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Gerard Dillon (1916-1971) – Aran Islanders
Irish art at Sotheby’s Modern British and Irish evening and day sales in London on November 14 and 15 will be on display in Dublin this weekend. Viewing at the RHA Gallagher Gallery is from today until November 3. Aran Islanders, the oil on board by Gerard Dillon pictured here, is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. The sale will include art by Sir William Orpen, Nano Reid, Colin Middleton, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, Richard Hearns and many more.
UPDATE: THIS MADE €1,050
A framed partial life jacket made from cork and covered with canvas from the Lusitania, torpedoed off Cork in 1915, comes up at Hegarty’s sale in Bandon on October 30. Only one complete version of this type of lifejacket from Lusitania has survived and is held at the Merseyside Maritime Museum. The estimate is €200-€400. Antique furniture, jewellery and silver is on offer including a pair of George II Irish silver candlesticks by Isaac D’Olier, Dublin c1750 (€3,000-€4,000). UPDATE: The candlesticks made €2,900.
In the artist’s garden by James Brohan at Morgan O’Driscoll. UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,200 AT HAMMER
In the artist’s garden, an oil on canvas by James Brohan, comes up as lot 5 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s Off the Wall online art auction which runs until October 29. The estimate is €1,000-€1,500. The auction includes works by Markey Robinson, Damien Hirst, Arthur Maderson, Mr. Brainwash, Sean Scully, Cecil Maguire and many more artists. The catalogue is online.
James Barry – Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
Breaking new ground with old paintings is the mission at James Adam. The venerable Dublin firm is launching a new category of sale – Irish Old Masters – on November 5.
James Barry, Nathanial Hone, George Barret, William Brocas, Adam Buck and Nathanial Grogan are among the many artists who feature in this fascinating art auction of 84 lots.
We tend to not think of Irish artists when Old Masters are on the agenda. Strictly speaking the term is applied to trained artists who worked in Europe before or around 1800. The terminology in art history is loose and Adams has slipped in a few Victorians like Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy, Michael Angelo Hayes, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson and Robert Lowe Stopford though Erskine Nicol, who lived until 1904, is a bit of a stretch. Many of our artists – like Cork born James Barry appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in 1782 – clearly fit any definition.
Cork Savings Bank (1842) by James Mahony (1810-1879) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The sale sets out, according to a catalogue note by Stuart Cole of Adams, to reintroduce the exceptional and subtle mastery of Irish artists from previous centuries in an environment of their peers and contemporaries. The explosion of interest in art in Ireland during the last half century means that Irish art sales nowadays feature a far greater quantity of modern art than before. So Adams reckon the time is right for this new category of the artists – the backbone of early Irish art auctions – and to make it an annual sale.
No less than nine engravings by James Barry, with estimates ranging from €600-€2,000, grace the catalogue. Barry’s inscription on his 1793 engraving of Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators refers to the delusion of considering William Penn as the first coloniser to establish laws of religious and civil liberty. According to his inscription Cacilius Cavert, Baron of Baltimore and a catholic, originated them in his Colony of Maryland.
The River Lee at Inniscarra is listed in the Adams catalogue as by William Brocas (1794-1868), but a label on the back suggests that it is by John Butts. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The most expensive lots in the sale are a pair of portraits of Thomas Carter (Secretary of State for Ireland) and his wife Mary by Charles Jervas (c1675-1739) (€60,000-€80,000), a landscape by Thomas Roberts (1748-1777) (€40,000-€60,000), a River Landscape by George Barret (1732-1784) (€40,000-€60,000) and Travellers resting on a Country Road by Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) (€20,000-€30,000). An 1809 folio of James Malton’s Views of Dublin from 1791 is estimated at €8,000-€10,000.
An oval watercolour of Glanmire Church from the River Lee by Nathanial Grogan (€3,000-€5,000), a water colour of Cork Savings Bank by James Mahony (€3,000-€5,000), Sailing vessels in Cork Harbour by Matthew Kendrick (€6,000-€8,000) and The Fleet Getting Away from Cork by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson (€15,000-€20,000) should create plenty of local interest in this evening auction. There is some confusion around an oil of the River Lee at Inniscarra which is by either William Brocas or John Butts (€4,000-€6,000),
With a fine selection of maritime views, portraits and topographical views of Ireland in the olden days and estimates from €400 up this sale is well worth a view.
Coloured engravings after Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806) published in 1806 – The White Abbey in Adare and The Roughty Bridge, Kenmare. UPDATE: THESE MADE 420 AT HAMMER.
A model of a currach at Aidan Foley’s sale in Kilcolgan. UPDATE: THIS MADE 660 AT HAMMER
Art, contents from two bars including a model of a currach, Irish vernacular furniture, a collection of Hummel figures and two vintage tractors will be included in Aidan Foley’s online sale from Kilcolgan tomorrow and Monday at 4 pm on each day. More than 1,000 lots are on offer with art by Mark O’Neill, George Gillespie, Maurice Wilks, Jack Butler Yeats, Elizabeth Brophy, Geraldine O’Brien, Norman McCaig and many more Irish artists. The sale is on view in Kilcolgan today and the catalogue is online.
