This subject matter of this oil on canvas attributed to Laurent de la Hyre exercised numerous colleagues and friends of Homan Potterton over the years. Artemesia was agreed as the most likely. She was the wife of Mausolus, the Provincial Governor of Caria in Asia Minor. On her husband’s death in 353 B.C. she erected a great elevated tomb and monument to his memory at Halicarnassus, thus providing the origin of the word ‘mausoleum’. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene. It was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The painting, which is estimated at €15,000-20,000, comes up at James Adam in Dublin on September 7 at the sale of the late Homan Potterton’s collection of old master paintings, Irish Art, engravings, furniture and silver from his homes in Dublin and in the Gaillac region in France. UPDATE: THIS MADE 32,000 AT HAMMER.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 22, 2021)