LAST week, Nama announced the donation of Sir John Lavery's painting The Return From Markettoto the National Gallery of Ireland. It was one of at least a dozen paintings from the Shrewsbury Road mansion of developer, Derek Quinlan. Nama had the picture valued at €300,000, but that figure may turn out to have been conservative.
Next Thursday in London, Christie's is auctioning Lavery's 1885 painting of a Victorian tennis match titled Played !!which it has estimated at £600,000-£800,000 (€686,076-€914,885).
The painting was last sold at Christie’s 10 years ago for £575,750. Although the auction is called
20th Century British and Irish Art
, the Lavery dates from 1885.
The auction also includes a second painting by Lavery, a portrait titled Mary in Black (estimate £50,000-£80,000 (€57,210-€91,537) and three more paintings by Paul Henry: West of Ireland Cottages; An Old Man From Connacht; and, An Old Woman– each with the same estimate of £30,000-£50,000 (€34,335-€57,210).
