Art by Paul Henry, Fortunino Matania, Barbara Warren and William Scott

Preview of Whyte's sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin on Monday

Sat, 09 Mar, 2024 - 02:18

Des O’Sullivan

In the fields of Flanders in May 1915 a battalion of soldiers from the Royal Munster Fusiliers lined up for a general absolution from a Tipperary priest on the day before the catastrophic Battle of Aubers Ridge on the Western Front. The following day one in six of the soldiers were killed.

A unique extant painting of the poignant scene by Fortunino Matania (1881-1963), the Italian artist noted for his realistic portrayal of trench warfare, comes up as lot 116 at Whyte's sale of Important Irish Art in Dublin next Monday evening.

'The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at the Rue du Bois'.

The work, The Last General Absolution of the Munsters at Rue du Bois, is estimated at €30,000-€40,000. The blessing was administered by the Jesuit Fr Francis Gleeson (1884-1959) from Templemore, a then-31-year-old who served with the Royal Munster Fusiliers at the first Battle of Ypres and is said to have taken command of the Battalion after all the officers were incapacitated by the enemy.

The original painting was made at the request of the widow of the battalion's commanding officer. It was destroyed during World War II. This copy was painted by Matania in 1919 at the request of Alfred Robinson, whose son Edmond fought in the battle. It was to celebrate Edmond's safe return from the war. Exactly a century later, on May 8, 2015, a memorial was placed at the site of the blessing.

The auction at Whyte's includes works by Paul Henry, Jack B. Yeats, Lilian Lucy Davidson, Frank McKelvey, Grace Henry, Harry Kernoff, Nano Reid, Patrick Collins, William Scott, Louis le Brocquy, Donald Teskey and many other well-known artists.

A characteristic Paul Henry, Cottages by a Lake, Achill, Connemara, is at €180,000-€220,000, the most expensively estimated lot. Jug and Pear by William Scott is estimated at €120,000-180,000 and a small oil on board by Jack B Yeats from 1936, Waves at Bowmore, Rosses Point, is estimated at €35,000-€45,000.

The An Tostal commemorative plaque by Gabriel Hayes.

The Kildare sculptor Gabriel Hayes received numerous important commissions in her lifetime. She designed some of our decimal currency in 1971, made the panels for the then Department of Industry and Commerce on Kildare St. in 1941 and the larger-than-life-size Stations of the Cross at Galway Cathedral.

A work by the artist, somewhat overlooked since her death in 1978, is included. Lot 103 is a sizeable bronze, thought likely to have been a presentation plaque for An Tostal inaugurated in 1953. The estimate is €3,000-€4,000. Hayes was married to Corkman Professor Sean P O'Riordain, Professor of Archaeology at UCC in the 1930s and 1940s and subsequently chair of archaeology at UCD. He became a household name in the 1950s for his appearances on the BBC television programme Animal, Vegetable or Mineral.

Barbara Warren's 'Like a Dream' at Whyte's.

In the catalogue note to Barbara Warren's Like a Dream (€4,000-€6,000) Adelle Hughes of Whyte's points out that the work feels distinctly modern and European yet the feeling it inspires also sits comfortably within the traditional West of Ireland scene. Warren's death at the age of 91 in 2017 marked the end of a living connection to a generation of pioneering Irish female artists like Mainie Jellett, Evie Hone, May Guinness, Norah McGuinness and Elizabeth Rivers who, like Warren, studied in Paris with Andre Lhote.

The catalogue, with 150 lots, includes The Favoured Rose by Patrick Hennessy (€5,000-€7,000), Spanish Trawler by William Crozier (€1,500-€2,000), Tangram IV by Patrick Scott (€3,500-€4,500), Echo 1998 by Bridget Riley (€3,000-€5,000), Pegasus, a woodcut by Paul Henry (€10,000-€15,000), Wild Cherry by Norah McGuinness (€6,000-€8,000), a self-portrait by Augustus John (€2,000-€3,000), Kinsale, Co Cork, by James le Jeune (€1,500-€2,000) and a selection of works by Graham Knuttel and Markey Robinson.