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    • AN IMPRESSIVE COLLECTION OF BOULLE FURNITURE AT CHRISTIE’S PARIS

    January 17th, 2017

    The sale of contents of the Palais Rose in Paris by Christie’s  on March 7 will give collectors and connoisseurs an opportunity to acquire Old Master paintings and drawings, fine furniture, porcelain and jewellery.  Christie’s will offer the collection of Boni de Castellane & Anna Gould, legendary figures of the late 19th and early 20thcenturies.  Boni de Castellane, a celebrated dandy of the Parisian scene, married Anna Gould, daughter of an American millionaire who made his fortune in railways, in 1895.  Their Palais Rose was completed in 1902 and hosted some of the most celebrated parties in Paris with guests including the Queen of Naples, Queen Isabel II of Spain, Kapurthala’s Mahardjah and the Kings of Spain and Portugal in 1905.  Anna Gould filed for divorce in 1906, mainly due to the exorbitant expenses he had generated. Diane de Castellane lived in this home surrounded by treasures, the majority of which she had inherited from her grandmother Anna Gould, and of which the impressive collection of Boulle furniture is the most significant of all. (All images courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2017).

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XIV BOULLE MARQUETRY OF ‘PREMIERE PARTIE’ CASKETS, ATTRIBUTED TO ANDRE-CHARLES BOULLE, EARLY 18TH CENTURY (200,000-300,000)  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 173,000

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI ‘CONTRE PARTIE’ BOULLE LATE 17TH CENTURY MARQUETRY MEUBLES A HAUTEUR D’APPUI STAMPED BY JEAN-LOUIS FAIZELOT-DELORME, CIRCA 1775 (1-1.5 million)  UPDATE: THESE WERE UNSOLD

    A PAIR OF LOUIS XVI BOULLE MARQUETRY ‘PREMIERE PARTIE’ MEUBLES A HAUTEUR D’APPUI STAMPED BY ADAM WEISWEILER AND ETIENNE LEVASSEUR, LAST QUARTER 18TH CENTURY (800,000-1.2 million)  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 818,500

    A PAIR OF 18TH CENTURY SEVRES PORCELAIN AND ORMOLU-MOUNTED “VASES EN BURETTES”(100,000-150,000) UPDATE: THESE MADE 140,500

    PAIRE DE “VASES OVOIDE” EN PORCELAINE TENDRE DE SEVRES DU XVIIIe SIECLE c1770 (80,000-120,000)  UPDATE: THESE MADE 206,500

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    A PAINTING FROM THE COLLECTION OF AN EXECUTED MONARCH

    January 16th, 2017

    Orazio Gentileschi
    HEAD OF A WOMAN

    Head of a Woman  by Orazio Gentileschi, which once hung outside the bedroom of King Charles I at Whitehall Palace in London, is a highlight Sotheby’s sale in New York on January 25.  It was sold off after his execution as his famous art collection was scattered across Europe and comes to auction now for the first time in 380 years.  In the interim the work, described as “Naked Woman” in the original inventory which detailed “the Picture of a woeman with her left breast naked her right breast covered with a part of her Smock”, has been altered.  The bottom of the canvas has been removed, possibly by a prudish owner. It dates from the early 1630’s and is one of two surviving works by the artist on panel.

    The impressive art collection of King Charles I was sold off by Parliament after his execution in 1649 to pay the late king’s debts. More than 1,300 paintings were consigned by Cromwell to Somerset House, where they were offered to the public. The sale has gone down in history both as a tragic loss of national art and for its odd detail, with a Titian painting famously given to a plumber to pay his bill.  Estimated at $2-3 million the proceeds of the sale will in part benefit the department of European Painting at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

    UPDATE: This sold for $1,812,500

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    A BELFAST SHIPYARD WORKER ON THE DAY THE TITANIC SANK

    January 16th, 2017

    William Conor RHA RUA ROI (1881-1968)
    Belfast Shipyard Worker on 15th April 1912  UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,200 AT HAMMER

    The significance of this image of a Belfast shipyard worker made by William Conor (1881-1968) is the date – April 15, 1912. The seated worker looks contemplative. It is easy to imagine from the image that he has just had a real shock.

    The significance of the date is that this was the day the Titanic sank in the early hours. The pose of the sitter suggests that the news had just broken at the Harland and Wolff  shipyard where she was built.