Aidan Foley’s collections sale in September was in association with de Veres of Dublin who will hold an Irish art and design auction on November 5. A feature of this upcoming sale is a selection of statement art works including large oils by Donald Teskey, John Shinnors, Barrie Cooke and Felim Egan with tapestries by Louis le Brocquy and Mainie Jellett. The auction will be on view at Kildare St., Dublin from November 2 and the catalogue is online now.
Mainie Jellett No. 3 is the title of this handwoven Ceadogan Rug at de Veres. UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,000 AT HAMMER
Left: Neuschwanstein, Germany, May 1945 The Monument Men recovering looted art by the Nazis Right: Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, estimate €50,000-80,000 to be auctioned on 21 November in Paris. UPDATE: THIS WAS SOLD FOR €529,200
A painting recovered by the Monument Men will be auctioned at Christie’s in Paris on November 21. Nicolas de Largillierre Portrait de femme a mi-corps, painted around the turn of the 18th century, will be part of the Old Masters sale in Paris. It is part of an iconic photograph taken in May 1945 on the steps of Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria, showing James J. Rorimer of the Monuments, Fine Arts and Archive Section together with three soldiers of the 7th US Army, holding three of the many works of art looted by the Germans. Looted from the bank vault of Baron Philippe de Rothschild (1902-1988) in Arcachon in late 1940 and transferred to the Jeu de Paume in Paris in February 1941, the portrait was recovered by the Monuments Men in May 1945, days before the end of World War II. It was officially restituted to the Rothschild family on May 3, 1946 and remained in their collection until 1978 when it was bought at auction by today’s owner. The Monument Men were greatly helped by Rose Valland (1898-1980), a French art historian and curator at the Jeu de Paume in Paris and a member of the Resistance. During the German occupation of Paris (1940-44) the Jeu de Paume served as warehouse for many works of looted art. Valland secretly recorded details of art plundered by the Nazis.
The Monuments Men and Women Foundation will launch the first ever English edition of Front de l’Art [The Art Front] – Valland’s pioneering work, first published in French in 1961, at Christie’s in New York on December 10. Rose Valland was awarded multiple honors, inluding the médaille de la Résistance française (1946). She was named Officer of the Légion d’honneur, and Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Abroad, she was awarded the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom (1948) and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1972), becoming one of the most decorated French women ever.
Victor Richardson (b.1952) – Autumn in the Park (1992). UPDATE: THIS MADE 950 AT HAMMER
Autumn in the Park by Victor Richardson is lot number 13 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s current off the wall online auction of Irish art. The estimate is €600-€800. The etching below by Yoko Akino is estimated at €200-€400. The sale of affordable art runs until October 29 and the catalogue is online.
Yoko Akino – Daydreaming II. UPDATE: THIS MADE 160 AT HAMMER
UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR CHF 7,765,000 – US$8,859,865
A brooch commissioned by Prince Aga Khan at Cartier Paris in 1960 and shortly after gifted to his wife, Nina Dyer (1930-1969) comes up at Christie’s in Geneva on November 12, 55 years after it was last auctioned in the Swiss city. It was sold for $75,000 at the inaugural Magnificent Jewellery sale at Hotel Richemond in Geneva on May 1, 1969. This time round the estimate is $6 million – $8 million. It is adorned with a 37.00 carat emerald and accentuated by a row of diamonds, epitomizing the elegance and sophistication of its era. Like many of the beautiful jewels commissioned by The Aga Khan for Nina Dyer, she wore this exceptional piece at numerous prominent events.
At the Hotel Richemond in 1969 40 lots were offered, most of which belonged to Nina Dyer. The sale was a huge success, with the jewels selling for more than twice the estimates and the entire collection achieved over CHF 12.7 million. Dyer’s will stipulated that the proceeds from the sale of her jewels would benefit animal welfare causes in Africa, Asia, and Europe. This auction also marked the beginning of Christie’s long-standing tradition in Geneva, where auctions continue to thrive today, drawing collectors from around the globe.
JACK BUTLER YEATS – THE HORSEMAN (1947)
Outstanding paintings by Jack B. Yeats from the collection of legendary horse trainer Vincent O’Brien his wife Jacqueline O’Brien are to be sold by auction on December 4 at Adam’s in Dublin. Amongst the highlights is The Horseman, painted by Yeats in 1947. This stunning depiction of horse riders set against a background of Ben Bulben is estimated at €500,000-€800,000. Adams say that the sale brings together a giant of Irish art and a giant of Irish racing.
Associated most with his stunning success in both National Hunt and flat racing, Vincent O’Brien, the
legendary Co. Cork-born horse trainer, and his wife Jacqueline, a celebrated author and photographer,
were also discerning art collectors. Their art collection features a captivating range of paintings, including spectacular works that reflect Vincent’s deep connection with the equestrian world.
Thomas McGreevy, a former Director of the National Gallery of Ireland wrote : ‘There are no lovelier horses in all painting than Jack Yeats’s. They have a miraculous elegance, and he always loved to paint them when they looked as though mere existence was sufficiently exhilarating’.
Adams say that the collection offered alongside other important Irish paintings represents a rare opportunity for collectors to acquire artworks with significant cultural and historical provenance. This is an unparalleled opportunity to own a part of the O’Brien legacy.
