William Blake – The Body of Abel Found by Adam and Eve. Tate, Bequeathed by W. Graham Robertson 1949. Photo: Tate.
William Blake: The Age of Romantic Fantasy opens today at The National Gallery of Ireland. The loan exhibition from Tate presents a selection of Blake’s most iconic works of art, alongside paintings and drawings by his contemporaries, and offers a rare opportunity in Ireland to encounter one of the most visionary figures in art and literature.
William Blake (1757-1827) is a singular force in the history of art. Poet, painter and printmaker, he created a visionary universe of mythic beings and prophetic scenes, exploring heaven and hell through a language entirely his own. In a world shaped by revolution and social upheaval Blake and his peers pushed art into bold new territories using the power of the creative imagination.
Wildly unconventional in terms of both technique and thought, Blake developed a distinctive visual language to explore opposing forces of creation and destruction, reason and imagination. His inventive works have resonated far beyond his own era. Blake’s influence continues to echo through contemporary culture, inspiring musicians such as U2, Bob Dylan and Patti Smith; filmmakers including Ridley Scott and Martin Scorsese; writers from J.G. Ballard to Allen Ginsberg; and designers such as Una Burke, whose work features in a special three-piece collaboration accompanying the exhibition in the Gallery’s gift shop. The show runs until July 19.
James Barry – Satan, Sin and Death, c.1792 – 1808 Tate, Purchased 1992. Photo: Tate.
James Barry – Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators. UPDATE: THIS MADE 1,500 AT HAMMER
Breaking new ground with old paintings is the mission at James Adam. The venerable Dublin firm is launching a new category of sale – Irish Old Masters – on November 5.
James Barry, Nathanial Hone, George Barret, William Brocas, Adam Buck and Nathanial Grogan are among the many artists who feature in this fascinating art auction of 84 lots.
We tend to not think of Irish artists when Old Masters are on the agenda. Strictly speaking the term is applied to trained artists who worked in Europe before or around 1800. The terminology in art history is loose and Adams has slipped in a few Victorians like Jeremiah Hodges Mulcahy, Michael Angelo Hayes, George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson and Robert Lowe Stopford though Erskine Nicol, who lived until 1904, is a bit of a stretch. Many of our artists – like Cork born James Barry appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy in 1782 – clearly fit any definition.
Cork Savings Bank (1842) by James Mahony (1810-1879) UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The sale sets out, according to a catalogue note by Stuart Cole of Adams, to reintroduce the exceptional and subtle mastery of Irish artists from previous centuries in an environment of their peers and contemporaries. The explosion of interest in art in Ireland during the last half century means that Irish art sales nowadays feature a far greater quantity of modern art than before. So Adams reckon the time is right for this new category of the artists – the backbone of early Irish art auctions – and to make it an annual sale.
No less than nine engravings by James Barry, with estimates ranging from €600-€2,000, grace the catalogue. Barry’s inscription on his 1793 engraving of Lord Baltimore and the Group of Legislators refers to the delusion of considering William Penn as the first coloniser to establish laws of religious and civil liberty. According to his inscription Cacilius Cavert, Baron of Baltimore and a catholic, originated them in his Colony of Maryland.
The River Lee at Inniscarra is listed in the Adams catalogue as by William Brocas (1794-1868), but a label on the back suggests that it is by John Butts. UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
The most expensive lots in the sale are a pair of portraits of Thomas Carter (Secretary of State for Ireland) and his wife Mary by Charles Jervas (c1675-1739) (€60,000-€80,000), a landscape by Thomas Roberts (1748-1777) (€40,000-€60,000), a River Landscape by George Barret (1732-1784) (€40,000-€60,000) and Travellers resting on a Country Road by Francis Wheatley (1747-1801) (€20,000-€30,000). An 1809 folio of James Malton’s Views of Dublin from 1791 is estimated at €8,000-€10,000.
