This 1904 portrait of James Hugh Smith-Barry by Sir William Orpen comes up as lot 123 at Fonsie Mealy’s sale of Irish and international art on March 23. Closely associated with Barryscourt Castle and the Fota estate in Cork the Barry family were prominent from Anglo-Norman times. With the death in 1823 of the 8th Earl of Barrymore the title became extinct. It was revived in 1902 when Arthur Hugh Smith-Barry was created Baron Barrymore. He commissioned Orpen to paint a posthumous portrait of his father to be hung at Fota with the Barry ancestors. It was based on a pastel sketch made in 1854 by James Rannie Swinton. The estimate is €20,000-€30,000. UPDATE: THIS MADE 19,000 AT HAMMER
