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    • LUCIAN FREUD AT IRISH MUSEUM OF MODERN ART

    March 8th, 2016
    Reflection (Self Portrait), 1985 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922-2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Image

    Reflection (Self Portrait), 1985 (oil on canvas), Freud, Lucian (1922-2011) / Private Collection / © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Image

    A landmark Lucian Freud project for Ireland was announced today by the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA).   The gallery has secured a long term loan of 50 works by the world renowned artist, regarded as one of the greatest figurative painters of the 20th century.  IMMA director Sarah Glennie said: “From September 2016, the IMMA Collection: Freud Project will be presented in a new, dedicated Freud Centre in the IMMA Garden Galleries for five years. With this extraordinary resource IMMA will create a centre for Freud research with a special programme of exhibitions, education partnerships, symposia and research that will maximise this exciting opportunity on offer in Ireland.”

    The museum announced highlights of its 2016 exhibition programme today. It will include solo exhibitions by Patrick Hennessy and the Italian artist Carol Rama. Artists will take over the courtyard in the summer for a project entitled A Fair Land in collaboration with Grizedale Arts.  In the Autumn there will be an exhibition of artist Emily Jacir, whose work explores various histories of migration, resistance and exchange through the telling of very personal stories. In a new invited curators initiative Indian curator Sumesh Sharma and Irish curator Kate Strain will present projects at IMMA that reflect their individual practices and bring new curatorial perspectives into IMMA’s programme.

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    LEONARDO DA VINCI AT IRELAND’S NATIONAL GALLERY

    March 7th, 2016

    Ten drawings by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), on loan from the Royal Collection in Britain, will go on display at the National Gallery of Ireland from May 4 to July 17.  They have been selected to show the extraordinary scope of the artist’s interests, from painting and sculpture to engineering, zoology, botany, mapmaking and anatomy. His use of different media – pen and ink, red and black chalks, watercolour and metalpoint – is well represented.

    This is the only Irish venue for this touring exhibition organised by Royal Collection Trust and supported by Key Capital. The drawings are on show in Newcastle until April 24 and after Dublin they will tour to Nottingham and Swansea.  In May, the National Gallery will provide a public programme of free talks, tours and workshops themed around Leonardo da Vinci – Artist, Inventor, Renaissance Man. Online booking for free tickets will open mid-April through the Gallery’s website.

    Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) Expressions of fury in horses, lions and a man Pen and ink Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

    Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
    Expressions of fury in horses, lions and a man
    Pen and ink
    Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

    Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) A male nude c.1504-5 Red chalk Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

    Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519)
    A male nude c.1504-5
    Red chalk
    Royal Collection Trust / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2016

     

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    WOLFE TONE’S CARRARA CHIMNEYPIECE AT FONSIE MEALY AUCTION

    March 7th, 2016
    The fireplace from Wolfe Tone's house in Dublin inset with the grate from Elizabeth Bowen's home in Cork.

    The fireplace from Wolfe Tone’s house in Dublin inset with the grate from Elizabeth Bowen’s home in Cork.  UPDATE: The fireplace made 36,000.

    Wolfe Tone’s fireplace will come up at Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth spring fire art sale in Castlecomer on March 8.  The 18th century Carrara marble chimney piece was rescued from the front drawing room at the home of the Irish Revolutionary leader and founding member of the United Irishmen who died in 1798 at 44 Stafford St., Dublin (now Wolfe Tone St.) around 1960 by the present owner. It is estimated at 15,000-20,000.

    The grate in the image is from the bedroom of novelist and short story writer Elizabeth Bowen at Bowen’s Court in Co. Cork.  The iron framed grate made around 1760-70 is estimated at 1,000-1,500.  The catalogue for the auction of 765 lots is online.

    UPDATE: The fireplace was sold for 36,000

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for March 2, 2016).

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    ANTIQUE FURNITURE AND HISTORIC PAINTING AT WOODWARDS IN CORK

    March 7th, 2016

    An historic Atkinson, a Queen Anne bureau bookcase, a 10′ Regency sideboard, a three pillar dining table and a Victorian four poster bed will feature at Woodwards sale in Cork on March 12.  A rare pictorial record of the visit of Queen Victoria to Cork Harbour in 1849 is contained in George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson’s oil painting of the Royal Yacht Squadron bringing Queen Victoria to Cobh. It is estimated at 25,000-30,000.  As a result of the visit the Cove of Cork was renamed Queenstown, reverting to Cobh in the late 1920’s. The double domed Queen Anne bookcase has an estimate of 5,000-8,00, the pillared dining table, which extends to 16″, is estimated at 6,000-10,000, the four poster at 2,000-3,000 and the sideboard at 4,000-6,000.

