An auction of Old Master paintings from the Beit collection, which was postponed last year following a public outcry, will now take place in London next month.
The paintings are part of the art collection left to the people of Ireland by the late Sir Alfred and Lady Beit of Russborough House, Co Wicklow.
Christie’s has announced that four pictures from the collection will go under the hammer in July with a combined top estimate of £2.35 million (approximately €3 million).
Three are oil paintings: Venus supplicating Jupiter by Rubens; The Piazzetta, Venice by Francesco Guardi; and Piazza San Marco, Venice also by Guardi; the fourth is a drawing titled Aurora and Cephalus by the 18th century French artist Francois Boucher.
In a statement, the Alfred Beit Foundation, the charitable trust that runs Russborough House, said: “Having postponed a sale last year following public intervention, and having exhausted all other avenues to secure the future of Russborough, the foundation must now proceed with its decision to sell four works at auction in London in July.”
The foundation will use the proceeds to establish an endowment fund to pay for ongoing restoration and upkeep of the 18th century Palladian mansion and said “without such a permanent endowment fund to provide interest to supplement operating revenues, the house cannot survive”.
The foundation has set a target of €15 million for the endowment fund.
An Taisce, the National Trust for Ireland, has criticised the decision to re-arrange the auction next month and said “alternative options” to secure the future of both Russborough and the Beit Collection should be pursued.
Three other Old Master paintings from the Beit Collection were also withdrawn from last year’s auction in London.
The foundation said it had received “the generous support of philanthropists” to allow two of these paintings to be acquired by so-called ‘white knight’ donors — for donation to the state. Each was valued at about €2 million.
The buyers receive 80 per cent tax relief under Section 1003 of the 1997 Tax Consolidations Act.
A Village Kermesse Near Antwerp by David Teniers the Younger, a 17th-century Flemish artist, and Head of a Bearded Man by Rubens have both been donated to the National Gallery of Ireland.
Negotiations for the acquisition of a third painting, Adoration of the Shepherds by Adriaen Van Ostade, are ongoing.
Even if the negotiations are concluded satisfactorily and the July auction in London raises the expected amount, the foundation will still face a major funding shortfall of millions of euro.