An oval watercolour of Glanmire Church from the River Lee by Nathanial Grogan (€3,000-€5,000), a water colour of Cork Savings Bank by James Mahony (€3,000-€5,000), Sailing vessels in Cork Harbour by Matthew Kendrick (€6,000-€8,000) and The Fleet Getting Away from Cork by George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson (€15,000-€20,000) should create plenty of local interest in this evening auction. There is some confusion around an oil of the River Lee at Inniscarra which is by either William Brocas or John Butts (€4,000-€6,000),
With a fine selection of maritime views, portraits and topographical views of Ireland in the olden days and estimates from €400 up this sale is well worth a view.
Coloured engravings after Thomas Walmsley (1763-1806) published in 1806 – The White Abbey in Adare and The Roughty Bridge, Kenmare. UPDATE: THESE MADE 420 AT HAMMER.
Psyche or the Legend of Love by Mary Tighe. UPDATE: THIS SOLD FOR £7,012.50
This is James Barry’s inscribed copy of Mary Tighe’s Psyche of the Legend of Love. The author’s presentation copy of the 1805 private edition is inscribed for the painter James Barry. Irish romantic poet Mary Tighe (1772-1810) never lived to experience the esteem she enjoys today. She wrote one work only, Psyche or the Legend of Love, which was released in 1805 in a private edition of fifty copies for family and friends. This copy comes up at Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts sale in London on June 22 with an estimate of £4,000-6,000.
Matthew Haley, Bonhams Head of Books and Manuscripts, said: “Mary Tighe was a seminal figure in Irish and indeed British Romanticism. She had many influential admirers during her short life including Thomas Moore, Joseph Cooper Walker and the Ladies of Llangollen but chronic ill health restricted her output to Psyche or the Legend of Love. Earlier this year Bonhams sold a notebook manuscript of her poems, so it is a particular pleasure to be offering this sumptuously-bound copy of the printed work.”
James Barry (1741-1806) – Male Nude (£20,000-30,000) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016 UPDATE: THIS MADE £70,000 AT HAMMER A RECORD FOR A DRAWING BY THE ARTIST
A work by the Irish artist James Barry has turned up in the collection of Brian Sewell the renowned and controversial art critic, award-winning journalist and author. Christie’s sale devoted to Brian Sewell: Critic & Collector will take place in London on September 27. Brian Sewell (1931-2015) worked at Christie’s as an auction house picture expert for almost nine years, between 1958 and 1967, having graduated in Art History at the Courtauld Institute. Acquired over many decades, approximately 200 lots will be offered for sale from the collection, including important Old Master Paintings and Drawings and 19th and 20th century British Art. The works carry estimates ranging from under £1,000 to £600,000.
Born in Cork James Barry (1741-1806) studied painting under John Butts and early in his career was patronised by Edmund Burke. Noted as one of the earliest Romantic painters working in Britain he studied in Paris and Rome and influenced artists like William Blake. He is best remembered for his six part series of paintings on The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts, London.
Orlando Rock, Christie’s UK Chairman: “Brian Sewell was, undoubtedly, one of Christie’s most colourful and learned former colleagues. What always motivated him was his love of great art and its power to move and inspire, combined with his characteristic and acerbic wit.”
Noël Annesley, Honorary Chairman, Christie’s UK:“Brian was a young man of 27 when he joined Christie’s. As his assistant, I got to admire him and to like him enormously. He evolved from a rather shy, cerebral art historian turned auction house expert into one of the most famous and widely read British art critics of our time. Brian was a man whose opinions were sought not just on art but on a wide variety of topics, reflecting the exceptional range of his interests. He could be relied upon to provide witty and often devastating judgements. A wonderful instructor, serious but humorous too, he set a standard for us all.”
Brian Sewell’s much loved work by Matthias Stomer (circa 1600 – after 1652?) Blowing Hot, Blowing Cold (£400,000-600,000) CHRISTIE’S IMAGES LTD. 2016 UPDATE: THIS WAS UNSOLD
A double-sided painting by Duncan Grant (1885-1978) Still Life, Charleston (recto) and Reclining male Nude (verso) £20,000- 30,000 Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2016 UPDATE: THIS MADE £56,250
Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566) Dido reclining, asleep (£50,000-80,000) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd., 2916 UPDATE: THIS MADE £660,000