    There is an estimate of 3,000-4,000 on a pair of Coalbrookedale garden seats and a Georgian long case clock with parquetry inlay by John Hallifax (1694-1750), Barnsley  is estimated at 2,000-3,000. The catalogue is online. (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 18, 2016).

    A Regency sideboard (4,000-6,000).

    A Regency sideboard (4,000-6,000).  UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD

    A Queen Anne double domed bureau bookcase (5,000-8,000).

    A Queen Anne double domed bureau bookcase (5,000-8,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 4,100 AT HAMMER

    A Victorian four poster bed (2,000-3,000).

    A Victorian four poster bed (2,000-3,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,000 AT HAMMER

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    BUSTS OF CICERO AND HORACE REUNITED AT TEFAF

    March 6th, 2016

    A pair of polychrome marble portrait busts of Cicero, civic hero of the Roman Republic, and Horace, the famed poet have been reunited by Tomasso Brothers Fine Art for TEFAF, which runs at Maastricht from March 1120.  Carved in the same 17th century Roman workshop, theyhave an illustrious provenance.  Originally part of the Valletta collection in Naples, they were acquired around 1721 by Thomas Herbert, the 8th Earl of Pembroke (1654–1733) for Wilton House, near Salisbury, one of England’s finest stately houses. They were displayed at the heart of one of the finest private art collections ever assembled in Europe for more than two centuries.  They flanked the main chimneypiece in the Earl’s ‘sanctum sanctorum’ of the Great ‘Double Cube’ Room designed by Inigo Jones, amongst family portraits by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, and works formerly in the esteemed collections of Cardinals Mazarin and Richelieu, King Charles I of England and Thomas Howard, the 14th Earl of Arundel.

    Pembroke’s influence on the tastes and collecting trends of the aristocratic English in the early eighteenth century were considerable.  When he embarked on his Grand Tour in 1676 and set about building a collection in the 1680s, he was all but alone.  Yet the fame of the galleries at Wilton House spread amongst the aristocracy, and by the time of his death in 1733, many of England’s great country houses were beginning to be decorated with antiquities, renaissance and baroque sculpture.  It is through the expertise of Tomasso Brothers Fine Art that the two works have been reunited since their dispersal from Wilton House. Cicero came into the gallery’s collection a short while after the directors had become aware of Horace. They knew instinctively that they were both great 17th century busts, and that the particular specimen of imperial porphyry used for the Horace was a wonderful quality. Whilst recognising the physical similarities of the two works, it was finding an old photograph of the Double Cube Room at Wilton House that set off months of study to discover the full history of the busts.

    Cicero

    Cicero

    Horace

    Horace

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    ONLY KNOWN PAIR OF KINSALE SILVER TREFID SPOONS

    March 5th, 2016
    A pair of Kinsale silver trefid spoons.

    A pair of Kinsale silver trefid spoons.

    The only known pair of Kinsale trefid spoons will feature at Weldon’s stand at the National Antiques and Vintage Fair at the South Court Hotel in Limerick on March 19 and 20. By Joseph and William Wall they were made c1695-1705 and are real rarities.  Trefid spoons are flat handled with a stem that widens at the top with two notches that form a shape with three lobes.  Irish provincial silver is much rarer than Dublin silver. Antique Kinsale silver pieces are prized by collectors.  Weldons say it is likely that they were owned by the Daunt family of Tracton Abbey near Kinsale.

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    IRISH HISTORICAL MEMORABILIA AT WHYTE’S

    March 4th, 2016

    Irish historical memorabilia from 1000 BC to 2000 AD with an array of artefacts relating to the 1916 Rising is included in Whyte’s history and literature auction in Dublin on March 13.  The catalogue, which is online, lists over 500 lots including more than 100 relating to The Rising, the centenary of which is to be celebrated next month.  Estimates range from 100 t0 250,000, which is the top estimate for a rare original copy of the Proclamation.  Here is a small selection:

    A 1916-1921 period Irish flag (1,500-2,000).

