antiquesandartireland.com

GIOVANNI ANTONIO CANAL, CALLED CANALETTO
Venice 1697 – 1768
LONDON, A VIEW OF THE OLD HORSE GUARDS AND BANQUETING HALL, WHITEHALL SEEN FROM ST. JAMES’ PARK

A view of London by Canaletto is a highlight at Sotheby’s sale of Important Old Master Paintings in New York next January 29. London, A View of the Old Horse Guards and Banqueting Hall, Whitehall seen from St. James’ Park  is estimated at $4-6 million. The picture is a rare record of the Old Horse Guards (seen from across St James’s Park) which was demolished just months after Canaletto painted it (the prospect of its imminent demolition is what prompted Canalleto to paint and record it for posterity.) The building was then replaced with the large Palladian style grade I listed building that we know today. In May of 1746, Canaletto transferred his studio to London in pursuit of fresh challenges following two decades of prolific Venetian vedute painting.

It is from a group of paintings assembled by noted collector J.E. Safra. The 17 works represent a wide range of styles and genres including the Dutch Golden Age and 18^th century Italian and French art.  Most of them have been off the market for at least 20 years.  They will go on exhibition in New York alongside Sotheby’s Old Master Week sales from January 24.

A Bronze Bacchic Figure Supporting The Globe by Adriaen de Vries

The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam was purchaser of the 1626 Bronze Bacchic Figure Supporting The Globe by Adriaen de Vries at Christie’s Exceptional Sale in New York last night. Purchased for $27,885,000 it was the top lot in the auction and set a world record for the artist and for any early European sculpture.

“Adriaen de Vries is the Dutch Michelangelo and his works are equally rare.Therefore it is absolutely great that we have been able to buy this fabulous sculpture for the Netherlands with the very generous support of many private donors and institutional funds.” said Wim Pijbes, General Director of the Rijksmuseum.

No other statue by de Vries has been in Dutch art collections until now. This bronze is considered to be one of his best works. It was rediscovered by chance in the courtyard of Schloss Sankt Martin (Austria) in 2010, where it had been since c. 1700. Most likely it was sold by the Dutch heirs of the sculptor after his death in 1626.  Support from the Rembrandt Association (and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfund), BankGiro Lottery, the Rijksmuseum Fund, the VSBfund, the Mondriaan Fund, a private donation and the Rijksmuseum International Circle, enabled the Rijksmuseum to acquire this important work of art.

Donald Johnston, Christie’s Head of European Sculpture, commented: The sale of Adriaen de Vries’s Bacchic Figure Supporting the Globe sets a new world record for any piece of early European Sculpture. This rediscovered bronze caught the imagination of a wide range of scholars, dealers and private collectors around the world, and we could not be more pleased that this masterpiece has ultimately found its way to the Rijksmuseum.  We now look forward to building on the success of the de Vries with our upcoming sale of the Abbott Guggenheim collection of European sculpture and early clocks to be held by Christie’s New York on 27 January, and our stand alone sculpture sale in Paris on 16 June.

Louis le Brocquy – Sick Tinker Child.

Louis le Brocquy’s Sick Tinker Child sold for £266,500 at Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish art in London today.  Le Brocquy’s Fantail Pigeons sold for £98,500 and his image of W.B. Yeats sold for £74,500. William Orpen’s Portrait of Vivien St. George made £134,500 and The Fishing Fleet, Co. Galway by Paul Henry sold for £98,500. The Silver Lake by Paul Henry sold for £27,500 and Girl at a Door by Gerard Dillon made £32,500. There’s Life in the Fire Yet by Jack Butler Yeats sold for £50,000.

The top lot of the sale was Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Venus Verticordia, his most sensuous and only nude painting, which sold for £2,882,500.  This was the highest price for a watercolour by Rossetti at auction.

(See posts on antiquesandartireland.com for November 10, November 15, October 9 and August 28, 2014).

A total of 148 works from the art collection of the ESB  will be sold at James Adam in Dublin on December 16.  Many of the works will be sold without reserve and estimates are reasonable. The sale is being held because of the reduction of buildings occupied by the ESB.  Proceeds will be used to continue the ESB’s archive and heritage activities.  The catalogue is online. Here is a small selection:

Nancy Wynne Jones (1922-2006) – The Edge of the Mountains (700-1,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 800 AT HAMMER.

