Rare portrait lithographs of Michael Collins and Arthur Griffith signed both by the sitters and artist Sir John Lavery feature at Whyte’s timed online Eclectic Collector sale which runs from April 7-18. Lavery painted portraits of Griffith and Collins in 1921 whilst they were in London negotiating the terms of the Irish Treaty. Within months of their portraits being painted, both men were dead – Griffith of a heart attack, Collins assasinated. The lithographs are based on the oil portraits now in the collection of the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art, Dublin and estimated at €8,000-12,000.
Jack Butler Yeats – A Storm / Gaillshíon (1936) Courtesy Christie’s Images Ltd. UPDATE: THIS MADE £165,100
At auction for the first time this painting by Yeats will lead Christie’s day sale of Modern British and Irish art in London on March 19. A Storm/Gaillshíon depicts a young man seated on a bench at the side of a sandy pathway overlooking the sea. According to the artist, this scene refers to no particular, identifiable place, but rather is intended to be indicative of a typical Irish coastal scene, a familiar landscape visible throughout the island. The secondary title of the work, the Irish word Gaillshíon, conjures a rich impression of the atmospheric conditions of the day, suggesting the coastline is being buffeted by rough, blustery weather. The estimate is £100,000-£150,000.
Irish art in the sale includes work by Yeats, Henry and Roderic O’Conor. Also at auction for the first time is Lavery’s After Breakfast, Tangier, which features in the evening sale on March 18. The estimate is £180,000-£250,000.
Paul Henry – Digging Potatoes, Achill Island, Co. Mayo, 1916-19(£85,000-£120,000). UPDATE: THIS MADE £107,950
Roderic O’Connor – Paysage, Pont Aven, 1892. UPDATE: THIS MADE £378,000
Paysage, Pont Aven, an important and vibrant example of Roderic O’Conor’s stripe pictures, comes up at Christie’s Modern British and Irish art evening sale in London on March 19. It was exhibited in Paris at the 1892 Salon des Indépendents demonstrating its avant-garde approach and technique. The stripe pictures are generally accepted as the artist’s most desirable period. The estimate is £200,000-£300,000.
The auction features an interior by Sir John Lavery, The Hall, Argyll House, A summer’s day (1925). Argyll House on the King’s Road was home to Sybil Colefax and her husband Arthur in 1925. Known for her exceptional taste, she founded her business in the 1930’s and in 1938 was joined by John Fowler. Her business became known as Colefax & Fowler. The estimate is £100,000-£150,000.
Sir John Lavery – The Hall, Argyll House – A Summer Day, 1925. UPDATE: THIS MADE £157,500.
Study for The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921 by Sir John Lavery (1856-1941).
This historical study by Sir John Lavery sold for £43,750 (€52,562) at Bellmans in Britain today and was bought by the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. Estimated at £20,000 – £30,000, the work generated competition from both online and telephone bidders before the hammer came down at £35,000 (£43,750 including premium). The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin hosted the 2021 centenary exhibition, Studio & State: The Laverys and the Anglo-Irish Treaty, and were delighted to add to their collection of works by Lavery.
On Friday, 16 December 1921 the Irish Treaty passed from the Commons to the House of Lords for ratification. It was the moment the British Empire changed – it had been expanding rapidly since the 1870s, but went into steep decline, and led to civil war in Ireland and ultimately the emergence of a ‘Free State’.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for August 25, 2024)
SIR JOHN LAVERY – THE TURQUOISE SEA, MIMIZAN, 1917. UPDATE: THIS MADE 58,000 AT HAMMER
Early viewing gets underway at Whyte’s on Molesworth St., Dublin today for a sale of Irish and International art on December 2. There is art by Yeats, Paul Henry, Louis le Brocquy, Roderic O’Conor, Tony O’Malley, William Crozier and many more artists. Pictured here is The Turquoise Sea, Mimizan, a 1917 work by Sir John Lavery which is estimated at €60,000-80,000. He painted it while staying at the Duke of Westminster’s shooting lodge at the Landes. At that time he had been unable to paint seascapes since 1914 due to World War I.
