How much is that doggie at Sotheby's?

A portrait of a Meath dog painted for an Irish lord and later owned by a press baron could make €400,000 in London next week

THE MOST expensive painting of an Irish dog ever offered for sale has set tongues wagging in London. Sotheby’s will next week auction Viscount Gormanston’s White Dog by George Stubbs, the world’s greatest animal portrait painter. The estimate is £300,000-£400,000 (€353,750-€471,667) .

Originally commissioned in 1781 by the 11th Viscount Gormanston of Gormanston Castle, County Meath, the painting was bought by the late 20th century press baron, Lord Beaverbrook in 1951 and is being sold to aid the work of a charitable foundation established in his name.

According to Sotheby’s, the breed of the dog is generally agreed to be a pointer but “unusually the precise breed of this fine animal was not recorded in any contemporary references to the painting”.

The Meath canine is “portrayed as a finely-groomed, lean, fit and alert animal, a carefully observed specimen painted on the largest possible scale and placed at the forefront of the picture”.

The oil-on-panel measures 35.5in by 54.25in and was originally shipped to Ireland from London in a specially-built case to protect it from “the danger of the seas”.

Will the faithful old hound return across the Irish Sea one more time?

The highlight of the Old Master British Paintings Sale on Thursday is another painting by Stubbs – Brood Mares and Foals estimated at £10 million-£15 million (€11.78m-€17.68m).

Sotheby’s said it is “arguably the finest painting by the artist ever to come to market” and has been in the ownership of the same “distinguished family” since it was painted in 1768.

The artist George Stubbs was born in 1724 and died in 1806.