Work by George Sharpe rarely goes to auction, so there should be plenty of interest in a recently unearthed 1840s view of Galway by the Dublin-born painter, writes John Armstrong.
A large, dirty and discoloured oil painting of figures in a fishing village, bought at a clearance auction at Ballyfin House, Co Laois, in 2002 for under €3,000 has emerged as the star lot in Whyte's sale of Irish art at the RDS next Tuesday. It carries an estimate of €200,000-€300,000.
The unattributed and unidentified painting was bought by a dealer and passed through several hands, according to auctioneer Ian Whyte, before being bought by a Galway collector with a knowledge of the city's architectural history.
He recognised the bell tower in the background of the painting as that of an old Dominican convent, St Mary's, on the Claddagh, beside Galway harbour. The area is now completely rebuilt but, in the mid-19th century, when the picture was painted, it was a fishing village on the outskirts of town.
Subsequent cleaning and restoration of the canvas in London revealed the original signature of George Sharpe RHA (1802-1877), a Dublin-born artist and art teacher, two of whose paintings are in the National Gallery's collection.
Sharpe's work rarely if ever comes up at auction. No sale is recorded in Ireland or the UK within the past 20 years on the Artprice register.
Research by the new owner in the Royal Hibernian Academy archives and other research by Dr Julian Campbell of the Crawford College of Art, Cork later identified the work as Sharpe's 1844 RHA exhibit View of the West Convent, on the Claddagh, at Galway, the earliest known work by the artist and one of the earliest views of Galway.
Further inquiries have established that the huge canvas, 33ins by 63ins, was originally purchased in 1844 by Sir Charles Coote of Ballyfin House, a noted collector of the time. In 1928 the Coote family sold Ballyfin to the Patrician Brothers for use as a school and most of the paintings and furniture in the house were dispersed.
However some pieces, unwanted by the family, remained in the building undisturbed for another 75 years. In 2002, Ballyfin was sold for €10 million to a Chicago businessman and the remaining contents, including the Sharpe picture, were sold off at public auction.
Ian Whyte says the valuation is based on the painting's rarity and its historical and topographical interest rather than its purely artistic merits. "It dates from a year before the Famine and shows a peaceful and relatively prosperous scene," he says. "It's a powerful image and a good record of the period. Now it depends on whether the merchant princes of Galway are interested."
Another recently discovered painting in the Whyte's auction is Paul Henry's In the West of Ireland (16ins by 24ins), painted in Co Kerry about 1934 (€80,000-€120,000). A gift to the grandmother of the present owner, it has been in storage for a number of years.
The sale also includes a portrait by Roderic O'Conor (1860-1940) of his model and future wife Renee Honta (€70,000-€90,000). O'Conor's biographer, Joseph Benington, has identified it as most probably the artist's Tête de Femme, exhibited in 1928 at the Paris Salon d'Automne.
A complete set of Louis le Brocquy's The Tain, 1969, consisting of 36 lithographs, is estimated at €50,000-€70,000 and a 1941 work by Sean Keating The Wind that Shakes the Barley (24ins by 34ins) at €80,000-€120,000. The title derives from a traditional folk song commemorating the 1798 rebellion.
A Jack Yeats oil Night, Glengarriff, (9ins by 14ins) once owned by Dr Karl Mullen is estimated at €60,000-€80,000, and two Yeats watercolours, The Old Champion 1899 and A Patriot 1902 both carry estimates of €35,000-€45,000.
Other interesting lots include a 1934 bronze medallion by the English sculptor Maurice Lambert RA, commissioned by WB Yeats for the Irish Academy of Letters (€1,000-€1,500) and a George Russell painting Two Girls before a Ring Fort (16ins by 21ins), a gift from the artist to author Frank O'Connor (€10,000-€12,000).
John Doherty's Pink and Blue, Ardfert, County Kerry 1988 (18ins by 31.5ins) is estimated at €15,000-€20,000, Donald Teskey's Castletownsend 1999 (43ins by 50ins) at €25,000-€35,000 and Tony O'Malley's Noon, Bahamas, 1983 (20.5ins by 30.5ins) at €30,000-€40,000.
Viewing for the auction at the RDS is today and tomorrow from 10am to 6pm, Monday from 10am to 9pm, and on Tuesday, the day of the auction, from 10am to 2pm. The auction is at 6pm.
