WILLIAM SCOTT, R.A. (1913-1989) – Orange Still Life with Figure
William Scott’s Orange Still Life with Figure dates to 1956/7 and comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish Art evening sale in London on March 18. The oil on canvas is from an American collection and estimated at £50,000-£350,000. The auction is led by Frank Auerbach’s Christmas Tree at Mornington Crescent (2004–05) described as a triumphant celebration of paint’s power to capture a landscape rich in memory. The estimate is £1.5 million – £2 million. There are 26 lots in the sale.
This George II demi lune tea table is at Woodwards in Cork on March 7 with an estimate of just €300-500. A vintage New York side cabinet, an ornate Louis XV style console mirror and table and an Edwardian doll’s house are among the feature items at an auction which offers a selection of furniture along with Waterford Crystal, paintings and rugs. The catalogue is online. UPDATE: THIS MADE 380 AT HAMMER
For the third consecutive year and driven by critically successful exhibitions the National Gallery of Ireland welcomed over one million visitors in 2025. Shows like Turner’s Watercolours: Scotland’s Vaughan Bequest; Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone, The Art of Friendship and Picasso, From the Studio were a major factor. The exciting 2026 programme is highlighted by the first exhibition in Ireland of Swedish modernist Hilma af Klint (1862-1944), a celebration of William Blake and his contemporaries, an exhibition marking the 400th anniversary of Jan Steen, a celebration of European prints and drawings from Rembrandt to Matisse and an exploration of the photography of John Minihan. Pictured here is Harry Clarke’s Faust dating to 1924-25, one of a number of key acquisitions made by the gallery last year.
Le Loing at Sundown by Roderic O’Conor. UPDATE: THIS MADE €245,000 AT HAMMER
From Roderic O’Conor to David Hockney and Paul Henry to Ciaran Clear the Irish and International art sale at Whyte’s on March 9 offers many exciting opportunities for collectors.
The museum quality Le Loing at Sundown by O’Conor leads an auction of 129 lots with a combined estimate of in excess of one million euro. Painted around 1902 it is the catalogue cover lot and carries an estimate of €150,000-€200,000.
O’Conor revisited Montigny, a small town on the edge of the forest of Fontainebleau in the autumn of 1902 where he captured the mysterious half light with the sun setting low on the horizon. The art historian Jonathan Benington recounts how the works executed at this time were; “characterised by a highly painterly handling of the oil medium, from translucent stains to textured scumblings and thick calligraphic strokes”. This approach, radical at that time, can be traced back to O’Conor’s friendship with Gauguin and allegiances with Van Gogh in the early 1890’s.
Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book by David Hockney. UPDATE: THIS MADE €38,000 AT HAMMER
David Hockney’s Pool Made with Paper and Blue Ink for Book was similarly radical when it was made in 1980. It reflects his long-standing fascination with pools, light and the California lifestyle, transforming an everyday subject into a vivid study of colour, surface and perception. The artist uses simplified lines and fluid forms to evoke the movement and shimmer of water. This signed lithograph from an edition of 1,000 is a highly sought after example from his inspirational swimming pools paintings and is estimated at €25,000-€35,000.
A holiday in Kerry brought inspiration back to Paul Henry. By the early 1930’s, after a fraught and financially troubled time in his life during which he had separated from his wife, the celebrated artist had settled into a new life in Enniskerry, Co. Wicklow with his partner Mabel Young RHA, later his second wife. By September 1934 he was legally separated and his thirst for inspiration had returned following a holiday in Co. Kerry. This renewed passion for his surroundings is evident in the lightened palette of his Landscape, Connemara (1932-35) which comes up as lot 17 with an estimate of €120,000-€150,000.
A completely different take on a similar subject is evident in Ciaran Clear’s Moonrise, Connemara Shore (€4,000-€6,000) with its silvery sea, figures on a beach looking out to sea, dark sails and shadowy rocks.
A bust of James Barry by Joseph Panzetta UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A coade stone bust of the Cork born artist James Barry (1741-1806) by Joseph Panzetta dates to 1818 and is probably based on an engraving by Picart in Fryer’s two volume catalogue of Barry’s work in 1809. It is one of four busts, others being held by the Crawford in Cork and by St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. The estimate is €5,000-€7,000. Three Roses by Patrick Hennessy, complete with a Guildhall Galleries, Chicago label, is similarly estimated.
The artist L S Lowry was proud of his Irish roots and The Cart from 1959 is a possible memory of a jaunting car during one of his visits to Ireland. Other international artists in the sale are Mr. Brainwash, Sir Frank Bowling, Maurice Poirson and Josef Herman.
A rare 1921 artist’s proof set of two lithographs by Sir John Lavery of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith, each signed by both artist and sitter, is estimated at €8,000-€10,000. They were gifted to the previous owner by Arthur Griffith.
The Shuggleshoo by William Conor (€18,000-€22,000) was exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1951. Child Playing with Dice by Dan O’Neill (€12,000-€18,000) was acquired from the George Waddington Galleries in Montreal. This gallery held solo exhibitions of O’Neill in 1959, 1960, 1962, 1963 and 1965. The sale features a selection of watercolours by Percy French and art by Walter Osborne, Evie Hone, Maurice MacGonigal, Tony O’Malley, Mainie Jellett, Jack Yeats, Rowan Gillespie, Siobhan Bulfin, Kenneth Webb, Arthur Maderson and Elizabeth Cope. Viewing gets underway at Whyte’s next Monday and the catalogue is online.