Fergus O’Ryan (1911-1989) – March Day near Laragh, Co. Wicklow (1,000-2,000).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,400 AT HAMMER

Charles Tyrrell (b 1950) – Cross Flow (5,000-8,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,500

Liam Treacey (1934-2004) Misty Day, Recess, Connemara (600-800).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 300 AT HAMMER

John Skelton (1924-2009) – Autumn Sunlight, The Green, Dublin (1,500-2,500).UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,800

The Poohsticks drawing by E.H. Shepard made a world record price of £314,500.

There was a new world record price for a book illustration at Sotheby’s this evening when a Winnie-the-Pooh Poohsticks drawing by E.H. Shepard sold for £314,500.  The original ink drawing of Christopher Robin, Piglet and Pooh on the famous ‘Poohsticks’ bridge had been estimated at  £100,000-150,000. It made a new world record price for any book illustration at auction.

First published in A.A. Milne’s celebrated The House at Pooh Corner in 1928, and having formed the frontispiece for this (and many subsequent) editions, the drawing can be counted among the most famous book illustrations of the 20^th century. It had been in the same private collection since being acquired at Sotheby’s nearly 40 years ago.

The previous auction record for any book illustration was £289,250 set by Beatrix Potter’s “The rabbits’ Christmas party: The departure” at Sotheby’s in 2008. The previous auction record for any E.H. Shepard illustration was £139,250 set by “Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump” at Sotheby’s in 2012.

Sir John Lavery’s celebrated depiction of the 1919 Victory Parade through Admiralty Arch in London is one of two First World War paintings at Sotheby’s sale of British and Irish art in London on December 10.  Lavery’s depiction of the celebrations in London on July 19, 1919 to mark the ending of the Great War is estimated at £300,000-500,000.  A painting by Sir Alfred Munnings’  records the activities of Canadian soldiers in France. Lavery captures the jubilant mood of the march, while Munnings captures a more solitary moment, a single Canadian soldier with two saddled horses. A patrol in France is estimated at £150,000-250,000.

Sir John Lavery – Admiralty Arch, 19th July 1919  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Sir Alfred Munnings – A Patrol in France. UPDATE: THIS MADE £158,500

A strong selection Orientalist works by Italian Artists will feature at Christie’s sale of 19^th Century European and Orientalist Art in London on December 9.  There are  works by Austrian, German, French, Italian and Scandinavian artists including the Barbizon group and a selection of African Wildlife paintings. Highlights include Madame Helleu à son bureau  by French painter Paul-César Helleu (£200,000 – 300,000) and Interior with the artist’s wife by Danish artist Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (£50,000 – 70,000).

PROPERTY FROM THE FORBES COLLECTION
Carl Vilhelm Holsøe (Danish, 1863-1935)
Interior with the artist’s wife.  UPDATE: THIS MADE £56,250

Paul-César Helleu (French, 1859-1927)
Madame Helleu à son bureau  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

Paul Henry – Early Morning in Donegal.

Paul Henry’s Early Morning in Donegal was the top lot at the highly successful James Adam sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin last night. It sold for a hammer price of 160,000 over a top estimate of 100,000 in an auction that realised 1.3 million at hammer, and 1.6 million with fees..  No less than 86 per cent of lots sold. Sleep by Falling Water, a 1948 oil by Jack Butler Yeats made 155,000.  A tapestry by Louis le Brocquy, Adam and Eve in the Garden, sold for 77,000 at hammer and Walter Osborne’s Portrait of Mrs. Meade sold for 80,000.  Tinkers in the Spring, a watercolour by le Brocquy, made 11,000 over a top estimate of 7,000 in a sale where prices were strong and most lots found buyers. A Cubist Landscape by Mary Swanzy made 15,500, a still life by Norah McGuinness made 20,000, a West of Ireland scene by Paul Henry made 60,000, Sunday Morning, Bloody Foreland by James Humbert Craig made 10,000, Gathering Seaweed, Mayo Coast by Jack Yeats made 30,000, a portrait of May Leech by William John Leech sold for 16,000 and Six Musicians by John Brian Vellely made 20,000 over a top estimate of 8,000.

Jack Butler Yeats – Sleep by Falling Water.

A delighted James O’Halloran, Adams managing director, commented:  “Good art, interesting art that has not been seen before, did very well. There were good prices across the board, and notably for contemporary works by artists like John Boyd and Ciaran Lennon, a very positive sign”.