    The wax on crayon is both signed by William Conor and, unusually, dated. He did not normally date his work. Estimated at 1,500-2,500 it comes up at Morgan O’Driscoll’s first Irish art online auction of 2017 which runs to January 23.  It is one of 213 lots in total and the catalogue is online.

    These days the Titanic Centre in Belfast is one of the most visited attractions on the island of Ireland.

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    WHYTE’S PRESENT REPLICA OF HISTORIC PAINTING TO CORK CHURCH

    January 14th, 2017
    A replica of an historic painting of The Consecration of St. Mary’s, Pope’s Quay, has been presented by Dublin auctioneer’s Whyte’s to the Cork Dominican church and priory. The original was sold by Whyte’s in September 2015.  It was bought for the collection of Ireland’s Great Hunger  Museum at Quinnipiac University, Connecticut. They paid 19,000 on the hammer for the c1842 work estimated at 8,000-10,000.  St. Mary’s was the disappointed underbidder.
    “We felt very sorry that they didn’t get it” said Ian Whyte. “We got permission from the Famine Museum to create a full sized replica and this was finally completed and framed just before Christmas and we were delighted it arrived at St. Mary’s, where it can be appreciated by the people of Cork and visitors to the city”.
    The work had been presented to Kearns Deane, architect of St. Mary’s and had been passed down through the Deane family. At the time it was auctioned it had not been seen in public since being shown at the RHA in 1842. It depicts the ceremony in the newly built catholic church shortly after Catholic emancipation and includes the figure of Daniel O’Connell in the congregation.  The foundation stone of St. Mary’s was laid in 1832 and it opened in 1839. The Cork artist James Mahony is best known for his harrowing illustrations of the Irish famine for the Illustrated London News.  According to art historian Dr. Julian Campbell his illustrations were admired by, among others, Vincent van Gogh.
    St. Mary’s have placed the painting in the sanctuary and will install overhead lighting to ensure that it can be easily seen and appreciated by all visitors.

    THE CONSECRATION OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH OF ST. MARY’S, POPE’S QUAY, CORK, c.1842 by James Mahony RHA (c.1815-c.1859).

    The replica of the work being admired at St. Mary’s by Fr. Gerard Dunne, Prior and Mr. John O’Flynn

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    HIGHLIGHTS FROM UPCOMING LONDON ART SALES AT SOTHEBY’S, HONG KONG

    January 13th, 2017

    An exhibition of highlights from Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art, Surrealist Art and Contemporary Art evening sales in London on March 1 and 8 will run on Hong Kong for the next three days.  It will include paintings by some of the most sought-after artists from Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse to Gerhard Richter and Yves Klein, Wassily Kandinsky, Francis Picabia and a small model of Rodin’s Penseur from the collection of Lord and Lady Attenborough estimated at £800,000-1 million.  Here is a sample:

    YVES KLEIN – UNTITLED MONOGOLD (MG 47) (£700,000-900,000)

    MARC CHAGALL – GRAND COQ BLANC (£1-1.5 MILLION).

     

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    IRISH FURNITURE AT NEW YORK’S WINTER ANTIQUES SHOW

    January 12th, 2017

    An Irish mirror and an unusual full sized oak postbox  will feature on the Apter-Fredericks of London stand at New York’s Winter Antiques Show, which runs at the Park Avenue Armory from January 20-29.  The George III gilt wood pier mirror is, according to Apter-Fredericks, comparable to the work of Francis and John Booker. It exhibits many of the traits of Irish mirrors of this period, including naif rusticated columns, characteristic carving and the inclusion of an animal. The oak country house post box is of full height. Most were designed to sit on a table.  The golden colour oak is of fine quality and the condition is very good. The pieces have their original Strahan labels.

    A notable contingent of the 70 exhibitors at the leading art, antiques and design fair in America specialize in American fine and decorative arts. There is always a strong range of English, Continental, Asian and other non-Western art, ancient to modern. In keeping with the times, the Winter Antiques Show is gradually adding contemporary material to a mix that remains unapologetically historicist. “Exhibitors across all 32 disciplines want to engage new and younger buyers. Everybody is talking about cross-collecting. Our version of cross-presenting material is a natural extension, because many of our dealers have expanded into new areas in their galleries,” said executive director Catherine Sweeney Singer.

    The George III gilt wood Irish mirror

    The full size oak country house postbox.

