Artistic gems to go under the hammer

Valuable works by some of Ireland’s most sought after artists are to be sold off next month in London’s two most famous auction houses, Sotheby’s and Christie’s.

Almost 300 paintings from the last two centuries are being offered including contemporary portraits by Louis le Brocquy and forgotten gems by Jack B Yeats and John Lavery.

The two sales are expected to realise over €16m.

Sotheby’s annual Irish art auction includes a series of portraits by le Brocquy, arguably Ireland’s most revered living artist, with the highlight being a colourful head of his friend, playwright Samuel Beckett.

Experts believe it could fetch €440,000.

They are part of the series of images displayed last year in the National Gallery and include less valuable but equally impressive portraits of Shakespeare, Picasso and fellow artist Francis Bacon.

They have been put up for sale by an American collector.

And in an unusual move Sotheby’s is offering iconic images by John Minihan including his photograph of Beckett in Paris in 1980 valued at around €11,700.

In all 164 lots are listed for auction at the famous New Bond Street rooms on May 9 including Sir John Lavery’s Evelyn, Lady Farquhar.

The work from the late 19th century depicts the daughter of the fifth Earl of Donoughmore, a wealthy landowner and supporter of Home Rule, highly praised in its day by reviewers who hailed it as the very coherence of portraiture.

It is expected to sell for anything up to €735,000.

A second Lavery work described as a valuable oil sketch for The Tennis Party is also being offered with a guide price of up to €880,000. Dated 1885 it is among the earliest depictions of the then new sport of lawn tennis - a game which was invented 12 years earlier.

The following day Irish artists take centre stage at Christie’s with the highlights being two forgotten gems by the ever popular Jack B Yeats and his contemporary Lavery.

The unrecorded works are expected to attract immense interest from international collectors with experts estimating the auction as a whole could realise in the region of €6m.

Yeats’ work The Last Corinthian, one of his earliest pieces, depicts a lone figure in boxing ring with a guide price of €100,000 while John Lavery’s impressionist inspired An Impression dans le Sous-Bois is valued at around €370,000.

Bernard Williams, international director of Irish Art at Christie’s, said the sale was diverse and comprehensive.

“It is particularly exciting to offer to the market two important rediscovered paintings; The Last Corinthian by Jack Butler Yeats and An Impression dans le Sous-Bois by John Lavery, both of which will cause great excitement to international collectors,” he said.