Sir John Lavery – The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921
A re-discovered study by Sir John Lavery of The Ratification of the Irish Treaty in the House of Lords, December 1921 will come up at auction in England in November. The Treaty passed for ratification from the Commons to the Lords on December 16, 1921. It was a moment when the British Empire changed from the rapid expansion from the 1870’s to steep decline in the 20th century.
By then in his ’60’s Lavery, who had been knighted for his services as an official war artist, sought assistance from Sir Patrick Ford and Lord Birkenhead to paint while the house was in session. Armed with these sketches he began work immediately on the large version now in the Glasgow Museums. Lavery frequently gifted his preparatory sketches and gave this one to sculptor George Henry Paulin in gratitude for his portrait of Lavery, a cast of which is in the Glasgow Museums. The study has remained with the family and it will lead Bellmans auction of Modern British and 20th century art on November 21 with an estimate of £20,000-£30,000 (€23,460-€35,190).
It could make more. At Dreweatts in the UK earlier this year a Lavery study for The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement sold for £155,200 with fees (€182,050) over a top estimate of £25,000 (€29,330) after a long bidding battle.
Lavery’s view on Irish independence was clear. In 1910 he wrote to his friend and pupil Sir Winston Churchill, then Minister for the Colonies, that he believed Ireland: “will never be ruled by Westminster, the Vatican or Ulster without continuous bloodshed … and leaving Irishmen to settle their own affairs is the only solution”.
This study by Sir John Lavery of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement sold for £155,200 with fees (€182,050)
The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement, a Study, by Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) sold for £155,200 against an estimate of £15,000-£25,000
A bidding battle between a telephone bidder and an online bidder saw an origin an original unseen study by Sir John Lavery of The Trial and Roger Casement sell for a hammer price of £124,000 (£155,200 with fees) at Dreweatts Modern and Contemporary art sale at Newbury in Berkshire. The final price was over ten times the original low estimate. The high-profile case against Roger Casement for treason took place in 1916 in the High Court in London and was witnessed by Lavery. The full-scale painted version of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement was proposed by the presiding judge, Sir Charles Darling 1st Baron Darling, PC (1849-1936). Having commissioned the artist to paint other portraits of his family and having seen the artist’s other publicly exhibited works, he invited him to capture the court proceedings. The finished final painting of the work was produced in Lavery’s studio and completed in 1931. It remained there until the artist’s death in 1941, when he left it to the nation. It hung firstly in the Royal Courts of Justice and in 1950 at the request of Sergeant Sullivan, who had been part of Casement’s defence team, it was lent to King’s Inn, Dublin.
Lavery’s portrait of Lieutenant John Clive Darling, 20th Hussars (1887-1933), son of the Honourable Mr Justice Charles John, 1st Baron Darling sold for £8,190 against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000. A portrait of Mary Caroline Darling, mother of Major John Clive Darling, made £5,040 against an estimate of £3,000-£5,000. A Grey Day by Lavery made £32,700 against an estimate of £10,000-£15,000 and a study by Laver for a full length portrait of Minnie Plowden and her son Humphrey, painted in c. 1897 made £8,190 against an estimate of £7,000-£10,000.
(See post on antiquesandartireland.com for February 14, 2024)
Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) – The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement, a Study. UPDATE: THIS MADE 124,000 AT HAMMER
A never been seen publicly before on-the-spot sketch by Sir John Lavery of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement in 1916 comes up at Dreweatts Modern and Contemporary art sale in March 13 with an estimate of £15,000-£25,000. It is a study for Lavery’s grand painting of The Court of Criminal Appeal London, 1916 (Government Art Collection), which is an encapsulation of the high drama surrounding the controversial trial of Roger Casement CMG (1864-1916), hung for his participation in the Irish Nationalist revolt in Dublin in 1916. Casement was an Irish-born high-profile diplomat, working for the British Foreign Office, who became well-known for his humanitarian interests (he was nicknamed the ‘father of twentieth-century human rights investigations’.