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    A COLLECTION OF MORE THAN 1,000 HISTORIC AUTOGRAPHS IN SUSSEX

    January 10th, 2017

    A collection of more than a 1,000 signatures from historical figures from from Charles Dickens to the Duke of Wellington to the First Men on the Moon to Buffalo Bill and Harry Houdini will be offered by the Sussex auctioneers Campbells on January 24 in Worthing. Amassed by the late John Evans, who was passionate about politics and was one of the first Anti-Vivisection campaigners, the signatures are either framed or in albums.

    Auctioneer Paul Campbell said: “It’s been such a privilege to turn the pages of one man’s life and passion and to see and consider the history he brought together. The Dalai Lama is next to Spencer Perceval, the Prime Minister who was murdered inside the House of Commons in 1812.” Estimates range from £50 to £1,000, with the earliest signature dating from 1697 from the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Literary names include J.M Barrie; Rudyard Kipling; William Wordsworth; Arthur Conan Doyle and John Ruskin.  Most Prime Ministers from Robert Walpole to Winston Churchill through to Tony Blair are featured along with explorer Sir Edmund Hillary and Lord Hunt – who led the successful 1953 expedition to Mount Everest; photographs taken on the moon that were later signed by the first men on the moon including Neil Armstrong; Buzz Aldrin and Charlie Duke as well as artists including Pablo Picasso; Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Dame Laura Knight.

    A letter from Lady Hamilton

    A letter from the Duke of Wellington.

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    EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT OF FAILED FRENCH INVASION OF IRELAND AT WHYTE’S

    January 8th, 2017

    An eyewitness account of the failed French invasion at Bantry dated December 31, 1796 comes up at Whyte’s Eclectic Collector sale in Dublin on January 21.  A three page letter written by Colonel Thomas Balfour of the North Lowland Fencibles to his wife in Orkey reads:  “We have been marched here in consequence of an alarm spread by a French fleet appearing off Bantry Bay … one officer and four seamen … landed and have been made prisoners”.

    “Expedition d’Irlande” was a 15,000 strong invasion force gathered by the French Directory for landing in Ireland in December 1796. The fleet left France on December 15 and the operation was abandoned in Bantry on December 29.  The letter is estimated at 200-300.  The auction will include maps, historical manuscripts, medals, militaria, sports memorabilia, advertising, travel, coins and banknotes.

    UPDATE: THE EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT SOLD FOR 380 AT HAMMER.

     

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    SHOW OF WORKS BY CARAVAGGIO NOT SEEN IN IRELAND BEFORE

    January 7th, 2017
    Never before seen in Ireland works by Caravaggio will feature at an upcoming exhibition at the National Gallery in Dublin   Beyond Caravaggio, which runs from February 11 to May 14, will feature two works by the artist which have not been seen here before – Boy Bitten by a Lizard from the collection of the National Gallery in London and Boy Peeling Fruit from the Royal Collection in the UK.  The other works by the artist in the show are The Supper at Emmaus from the National Gallery in London and The Taking of Christ from the collection of Ireland’s National Gallery.
    With his dramatic use of light and uncompromising realism Caravaggio is acknowledged as bringing a revolution to painting during the Baroque period. This exhibition features over 40 works which show how he influenced other artists. These include Valentin de Boulogne’s Concert with Three Figures, Georges de La Tour’s Dice Players and Nicolas Regnier’s St. Sebastian being tended by St. Irene.  Many works in this show –  a collaboration between the National Galleries of Ireland, London and Scotland – are on loan from private collections and regional galleries.

    Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) – Boy Peeling Fruit.

    Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610) – Boy Bitten by a Lizard.

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    KILMAINHAM GAOL AUTOGRAPH BOOKS GO ON LINE

    January 4th, 2017

    A collection of autograph books owned by prisoners at the time of the Easter Rising is now available online.   The Kilmainham Gaol autograph collection contains over 12,000 names.  The  Office of Public Work says the website offers a fascinating insight into the lives of prisoners during the 1916-18 period. According to Niall Bergin of Kilmainham Gaol Museum the autograph books are the most requested items to view in the museum’s archive.

    The collection, which covers a variety of different prisons and places of incarceration, features poems, portraits, political statements and signatures. The museums collection contains 12,000 names of those who were incarcerated from 1916 to 1923. The website will be expanded in future to include additional autograph books.

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