Collector: Some works that have never before come to market feature in a James Adams paintings sale next week, writes Joe Armstrong
Rediscovered Irish masterpieces and paintings from the collection of Charles J. Haughey highlight an auction next week, which has been described as one of the most spectacular to take place here for years.
Walter Osborne's Driving a Bargain tops the bill at the James Adam auction of paintings next Wednesday, May 29th.
Expected to fetch between €400,000 and €600,000, this picture has not been seen in public since 1884, when it was shown at the Royal Hibernian Academy annual exhibition.
A market scene depicting a couple of children standing talking to an old woman, with geese on the street and town buildings in the background, the painting was given to the vendor as a wedding present in the 1950s.
At the 1884 exhibition, it hung alongside Osborne's Apple Gathering, Quimperle, one of the most prized pictures in the National Gallery. On that occasion, both pictures were perceived to be of equal merit, each valued at 30 guineas.
Another Osborne, Harvest Time, was bought directly from the artist about 1890. It has never before come onto the market. Depicting a boy sitting on the ground, leaning against stooks of corn, it was executed while the artist worked in the south of England. It is expected to realise more than €100,000.
Sir John Lavery's Finale, depicting a young woman in a blue dress at a piano in a luxurious interior, is described by Mr James O'Halloran, art expert at James Adam, as "absolutely wonderful".
Estimated at €350,000 to €450,000, it was last on the market in 1946 when it sold for £75 sterling.
Lavery's Pious Reflections, the artist's first picture ever to be exhibited, features in the auction. Estimated at €60,000 to €80,000, it featured in a Glasgow exhibition in 1880 when the artist was aged 24.
Another highlight is Lavery's The Golf Course, North Berwick. It depicts his stepdaughter, Alice, driving off a tee box, while other figures putt on an adjacent green.
Alice gave it to a family friend, whose descendants are now selling it. It has never been on the market before. One of a series of golfing scenes dating from 1919-1922, it is expected to fetch €300,000 to €350,000.
Tug of War, painted by Richard T Moynan in 1891, depicting six boy contestants in a derelict street, is estimated at €180,000 to €240,000.
The same artist painted Military Manoeuvres, which hangs in the National Gallery, some of the protagonists of which also feature in Tug of War.
A second picture by Moynan, A Flemish Belle, is expected to realise €35,000 to €45,000.
Mr Haughey is disposing of three pictures in the sale. The highlight of the collection is Seaweed Gatherers, Portmarnock, by Nathaniel Hone.
Described as a "wonderful painting" by Mr O'Halloran, it depicts two donkeys and carts on a beach and a number of figures at each cart loading up seaweed. It was painted in the 1890s and measures 24 inches by 36 inches.
The painting was hanging in Abbeville when Mr Haughey bought the house. It is estimated at €60,000 to €80,000.
The second lot comprises a set of 14 Stations of the Cross by Paddy Collins, purchased by the former Taoiseach in the mid-1960s. While "not ideally suited to a domestic situation" they are "really beautiful" and "individually they are fantastic", says Mr O'Halloran.
They are expected to realise €50,000 to €80,000.
The third lot from the Haughey collection is Still Life at a Window by Markey Robinson, described as a good example of the artist's middle-period style and estimated at €5,000 to €8,000.
Readers can view items for the sale at James Adam's rooms, 26 St Stephen's Green, Dublin from next Sunday, May 26th, to Wednesday, May 29th.
The catalogue, including most of the illustrations, can be viewed online at www.jamesadam.ie
jmarms@irish-times.ie