Moonrise, Connemara Shore by Ciaran Clear. UPDATE: THIS WAS WITHDRAWN
A c1820 Cork Regency extending dining table at Mullen’s of Laurel Park. UPDATE: THIS MADE €4,500 AT HAMMER
THIS fine c1820 Cork Regency extending dining table with reeded rim on spiral twist legs is among the feature lots at the monthly sale by Mullen’s of Laurel Park, Bray on March 1. The estimate is €4,500-€6,500. Antique furniture, silver, art, chandeliers, porcelain, rugs and vintage pieces feature in this timed online auction which gets underway at 6 pm. Furniture lots include a 19th century camphor wood trunk, an Art Deco campaign style drinks cabinet, an Art Deco cherrywood and brass bar, a pair of 19th century giltwood mirrors and a double scroll end window seat. The auction is on view today and tomorrow and the catalogue is online.
Valerie Allen will bring these retro vases to the Cork Antique Fair.
There will be art, equestrian art, porcelain, small antique furniture pieces, vintage fashion and a variety of collectibles at the Cork Antique Fair on March 1.
Dealer Liam Deasy will mark his first fair with a selection of 17th and 18th century Oriental antiques, Eddie Moylan will bring a selection of gold jewellery and the Purple Onion Gallery will offer a selection of art from their Roscommon base. Valerie Allen will offer a selection of appetising small pieces including Clarice Cliff and Country Mile Antiques will offer a selection of vintage and antique furniture, paintings, lighting and collectibles.
The Corrin Events Centre, Fermoy, with easy motorway access and ample parking, has been the location for this fair since April 2025 and it has proved to be a success with fairgoers from far and wide. The fair gets underway at 11 am.
A selection of gold jewellery at Eddie Moylan’s stand
A Jack B Yeats studio collection which includes a drawing in colours and a sketch, paintbrushes, opened and unopened Winsor and Newton paints, pencils, chalk, palettes, monogrammed blank sketchbooks, and a vintage studio ephemera comes up at Gormley’s auction in Dublin on March 10. The collection is expected to make in excess of €50,000. After his death in 1957 the contents of his Fitzwilliam Square home in Dublin were inherited by his niece Anne Yeats, daughter of the poet W B Yeats. Of particular note are a Cornish Wafers tin serving as a paint box with the initials JB and Paint Tubes handwritten on both the lid and box exterior, and an original paintbox with extendible tripod legs which serves as a wall mounted easel. A portrait of Yeats by Liam O’Neill also features in a collection to be auctioned as part of an Irish and international art auction by Gormleys
An Important Ensemble of Fifteen Mirrors by Claude Lalanne, from the Salon de Musique of Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s Apartment, Paris 1974-1985 ($10-15 million)
A landmark collection of design and modern and contemporary art anchored next April by the most valuable design sale in Sotheby’s history is due in New York in April and May. The selection from the Collection of Jean & Terry de Gunzburg, offering around 135 works with a combined estimate of $67–99 million will be led by Design Masters on April 22 estimated in the region of $30–44 million.
The collection brings together iconic works by Claude and François-Xavier Lalanne, Jean Royère, Alberto Giacometti, Jean-Michel Frank, Alexandre Noll, André Groult, Eugène Printz, Paul Dupré-Lafon, Pierre Chareau, Marc du Plantier, Jean Dunand, Émile-Jacques Ruhlmann, Armand-Albert Rateau and others. Artworks by Mark Rothko, Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, and Paul Klee introduce parallel investigations into abstraction and the expressive potential of line and color.
This collection reflects the vision of two titans of their respective fields. Terry de Gunzburg is widely regarded as one of the most influential creative figures in modern beauty, having spent fifteen years at Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, including a number of years as Creative Director, where she translated the couturier’s artistic vision into groundbreaking cosmetics and created the iconic Touche Éclat concealer—one of the most enduring innovations in the industry. After working in close collaboration with leading photographers including Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin, shaping the visual language of fashion imagery, she went on to found her own brand, By Terry, in 1998.
Jean de Gunzburg, a molecular and cell biologist of international distinction, pursued a career at the forefront of scientific research, trained at the Pasteur and Whitehead Institutes, then holding a senior role at INSERM and the Institut Curie, where his work advanced understanding in molecular biology and oncology, before applying his expertise to the biotechnology sector.
A view of the New York apartment with art by Rothko and a bust by Picasso. Photograph by Annie Schlecter
Markey Robinson (1918-1999) – Sailing on a Sunny Afternoon. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,400 AT HAMMER
This unusually colourful work by Markey Robinson is lot 44 at Morgan O’Driscoll’s off the wall art auction which runs online until March 2. The gouache on wallpaper is estimated at €1,500-€2,500. It is a big sale with 465 lots in total. There is art by Graham Knuttel, William Crozier, Majella O’Neill Collins, Sean Scully, Jack Butler Yeats, John Morris, Elizabeth Brophy, Annemarie Bourke, Liam Treacy, Mildred Anne Butler, Brian Ballard, Louis le Brocquy, Michael Hales, William Conor and many more artists. The catalogue is online.
Oscar Wilde – Two autograph manuscripts, a working draft and a fair copy of the sonnet titled “The Grave of Shelley”, [c.1881] sold for £60,090
A collection of Oscar Wilde memorabilia resulted in a white glove sale at Bonhams in London this month. The 156 lot auction of the collection of Jeremy Mason, who has been collecting Wilde memorabilia for 60 years, made £1.68 million and was 100% sold. The top lot was the last photograph of Wilde, taken on his death bed on November 30, 1900. It made £279,800 over a top estimate of £5,000.
