THIS portrait of Elizabeth Fitzgerald, the Irish noblewoman who was Countess of Lincoln, lady in waiting and close friend of Queen Elizabeth I, is part of an exhibition of Elizabethan portraits now on at the National Gallery of Ireland. Born in Maynooth and daughter of the 9th Earl of Kildare she was a member of the Fitzgerald dynasty and known as The Fair Geraldine. Silken Thomas, who was executed for treason, was her half brother. This is the first full exhibition of colourful and engaging Elizabethan portraits in the collection. It features portraits of well-known sixteenth-century historical figures, from politicians to soldiers, royal suitors to adventurers. Portraits include Elizabeth I and her lover Robert Dudley; Sir Walter Ralegh and his wife Lady Ralegh; and the Earl of Ormond. The exhibition runs until October 3.
This 1960’s lounge chair by Luigi Vietta and produced by Fratelli Besana comes up as lot 23 at Mullen’s Classic and Contemporary Interiors sale at Laurel Park, Bray, Co. Wicklow on June 7. It is estimated at 340-440. The sale of 798 lots gets underway at 6 pm.
Cottages in Achill by Paul Henry made a hammer price of 210,000 over a top estimate of 160,000 at the James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. Another top lot was an original copy of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic signed by the printer Christoper Brady. Inscribed on the rear is that it was obtained in Sackville St., Dublin on Easter Monday, April 24, 1916. It made a hammer price of 170,000 over an estimate of 150,000-200,000.
This mid 18th century Irish Georgian fold over tea table comes up at Hegarty’s online auction in Bandon, Co. Cork on June 6 with an estimate of €1,000-€1,400. The sale will include two Cork family collections from Oysterhaven and Kinsale and offers a variety of antique furniture, silver, art and jewellery. A late 18th century Limerick silver fork by Maurice Fitzgerald is estimated at €850-1,000. UPDATE: THE TABLE MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER. THE LIMERICK SILVER FORK MADE 700.
An Important Imperial Presentation jewelled gold and guilloché enamel snuffbox, by workmaster Nikolai Chernokov, Bolin, St Petersburg, 1908-1917 comes up at Sotheby’s sale of Russian Works of Art, Fabergé & Icons which runs in London from today until June 9. It was presented to Vice Admiral Count Carl August Ehrensvärd (1858-1944) by Emperor Nicholas II during his state visit to Sweden in 1909 and is estimated at £200,000-300,000. The cypher of Emperor Nicholas II set with rose-cut diamonds is applied to the lid. The sale brings together an unprecedented group of imperial presentation pieces and a rare group of twenty-four Russian Military Orders from an Important Swiss Collection, including a rare Collar of the Order of St Andrew and a seldom seen diamond-set, silver-topped, gold-mounted and enamel Grand Cross set of insignia for the Order of St Catherine, circa 1890.
William Crozier HRHA (1930 – 2011) The Inlet UPDATE: THIS MADE 20,000 AT HAMMER
The Inlet by William Crozier is lot 17 at the online sale of Important Irish Art at James Adam this evening. It is estimated at 20,000-30,000. The catalogue lists 149 lots and offers work by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats and Camille Souter. The sale gets underway at 6 pm in Dublin.
This 1943 painting of Loughshinny Harbour, Co. Dublin by Patrick Leonard made a hammer price of €34,000 at Whyte’s Irish and International Art auction on May 31. It had been estimated at €12,000-€18,000 and was a new record for an oil by the artist (a pastel made €40,000 in 2006). The sale grossed just under €900,000 with 80% of the 160 lots sold. The top price was €160,000 for a Jack Yeats oil depicting a horse and jockey – Muldoon and Rattlesnake, €10,000 above the top estimate. Seán Keating’s Thinking Out Gobnet – including a portrait of Harry Clarke in the scene – made €58,000 while an ink drawn illustration by Harry Clarke sold for over twice its pre-sale estimate at €12,500.
David Bowie had a lifelong obsession with flying saucers. He claimed to have seen three from Hampstead Heath when he was a child. This artwork, which comes up at Whyte’s Irish and International art sale this evening, was originally created in New York in November 1974 during his Stateside Diamond Dogs Tour. The printed version and installation was first shown at the Biennale di Firenze Art Show in September 1996.
