A lost lamented old Cork public interior and a tour de force of Irish stained glass artistry are among the lots on offer at the online James Adam evening sale of important Irish art on March 24. Harry Clarke’s intricate depiction of Bluebeard’s Last Wife is the catalogue cover lot. When she discovered the bodies of his previous wives Bluebeard’s last wife orchestrated his downfall. The vivid miniature in an inlaid cabinet by James Hicks – made up of two glass panels intricately worked together to provide a scene of astounding detail and gruesome foreboding – is estimated at €80,000-€120,000.
A large 1852 watercolour by James Mahony offers a fascinating interior view of the Benson building on Albert Quay where Cork City Hall now stands. The National Exhibition of the Arts, Manufactures and Products of Ireland was officially opened here on June 10, 1852 by the Lord Lieutenant Archilbald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton. Mahony depicts a long line of eminent citizens waiting to be introduced in a detailed work estimated at €6,000-€10,000. The semi circular wood trusses and large skylights depicted were designed by engineer John Benson, architect for the exhibition. The much loved building was dismantled and re-erected in Emmet Place where it was used for lectures and exhibitions and known as The Atheneum. It was re-named the Cork Opera House in 1877. Among Benson’s other buildings in Cork are the Firkin Crane, the English Market and St. Patrick’s Bridge. Because they were made of wood nearly all his Cork buildings have been destroyed or lost their original roof trusses. Survivors include the tower over the main door of the North Cathedral and the old waterworks on the Lee Road. The Belle of Chinatown, a 1943 oil by Jack B. Yeats, is estimated at €120,000-€160,000 while Serving Dinner, an 1890 work by Katherine MacCausland has an estimate of €25,000-€35,000. There is art by Walter Osborne and Sir John Lavery, Louis le Brocquy and Anne Madden, Hughie O’Donoghue, Michael Farrell and Patrick Collins among 138 lots on offer.