    A 1916-1921 period Irish flag (1,500-2,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 2,000

    The Proclamation (150,000250,000)

    The Proclamation (150,000250,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 185,000 AT HAMMER

    At the Rising of the Moon and waiting for the French (120-180)

    At the Rising of the Moon and waiting for the French (120-180)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 220 AT HAMMER

    A rare facsimile replica of The Book of Kells (4,000-6,000).

    A rare facsimile replica of The Book of Kells (4,000-6,000).  UPDATE: THIS MADE 6,600 AT HAMMER

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    TEFAF IS RENOWNED FOR THE QUALITY OF ITS VETTING

    March 3rd, 2016

    The European Fine Art Fair (TEFAF) at Maastricht is renowned for many things.  Not least of these is the quality of its vetting procedures.  The organisers work very hard to ensure that what wealthy collectors and curators acquire here is exactly what it purports to be.  This year TEFAF runs its 29th edition from March 11 to March 20 at Maastricht Exhibition and Congress Centre.  Here is a video about the vetting that will take place before the fair.

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    BIDDERS BATTLE FOR PERSONAL POSSESSIONS OF DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE

    March 2nd, 2016
    Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens at Chatsworth, 1995 wearing a Balmain ball gown and pearls. Copyright Bruce Weber

    Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire feeding her chickens at Chatsworth, 1995 wearing a Balmain ball gown and pearls. Copyright Bruce Weber

    Hundreds of collectors battled at Sotheby’s in London today for the sale of personal possessions of Deborah, Duchess of Devonshire. The auction brought £1.8 million, three times the pre-sale estimate of £500,000-700,000.   The top lot was a Japanese  lacquer and ivory mounted guardian figure Meiji Period which sold for £62,500. The same price was paid for a c1880 diamond and ruby brooch designed as a butterfly. The first edition of Brideshead Revisited given to her  by Evelyn Waugh sold for a record £52,500, two pine and plywood travelling poultry boxes used by the chatelaine of Chatsworth to take her hens to country shows made £10,625, her personal keyring made £2,000, Nancy Mitford’s painting of their childhood home made £15,000 and the Duchess’s Elvis Presley memorabilia collection made £4,375.  Her friends included President Kennedy, Winston Churchill, Lucian Freud, Evelyn Waugh, Alan Bennett, members of The Royal Family, Hubert de Givenchy, Oscar de la Renta and Cecil Beaton. The 450 lots largely came from The Old Vicarage, the 18th-century house on the Chatsworth Estate where the Duchess spent the last ten years of her life.

    (See post on antiquesandartireland.com for January 22, 2016).

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    SPRING FINE ART SALE AT FONSIE MEALY

    March 2nd, 2016

    With a range that extends from a magnificent pair of George II Irish silver candlesticks to a pine rocking horse Fonsie Mealy’s Chatsworth spring fine art sale in Castlecomer, Co. Kilkenny on March 8 promises to be brimful of interest.  The catalogue, which is online, features 765 lots,  everything from a diamond set brooch in a Greek key pattern to an almost matching pair of red boulle card tables.  There are Russian icons, sporting guns, wines and ports, sculpture and art including some 18th century Irish School MacNamara portraits from Baunkyle House, Corofin, Co. Clare and a good choice of antique furniture.  Here is a small selection:

    A pair of finely cast George II Irish silver candlesticks (5,000-7,000).

    A pair of finely cast George II Irish silver candlesticks (5,000-7,000).  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 9,000 AT HAMMER.

    A Georgian brass bound door lock (700-1,000)

    A Georgian brass bound door lock (700-1,000)  UPDATE: THIS MADE 600 AT HAMMER

    An 18 carat diamond set brooch (500-700).

    An 18 carat diamond set brooch (500-700).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 700 AT HAMMER.

    A pine rocking horse of small proportion (750-1,250).

    A pine rocking horse of small proportion (750-1,250).  UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR 1,050

    An almost matching pair of Boulle card tables (1,000-1,500).

    An almost matching pair of Boulle card tables (1,000-1,500).  UPDATE: THESE SOLD FOR 1,550 AT HAMMER.

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