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This Chinese lacquered wedding cabinet kicks off Sheppards two day sale at Barrettstown House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare online on November 2 and 3. There will be viewing at Barrettstown this weekend. Lot 1 of 788 has a fall front inset with foliate and figural panels, above a signed elongated ornithological panel. It opens to a series of shelves and is furnished with heavy brass carrying handles. The estimate is 1,400-1,800.
Following an eighteen-month conservation and research project generously supported by Bank of America, Lavinia Fontana’s celebrated painting The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon was today unveiled at the National Gallery of Ireland. Part of the Gallery’s permanent collection, it is the largest surviving painting by one of the most renowned woman artists of the Renaissance. Funding for the conservation of this artwork was generously provided through a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project.
Lavinia Fontana was one of the most successful female painters in the history of Western art. The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon is widely recognised as Fontana’s most ambitious painting. On the occasion of the unveiling, the Gallery is delighted to also announce Lavinia Fontana: Trailblazer, Rule Breaker – a large-scale exhibition opening in the Gallery’s Beit Wing in May 2023. Exploring the artist’s extraordinary life through her paintings and drawings, it will be the first monographic exhibition of Fontana’s work in over two decades.
The conservation treatment of The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon addressed structural issues as well as aesthetic ones. Research into the artist’s materials and techniques revealed fascinating details about the painting and its production. Cracking and instability in the over 400-year-old structure has been arrested so that the painting can be safely displayed and enjoyed for generations to come. After the painstaking removal of layers of dull and yellow varnish, many previously obscured details were uncovered during the conservation treatment. This included an inscription, dated 1599, on the base of an ornamental clock held by one of the figures in the composition. Scientific analysis has identified the pigments Fontana used and given new insights into her workshop practice.
THIS oil on board by Rowland Hill of Dunfanaghy, Co. Donegal is lot 14 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s online sale of affordable art on November 1. It is estimated at 500-750. There is art by Simeon Stafford, Cecil Maguire, Louis le Brocquy, John Kingerlee, Jack Butler Yeats, Mainie Jellett, Michael Gemmell, Barrie Cooke, Norman McCaig, Mark Rode, Siobhan Bulfin, Padraic Reaney and many others. The catalogue for the auction of art and sculpture is online, and the sale is on view in Skibbereen.
This Victorian walnut inlaid credenza comes up at Hegarty’s October Homes and Interiors auction on October 30. The catalogue is online and offers more than 400 lots of antique furniture, silver, jewellery, art and collectibles. Among the is a Dublin Tunbridge wall clock, an antique Persian Kashan rug, a Burmese ruby ring and an Art Deco console table. The credenza is estimated at 3,500-5,500.
Viewing at Barrettstown House, Newbridge, Co. Kildare takes place on October 30 and 31 for Sheppards sale of 788 lots online on November 2 and 3. Government covid regulations will be strictly enforced for the viewing. Meantime the catalogue is online. Among the more unusual lots is a Chinese Qing Dynasty Imperial Court silk robe. Embroidered with nine gold dragons chasing the flaming pearl of wisdom and truth it is estimated at 3,000-5,000. UPDATE: The hand made Chinese carpet in the image above made a hammer price of 2,000 and the Imperial silk robe made 3,200 at hammer.
Renowned Irish and international figures including Dorothy Cross, Gottfried Helnwein and Eilis O’Connell are among 300 artists who have donated post card size artwork to raise critical funds for Lismore Cathedral, one of Ireland’s most historic buildings. A total of 900 cards go on sale anonymously on November 6 at Verso Art. With restoration funds in short supply, a local community group led by Julia Keane has been working on an intriguing way to help to keep the roof on St Carthage’s Cathedral which has been a place of learning and worship since 635AD.
The idea is simple – anyone can buy one of the 900 or so postcard sized artworks donated to the project, but you don’t know who the artist is until after you’ve bought it. As a bonus, every €50 spent will be matched by the Tomar Trust up to the sum of €30,000.
