Johannes Vermeer, (1632–1675) – Mistress and Maid, ca. 1666?67. The Frick Collection, New York, photo: Joseph Coscia Jr.
Vermeer Visits at the National Gallery of Ireland from May 11-August 18 will reunite Mistress and Maid from the Frick with the gallery’s own Vermeer, Woman Writing a Letter with her Maid. While The Frick Collection’s New York residence is currently undergoing a renovation, Mistress and Maid makes an exceptional trip to Dublin, marking only the second time it has left New York since its acquisition in 1919. Before the paintings were on display at the Rijksmuseum’s Vermeer exhibition in 2023, they were last united at the auction of French copper industrialist Eugène Secrétan in Paris in 1889. The painting rarely travels outside its home in New York under the conditions of its bequest.
Mistress and Maid is unusual in Vermeer’s oeuvre in that the composition focuses almost exclusively on the interaction between the figures – the mistress pausing her writing in surprise at the arrival of a letter brought by a maid. The painting is exceptionally large in comparison to Vermeer’s other genre scenes, measuring over a metre in height.
Johannes Vermeer, (1632–1675) – Woman Writing a Letter, with her Maid, c.1670. Presented, Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, 1987 (Beit Collection). Image, National Gallery of Ireland.
The Freedom of the City of Waterford. A Rare Irish gold Freedom Box, William Currie, Dublin, 1752-3. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR CHF 19,050 (€19,435)
This gold freedom box from an American family collection comes up at Sotheby’s sale of gold boxes and Faberge in Geneva which runs until May 13. It was one of three gold and one silver-gilt freedom boxes given to Lionel Cranfield Sackville, Duke of Dorset, as follows: Waterford, by William Currie, Dublin, circa 1752, (the current box); Kilkenny, also by Currie, Dublin, 1753; Trinity College, Dublin by David King, Dublin,1733, all gold, and in silver-gilt, Wexford, also by Currie, circa 1755. The arms on the cover are those of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Lionel Cranfield Sackville, 10th Earl and 1st Duke of Dorset, 1687-1765, K.G., P.C., twice Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1730-37 and 1751-55). The estimate is 15,000-25,000 CHF (€15,350-€25,580).
This George III chest with later paint in Willow Pattern and similar lined drawers is on the stand of Drennan and Sturrock at the Spring Decorative Fair at Battersea Park in London from May 7-12. The fair will feature furniture, lighting, decoration, art, textiles, jewellery and bags. The chest can be found on stand B29 and is priced at £4,200.
A c1838 Cork cream jug with melon body by Richard Garde. UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER
In Ireland we have a knack for a material that lends grace, style and permanence to all sorts of settings and occasions. So in a fickle era when fashion in antiques and everything else is fast moving it is heartening that silver has retained an enduring appeal.
Special silver sales at Woodwards in Cork, like the one coming up on May 11 are always popular. This one offers some Cork silver – always a draw for serious collectors – along with a selection of Irish flatware, Georgian and Victorian English silverware and plate and the estate of a collector of Royal Irish Silver. Prime lots include a 1970 pair of heavy entree dishes and covers with detachable handles by the Royal Irish Silver Co., Dublin (€2,000-€3,000), a c1775 sugar bowl with scalloped rim by Peter Wills, Cork (€700-€1,000), a c1838 cream jug with melon panelled body by Richard Garde, Cork (€500-€1,000), a pair of 1961 sauce boats (€600-€800) and an Irish butter pail design sugar bowl (€400-€800) both by William Egan and Sons.
A sugar bowl of butter pail design by William Egan & Sons Cork, with Gleninsheen Collar commemorative hallmark for 1973. UPDATE: THIS MADE 850 AT HAMMER
The Italian Version of Popeye Has no Pork in His Diet by Jean-Michel Basquiat at Christie’s. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $32 MILLION
The Italian Version of Popeye Has no Pork in His Diet, a lawn being sprinkled, a haunting portrait of a lover and muse, scientific literature and Irish and Mexican myth getting the surreal treatment all feature at the big art sales at Christie’s and Sotheby’s in New York this month.
The 20th/21st Century series at Christie’s and masterworks spanning more than a century of production at Sotheby’s underline the glorious diversity of Modern, Contemporary and Post-War Art and the boundary pushing art of now.