DAVID BOWIE (1947-2016) – SAUCER II, 1996 (2,000-3,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 3,200 AT HAMMER
Historical Irish advertising material assembled over 40 years by a private collector in the south east will come under the hammer at a two day sale by Sheppards in Durrow on June 10 and 11. They mark the changes over the years from 1880 to 1990 with everything from a c1890 Gouldings Manures Clock to a fez wearing turkey on a c1962 Aer Lingus ad encouraging people to send their turkey gift by air. Believe it or not Aer Lingus an annual week long airlift of Irish turkeys to London, Liverpool, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff and Bristol.There is a rare Art Deco poster from around 1925 for Craven A cigarettes designed by Jean d’Ylen (1886-1938), a French Impressionist and Modern artist. You could make it a Merry Christmas with Tayto or travel to Australia via The Cape. Another rarity is the Persses Galway Irish Whiskey from the Nun’s Island distillery which closed in 1908, An 1896 ad for an Albionette oil stove is by Dudley Hardy (1867-1922), the poster artist credited with pioneering the British commercial art style.
A Dudley Hardy designed ad from 1896. UPDATE: THIS MADE 240 AT HAMMER
Yellow Red (1994), an etching 18/30 by Sean Scully at Whyte’s. UPDATE: THIS MADE 7,000 AT HAMMER
Encompassing everything from genre paintings, still life, abstract art, landscapes and Saint Gobnait to an original copy of the Irish Proclamation and a large bronze plaque made for An Tostal in 1953 the art sales at Whyte’s on Monday and Adams next Wednesday are brimful of interest. Given that collectors have adjusted remarkably well to the online model it seems safe to predict that there will be no shortage of competitive bidding for the 160 works on offer at Whyte’s and the 149 at Adams. In a welcome move towards normality the easing of Covid restrictions allows viewing for these sales by appointment. Online or in person there is much to see and appreciate. Whyte’s kicks off online on May 31 at 6 pm. Sean Keating painted his friend Harry Clarke thinking about St. Gobnait on the Aran Islands while working on a commission for his series of eleven windows at the Honan Chapel in Cork. The acclaimed windows were installed in 1916. Gobnait is traditionally associated with Ballyvourney in Co. Cork and with the Aran Islands. The resultant oil painting by Keating – exhibited at the RHA in 1918 – is lot 45 at Whyte’s, with an estimate of €50,000-€70,000.Along with Yeats and Keating, Whyte’s has work by artists including Cedil Maguire, Nathaniel Hone, Walter Osborne, Charlotte MacCausland, Harry Kernoff, Patrick Leonard, William Leech, Mary Swanzy, Maurice MacGonigal, Dan O’Neill, Tony O’Malley, Louis le Brocquy, Sean Scully, Donald Teskey and many others. A bronze An Tostal commemorative plaque celebrating Irish life by the sculptor Gabriel Hayes (1909-1978) is estimated at €3,000-€4,000 and there are prints by Bob Dylan and David Bowie with estimates from €1,200 to €3,000.
Over the Estuary by John Shinnors at James Adam. UPDATE: THIS MADE 30,000 AT HAMMER
Original copies of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic are always much sought after. The one at Adams next Wednesday evening, signed by the printer Christopher Brady and obtained in Sackville St. on Easter Monday, 1916, has an estimate of €150,000. The sky and sea are made of blues, blacks and purples in William Croziers’ structural landscape The Inlet which Adams estimate at €20,000-€30,000. There is a more traditional approach in Cottages in Achill by Paul Henry (€140,000-€160,000) while the acclaimed Limerick artist John Shinnors took inspiration from the River Shannon for his magnificent and dynamic oil on canvas diptych Over the Estuary (€30,000-€50,000). Camille Souters’ Cycling to Chioggia, a little town south of Venice, is a memory painting from 1961 that was once in the collection of Sir Basil Goulding. It is estimated at €15,000-€25,000. Another memory jogger is an Elkington and Co. bronze of Oliver Goldsmith after John Henry Foley RA RHA (1818-1874). The estimate here is €3,000-€4,000. In a Dublin Waxworks by Jack B Yeats (€60,000-€100,000) once in the collection of the late Garech Browne at Luggala, recalls a popular attraction in the capital until it was burnt down during the 1916 Rising.