Art auctions cover an amazing range of subjects and Morgan O’Driscoll’s upcoming evening online sale of Irish and International Art on October 26 – now on view at the RDS – is no exception. Nowadays turf cutting is controversial, following an EU habitats directive making cutting illegal on numerous Irish bogs. This adds a certain poignancy to one of the major lots of the auction, Paul Henry’s Turf Cutting in Connemara. It depicts mounds of turf drying in a classical Connemara mountain and water landscape under changing skies. Once a familiar feature of the Irish landscape sights like this are no more. The painting, which had been in an Australian collection, is estimated at 1€20,000-€160,000.In complete contrast is Bridget Riley’s captivating Two Blues from 2003, a screenprint from an edition of 250 with an estimate of €2,500-€3,500. In a catalogue note the former Crawford Gallery curator Peter Murray comments on the stylish abstract areas of colour with no one colour dominant in this work by the distinguished British artist. Big name international artists don’t come cheap but no matter what the cost it is always a good idea only to buy art you really really love. Sean Scully’s Untitled No. 9, a composition of interlocking rectangles, dates to 1982 and is estimated at €60,000-€90,000. There is a similar estimate on Banksy’s Jack and Jill (Police Kids) from 2005.William Conor captures beautifully the joy of children balancing on a makeshift see saw in Shuggleshoo. Shuggle means to shake and this work was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1951. It is now estimated at €20,000-€30,000.A triptych by Francis Bacon, a 1989 recreation of a version first made in 1944, depicts strange hybrid creatures evoking aspects of humans and other animals. The lithograph, numbered nine from an edition of 60, is estimated at$ €20,000-€30,000. The same estimate is on a watercolour by Louis le Brocquy entitled Riverrun, Procession with Lillies.A portrait drawing of Captain Consadine by Sean Keating is estimated at €7,000-€10,000 and a drawing by Jack B Yeats entitled Romantic Shades comes with an estimate of €8,000-€12,000.The selection of sculpture includes Family Group by Edward Delaney, Autumn Birds by John Behan, Girl and her Shadow by F E McWilliam and High King of Munster by Orla de Bri. There is art by William Crozier, Damien Hirst, John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Sean McSweeney, Alex Katz, Basil Blackshaw, Frank McKelvey, Dan O’Neill, Roderic O’Conor and other highly collected artists. The catalogue is online and the sale gets underway at 6.30 pm next Tuesday (October 26).
The eleven Picasso masterworks from the MGM Resorts collection made a total of $108,873,350 at a Sotheby’s sale in Las Vegas last night which was livestreamed around the world. Femme au beret rouge orange which features Picasso’s lover and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter made $40,479,000 over a top estimate of $30 million. Homme et enfant made $24,393,000 and Nature Morte au panier de fruits et aux fleurs made $16,637,350. The Sotheby’s auction was held at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, where the works had been on display in the Picasso Restaurant for years. Picasso was born on October 25 exactly 140 years ago. MGM Resorts plans to diversity its collection to include more art from women, people of colour and emerging nations as well as from LGBTQ artists and artists with disabilities.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 11, 2021)
No prizes for guessing that the contents of Tullamaine Castle, home of the Tipperary Hunt, will contain much of equestrian interest when they are sold by Sean Eacrett at the Horse and Jockey Hotel on October 25. The castle, which has been sold, was a stud farm for the last 40 years where Bob Lanigan bred equine stars like Delilah, Bid Ajwad, Hot Tin Roof, Pollinator and the Minerva Rose.Highlights include a life sized sculpture of a pack of hounds by Robert Till, a walnut and marquetry longcase clock by Anthonij van Oostrom of Amsterdam, art by Peter Curling, an oil on canvas of the Bailey Lighthouse by Stephen Catterson Smith and a collection of signed prints by the 19th century British artist Lionel Edwards. Viewing is now underway at Tullamaine Castle and the catalogue is online.
There is art by Paul Henry, Sean Scully, Francis Bacon, Banksy, John Behan, Bridget Riley and many more Irish and international artists at Morgan O’Driscoll’s sale of Irish and International Art on October 26. Viewing for this evening auction gets underway at the RDS and continues right over the Bank Holiday weekend. The catalogue is online. Fog Latitude by Donald Teskey is estimated at 15,000-25,000.