Jean-Michel Basquiat’s arresting 1982 work The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in His Diet will be a highlight at Christie’s 21st Century evening sale on May 14. Peppered with figures, numbers, shapes and crossed out words it mixes symbols, text and portraiture and is estimated to achieve around $30 million (€28.03 million). It is part of a series featuring tied together wooden supports on which a canvas has been mounted.
In a market that is weaker than latter years Basquiat continues to exert strong pulling power. A highlight at Sotheby’s Contemporary Auction in New York on May 13 is one of the most significant paintings created jointly by Basquiat and Andy Warhol during their famed period of collaboration from 1983 – 1985. “Andy would start one and put something very recognizable on it, or a product logo, and I would sort of deface it” Basquiat said once, while Warhol credited Basquiat with getting him into painting differently. Untitled (1984), a large scale example of this collaborative series, is estimated in the region of $18 million (€16.82 million).
Now aged 86 David Hockney continues to make great art today (he says he does not feel his age when in the studio). Hockney’s mesmerising A Lawn being Sprinkled at Christie’s dates to 1967 and is estimated at $25 million – $35 million (€23.36 million – €32.7 million). It is from the Los Angeles collection of legendary screenwriter, producer and activist Norman Lear and his wife Lyn Davis Lear.
Portrait of George Dyer Crouching by Francis Bacon at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $27,735,000
Francis Bacon’s Portrait of George Dyer Crouching at Sotheby’s Contemporary evening auction on May 13 dates to 1966 and is the first of a cycle of ten monumental portraits of Dyer created between 1966 and 1968. It offers a haunting glimpse of Dyer – who died from a drugs and drink overdose in Paris two days before the opening of the Francis Bacon Retrospective at the Grand Palais in 1971 – both as hero and a figure of vulnerability. The estimate is $30 million – $50 million (€28.03 million – €46.72 million).
Les Distractions de Dagobert by Leonora Carrington at Sotheby’s. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR $28,485,000
Born in 1917 to an upper class Catholic family in rural north west England Leonora Carrington’s childhood was shaped on one hand by rigid social structures and on the other by magical myths from her Irish grandmother and nanny. She returned often to Irish legends, especially in works like Les Distractions de Dagobert which is rife with Celtic imagery. Following a rebellious youth, a brief sojourn with the Parisian Surrealist group and a harrowing flight from war torn Europe Carrington painted this tour de force at the age of 28. The centrepiece at her first retrospective exhibition at the Pierre Matisse gallery in New York in 1948 it is at Sotheby’s Modern evening auction on May 15 with an estimate of $12 million – $18 million.
An image of Samuel Beckett by Louis le Brocquy was the most expensive lot sold at Sotheby’s Irish art sale in Paris today. It made 88,900 against an estimate of 40,000-60,000 in a sale that brought in €529,463. Halloween by Colin Midleton made 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-80,000 and an image of James Joyce by le Brocquy brought in 63,500 against an estimate of 50,000-70,000. Among the other top lots were A Shining Palace, Venice by William Leech (50,800), Tangier by Sir John Lavery (38,100), Two Clowns Fooling by Camille Souter (21,590), Later Love by Rowan Gillespie (19,050) and Head by Louis le Brocquy (19,050). A 1922 drawing of Michael Collins by Hazel Lavery made 13,970 against a top estimate of 5,000.
This extremely rare penny from the Reign of King Sitric comes up at Noonan’s in London on May 9. It is part of a selection of 100 Irish coins from the collection of US based Michael McKeever. The penny from the reign of Sitric imitating the English Long Cross coinage, was made by a moneyer named Aelwine and carries an English mint signature although it was struck in Dublin. It is in extremely fine condition. The estimate is £2,000-2,600. Sitric, who died in 927, was King of Dublin and King of Northumbria.
Another highlight is a rare groat (a silver coin worth four pence) from the reign of King Richard III who was on the throne for just two years. Struck at the Dublin mint is estimated at £1,200-1,500. The cover of the catalogue features a very rare example of a Crown Groat from the Dublin mint, struck during the reign of Edward IV (1461-1470). It is estimated at £1,500-2,000.
