An Taisce urges Taoiseach to halt Beit art collection sale

An Taisce has called on the Taoiseach to help stop the sale of paintings from the Alfred Beit Collection at auction in London.

Two of the paintings are due to be auctioned today and the rest, including two by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Ruebens, are due to be sold at Christie’s auction house on July 9.

Ian Lumley, the organisation’s heritage officer, said the Taoiseach should co-ordinate a constructive response to halt it. An Taisce has also called for an investigation into the private sale of a painting from the collection earlier this year.

The entire collection was loaned to the State by the Beits, who requested that it remain intact. However, the Alfred Beit Foundation, which administers Russborough House and its extensive art collection, recently sent nine paintings to Christie’s auction house in London.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, communications officer with An Taisce, Charles Stanley-Smith, said the painting sold earlier this year was by French artist Jacques de Lajoue and had hung in Russborough House until last year.

“No-one knows how much the painting was sold for, who it was sold to and whether or not it was sold for the highest potential price,” he said.

The current export licensing scheme has been described as “wholly inadequate” by the National Gallery in the wake of the upcoming sale.

The 1997 National Cultural Institutions Act, designed to protect items of outstanding heritage or cultural value from leaving the country, includes a provision to refuse an export licence in certain circumstances.

However, it was never commenced and, therefore, could not be invoked to prevent the Beit Collection sale.

The export licence for the paintings was granted by Sean Rainbird, the National Gallery’s director who is also a member of the Albert Beit Foundation, but, according to the gallery’s board, he had no discretion to refuse it.

“The suggestion, therefore, that his involvement in the administration of the export licence request and his involvement in the foundation somehow placed him in a conflict of interest is simply wrong,” said the board, in a statement.