A courtroom sketch of Roger Casement by the renowned Irish artist John Lavery, which had never been displayed in public before, has been sold at auction for 10 times the pre-sale low estimate to a private buyer.
The original, on-the-spot study was part of the preparatory work for Lavery’s painting The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement.
It went under the hammer as part of a wider sale of the artist’s works by the British auctioneers Dreweatts on Wednesday. It had been expected to fetch between £15,000 (€17,500) and £25,000 (€30,000), but was sold for £155,200 *(€181,800).
A former British diplomat turned Irish revolutionary, Casement was convicted of treason for his part in the events that led to the Easter Rising and was hanged in London in 1916.
The judge who presided over his appeal, Charles Darling, invited Lavery into the courtroom to capture the proceedings as the artist had previously painted portraits of his family.
Art historian and Lavery expert Kenneth McConkey said: “For those two days Lavery, accompanied by his wife Hazel, sat in the witness box recording the scene in the present sketch.
“During the painful excursion into a legal precedent deriving from a 14th-century statute on treason, Lavery’s concentration on the scene before him was intense,” he said.
“Although he made efforts to conceal his industry, the production of the present 10in x 14in canvas board in an awkward space was detected by the press, as well as by the prisoner in the dock facing him.”
Francesca Whitham, painting specialist at Dreweatts, said: “An historical moment today at Dreweatts saleroom as the hammer fell for Sir John Lavery’s sketch of The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement.
“With plenty of interest from press and bidders alike in the lead up to the auction, competitive bidding from both Ireland and the UK saw a fierce battle between an online bidder and telephone line, finally selling to a private buyer.”
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