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  • Archive for February, 2020

    UNUSUAL CIRCULAR WINE COOLER AT SHEPPARDS

    Saturday, February 29th, 2020

    One of the most rewarding aspects of a love of antiques is that there is always something new. Lot 556 at Sheppards three days sale in Durrow on March 3, 4 and 5 is a case in point. Among the lots on offer is a large and unusual c1830 Irish circular sarcophagus form carved mahogany wine cooler. Attributed to the Dublin firm of Williams and Gibton it comes with an acanthus leaf carved lid which opens to a lead lined interior.  Rarity comes with a price, unfortunately, and this one is estimated at €15,000-25,000. Viewing at Sheppards is now underway.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 22,000 AT HAMMER

    LANDSCAPE BY JOHN BUTTS AT SOTHEBY’S

    Saturday, February 29th, 2020

    A Mountainous Wooded Landscape with figures gathering wood by Cork artist John Butts comes up at Sotheby’s sale of 44 Fitzwilliam Square, works from the estate of the late Patrick Kelly in London on March 18. It is estimated at £20,000-30,000. The talented artist, who died aged only 37 in 1764, worked as a teacher in Cork where his pupils included James Barry and Nathanial Grogan. He moved to Dublin around 1757 and worked predominantly as a scene painter. A comparable painting by the artist, Poachers: View in the Dargle, is at Tate Britain.  In a letter written after his death James Barry described him as … “an unfortunate man, who with all his merit never met with any thing but cares and misery, which I may say hunted him into the very grave. His cast of genius was very much that of Claude’s, whom he resembles without any imitation more than anybody that I know of”.  His View of Cork is one of the most popular works in the collection of the Crawford Gallery. 

    JOHN BUTTS – A Mountainous Wooded Landscape with figures gathering wood

    MURILLO PRODIGAL SON CYCLE AT NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND

    Friday, February 28th, 2020

    Murillo: The Prodigal Son Restored which opens at the National Gallery of Ireland on February 29, follows a long conservation project. It is 30 years since Murillo’s series of paintings based on the parable of the Prodigal Son has been on display here.

    The Prodigal Son cycle by Bartolomé Esteban Murillo explores sin, repentance and forgiveness across six paintings, staged in seventeenth-century Seville. It is the only intact narrative cycle by Murillo in the world. Donated by the Beit family in 1987, the works have been conserved at the Gallery’s Paintings Conservation Studio in a project led by Muirne Lydon, who remarked: “The conclusions of technical research performed on the paintings during conservation will be highlighted in the exhibition, revealing how the series was created – from canvas to ground layers and pigments – and the transformations that they have gone through over time. This new research adds to the growing body of knowledge of Murillo’s painting technique and materials. By situating the paintings both culturally and technically, the exhibition hopes to demonstrate that it is crucial to understand these masterpieces beyond their surface, thereby allowing our visitors to fully appreciate this exceptionally rich series.”

    Sean Rainbird, Gallery Director said: Murillo’s Prodigal Son cycle is one of the treasures of the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. We are delighted that this exceptional group of paintings, now gloriously conserved for future generations, will be on view at the Gallery this Spring.” The exhibition continues until August 30.

    Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617-1682)
    The Departure of the Prodigal Son, 1660s Photo © National Gallery of Ireland

    MEET POLAR EXPLORER TOM CREAN

    Thursday, February 27th, 2020

    This 1912 group portrait of on deck of the Terra Nova with Irish Antarctic explorer Tom Crean, Lieutenant E.R.G.R. “Teddy” Evans and William Lashly, made £5,300 over a top estimate of £800 at Bonhams Travel and Exploration sale in London. The three had formed the last of the supporting teams to be sent back by Scott, as he commenced the final push for the South Pole. During the return journey Evans went down with scurvy, and tried to persuade Crean and Lashly to leave him behind. Instead they strapped him to a sledge and man-hauled him to within four or five days’ march of Hut Point. From there Crean set out to collect help, while Lashly stayed to look after Evans. Evans’ saviours were both awarded the Albert Medal.

    Tom Crean (1877-1938) was a member of three Antarctic expeditions. He joined Robert Scott’s Discovery Expedition of 1901-04. After Terra Nova his third and final expedition was as second officer on Ernest Shackleton’s Imperial Trans Antarctic Expedition. After the ship  Endurance became beset in the pack ice and sank, Crean and the ship’s company spent 492 days drifting on the ice before a journey in boats to Elephant Island. He was a member of the crew which made a small boat journey of 800 nautical miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia to seek aid.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 19, 2020)

    MEDAL AWARDED TO BARON VENTRY’S SON AT LONDON AUCTION

    Wednesday, February 26th, 2020

    The Small Army Gold Medal for Orthes 1814 awarded to Major the Hon. Edward Mullens, 28th Foot comes up at Dix Noonan Webb in London on March 5. Mullens was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Mullens, 1st Baron Ventry. Frederick William Mullens (d. 1712), an English Colonel who claimed descent from the Norman de Moleyns, established this branch of the family in Co. Kerry, settling at Burnham House near Dingle around 1666. His great-grandson, Sir Thomas Mullens (1736-1824), one of three major electoral patrons in Kerry, was created Baron Ventry in the Irish peerage on July 31, 1800, as a reward for his family’s support for the Union with Britain and the abolition of the Irish Parliament.

