A painting by Sir John Lavery that had been on loan to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin for the last two decades has sold at auction in London for €693,000.
Sotheby's said an unnamed private collector had paid the sum for Japanese Switzerland in its auction of Irish Art in New Bond Street yesterday. The painting, dating from 1912, depicts the artist's wife Hazel, Lady Lavery, and step-daughter Alice, in the Swiss Alps in 1912. It was sold by an unnamed family who had bought it – also at Sotheby's – in 1996 for £150,000. The same family also sold The Talkers, a 1951 painting by Jack B Yeats, which had also been on loan to the Hugh Lane Gallery, which made £209,000.
The auction of 71 lots of paintings and sculpture was the first Irish sale at Sotheby’s since the annual event was cancelled in 2012 following the dramatic fall in prices for Irish art after the economic crash.
Sotheby’s had expressed confidence international demand for Irish art was on the increase, but the auction failed to achieve expectations.
