Sotheby’s revived the Irish art category and were able to get some strong sales for both historical Irish art and recent works like Rowan Gillespie’s sculpture. The sale total was only £1.8m with 63% of the lots sold. A William Orpen nude failed to sell with an estimate comparable to the top lot:

The top-selling item, John Lavery’s oil painting Japanese Switzerland, sold for £509,000 (€692,599) to a private collector. It was most recently on loan to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin.

Three paintings by Jack Butler Yeats were among the most expensive in the 71-lot sale, the dearest being The Talkers, which went for £209,000 (€284,387).

Dubliner Rowan Gillespie’s bronze sculpture, When Hope and History Rhyme, set an auction record when it went for £161,000 (€219,074). It had a top estimate of £30,000 (€40,810).

Irish art back in demand abroad as Sotheby’s sale raises €2.5m  (Herald.ie)