The picture stolen from University College Dublin's Newman House last week was a sketch of the Irish author Brian O'Nolan (Flann O'Brien) by his brother, artist Mr Micheal O Nuallain. It has been valued at £2,000.
UCD yesterday confirmed that the painting was apparently stolen from the building on St Stephen's Green last Thursday evening. Staff arriving to work on Friday morning immediately reported the theft to the Garda at Harcourt Terrace, a spokeswoman for the college said. Gardai are investigating the theft.
There was no evidence of a break-in at the building, and UCD said it would now initiate a full review of all security procedures to see whether they should be stepped up.
The pastel sketch, one of three preliminary studies of the author carried out for a 1957 oil portrait, was insured.
Brian O'Nolan was best known for his Irish Times column, written under the alias Myles na Gopaleen, and for satirical novels such as An Beal Bocht and The Third Policeman, written under his Flann O'Brien pseudonym. He died in 1966.
The painting for which the stolen sketch was made was acquired by Boston College, Massachusetts, some years ago as part of a collection of works by Brian O'Nolan and his brother, Micheal.
Mr O Nuallain said much of the painting was completed when the pair worked in the same room at their Blackrock home in the 1940s. It was only in 1957 that the figure of Mr O'Nolan was painted into the canvas, after he sat for it at the artist's Monkstown studio.