There was huge interest in the case, with many high-profile individuals petitioning to save him from the death penalty. It was partly the discovery of what was known as ‘the black diaries’, detailing Casement’s participation in homosexual activities, that are said to have swayed public opinion. It has never been confirmed if the diaries were fabricated by the British government to diffuse the campaign for a reprieve, or whether they were in fact genuine, but they were circulated widely. As homosexuality was against the law at the time these diary entries had an inevitable effect on public opinion.
The full-scale painted version of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement was proposed by the presiding judge, Sir Charles Darling 1st Baron Darling, PC (1849-1936). Having commissioned the artist to paint other portraits of his family and having seen the artist’s other publicly exhibited works, he invited him to capture the court proceedings. The finished final painting of the work was produced in Lavery’s studio and completed in 1931. It remained there until the artist’s death in 1941, when he left it to the nation. It hung firstly in the Royal Courts of Justice and in 1950 at the request of Sergeant Sullivan, who had been part of Casement’s defence team, it was lent to King’s Inn, Dublin.
Lavery created the study for the painting in situ in court, with Casement looking straight out towards the jury box. Art historian Kenneth McConkey said: “For those two days Lavery, accompanied by his wife Hazel, sat in the witness box recording the scene in the present sketch. During the painful excursion into a legal precedent deriving from a fourteenth century statute on treason, Lavery’s concentration on the scene before him was intense. Although he made efforts to conceal his industry, the production of the present 10 x 14-inch canvas-board in an awkward space was detected by the press, as well as by the prisoner in the dock facing him.”
It is accompanied by two portraits by Lavery from the family of Sir Charles Darling, as well as two other works from private sources, The Lieutenant John Clive Darling and a portrait of his mother, Lady Darling. Two other paintings are an atmospheric view from Lavery’s house at Tangier and a vivid oil sketch for his celebrated portrait of Mrs Roger Plowden and Humphrey of 1897.
Sir John Lavery – Lady Lavery in an Evening Cloak courtesy National Gallery of Ireland.
There is just two weeks left to catch up with Lavery on Location, the captivating exhibition celebrating the timeless work of John Lavery which has been running at the National Gallery of Ireland since October. It is the first major exhibition devoted to this much loved artist in three decades, organised by the National Gallery in collaboration with National Museums, Northern Ireland and National Galleries of Scotland.
SIR JOHN LAVERY RA RSA RHA (1856-1941) – SWITZERLAND [HAZEL AND ALICE], 1913 SOLD FOR €230,000 AT HAMMER
Switzerland, Hazel and Alice by Sir John Lavery made a hammer price of €230,000 over a top estimate of €220,000 at Whyte’s sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin this evening. Dooega, Achill Island, Co. Mayo by Paul Henry made €155,000 on the hammer. London Hospital, 1914 by Lavery made €64,000, The Goose Girl by Sean Keating made €62,000 over a top estimate of €35,000, On the Beach by Gerard Dillon made €34,000 over a top estimate of €30,000, Abstract Composition c1929 by Mainie Jellett made €27,000 over a top estimate of €15,000, The Desert Charge by Aloyosius O’Kelly made €16,000 at hammer over a top estimate of €15,000, a 19th century Irish school painting of The Ruins of the Royal Arcade, Dublin made €12,000 over a top estimate of €8,000, Wicklow Mountains by Peter Collis made €7,000 over a top estimate of €5,000, Coming Home by Mark O’Neill made €8,500 over a top estimate of €8,000, The Club by Graham Knuttel made €9,000 over a top estimate of €7,000, Aquainted with Grief by Leo Whelan made €4,600 over a top estimate of €2,000 and Tonight we Dance by William Conor made €5,200 over a top estimate of €2,000.
SEÁN KEATING PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977) – THE GOOSE GIRL, 1917 made €62,000 at hammer.