    In the Napoleonic Wars Edward Mullens fought in fifteen battles in the Peninsula between 1809 and 1814, commanded a Light Battalion at Orthes, and was one of the heroes of the Battle of Barossa. At the battle of Orthes on February 27, 1814, Mullens commanded a brigaded battalion made up of all the Light Companies of Colonel O’Callaghan’s Brigade, those of the 28th, 34th, and 39th Foot, plus a Company of 5th Battalion 60th Rifles. His mission, successfully accomplished, was to seize and hold the ford over the Gave de Pau river at Souars.

    His Field Officer’s Gold Medal is fitted with three-pronged gold ribbon bar together with a fine colour portrait miniature of the recipient on ivory, in a silver-gilt and gilt metal glazed oval frame, the reverse engraved ‘Major The Honble Edward Mullens. 28th Regt.’  It is estimated at £18,000-22,000.

    UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £16,0O0


    ONLINE SALE OF IRISH ART AT MORGAN O’DRISCOLL

    Tuesday, February 25th, 2020

    AN online sale of Irish art by Morgan O’Driscoll runs to Monday March 2. There is paintings and sculpture from artists like John Behan, John Shinnors, George Campbell, Elizabeth le Jeune, Patrick O’Reilly, James Humbert Craig, Mark O’Neill, George Campbell and many more. The catalogue is online.

    John Behan – Westport Famine Ship (2018) 5,000-7,000 . UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,200 AT HAMMER

    THE MEATH FOXHOUNDS IN ART AT BONHAMS

    Monday, February 24th, 2020

    The Bitch Pack of the Meath Foxhounds by the Victorian painter John Emms (1843-1912) is a highlight at Bonhams sale of 19th Century and British Impressionist Art sale in London on April 8. Hunting with hounds is a tradition in Ireland that goes back to ancient times and features strongly in Celtic literature and legend. There is a pack recorded in the Meath area as early as 1723, although the Meath Hunt itself dates from 1817. The Bitch Pack of the Meath Foxhounds was painted in 1896 when John Watson was Master. It is estimated at £180,000-250,000.

    Bonhams Head of Victorian Paintings, Charles O’Brien explains: “Emms had the rare ability to give real life to his subject and was at his very best when painting dogs. In this unusually large work – it’s 40 x 60 inches – his confident use of fluid brush strokes gives weight and solidity to the different physical characteristics of the dogs as well as their individual temperaments.”

    The Bitch Pack of the Meath Foxhounds by John Emms. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £225,000

    FREUD EXPLORATION AT IRISH MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

    Sunday, February 23rd, 2020

    Few artists spent as much time in the studio as Lucian Freud (1922-2011), regarded as one of the greatest realist painters of the 20th century.  He changed the way we see portraiture and the nude.  In its latest incarnation the Freud Project at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) has set out on an investigation into the relationship between the artist and their studio and the role of the studio  as a space for production. In all its forms the studio exerts a fascination as the physical and conceptual frame as an artist’s work progresses. The exhibition of 29 paintings and 16 works on paper is made possible by the IMMA Collection: Freud Project, a five year loan of 52 works by Lucian Freud to IMMA.  The programme of research will build  on existing ways of thinking about the studio and focus on the contemporary situation in Ireland. This is the fifth exhibition to be presented as part of the project and it will run until August 30.

    Lucian Freud standing on his head with his daughter Bella in his studio c1986 © Estate of Bruce Bernard, courtesy of Virginia Verran.

    AT HOME AT JAMES ADAM IN DUBLIN ON SUNDAY

    Friday, February 21st, 2020

    A total of 530 lots of silver, furniture, jewellery, porcelain and collectibles will come under the hammer at the At Home sale at James Adam in Dublin on February 23. There are silver brooches by Georg Jensen, some Irish provincial silver, artworks including some Art Deco chrome plated figures, mirrors, antique furniture including sets of chairs, Oriental bronzes and Donegal carpets. The catalogue is online.

    A large Donegal wool carpet in the Neo-classical taste. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,700 AT HAMMER

    A SIX FIGURE SUM FOR RUSTY GATES

    Wednesday, February 19th, 2020

    Rusty Gates, a 1948 oil by Jack B. Yeats, is the main lot at Whyte’s sale of Irish and International art in Dublin on March 9. The sale includes work by Paul Henry, William Conor, Beatrice Glenavy, William Sadler, Nathaniel Hone The Elder, Louis le Brocquy, Tony O’Malley, Donald Teskey and many other Irish artists. Around 200 lots will come under the hammer in an auction expected to realise about 1.2 million. The Yeats carries an estimate of 100,000-150,000. The catalogue is online.

    Jack B. YeatsRUSTY GATES, 1948. UPDATE: THIS MADE 120,000 AT HAMMER