shown here was dismantled, sold and re-erected beside the Cork School of Art. Named The Atheneaeum it was used for lectures, exhibitions and performances. Re-named Cork Opera House in 1877 it was destroyed by fire in 1855.

Walter Osborne’s Counting the Flock is the main lot of the auction, estimated at 100,000-150,000. There are works by Paul Henry, Jack Yeats, a Tangier painting  by Sir John Lavery and an abstract by Mainie Jellett.  There are two sculptures by Eilis O’Connell from the collection of the late John Hunt and works by Louis le Brocquy, George Campbell, Norah McGuinness, Colin Middleton, Patrick Hickey, Charles Tyrrell and Richard Gorman. Viewing at Adams is from 2 pm to 5 pm tomorrow and from 10 am to 5 pm on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.