Queen and Yeats a big hit at Whyte's auction

ALL SEVEN paintings of Queen Elizabeth’s state visit to Ireland sold at Whyte’s art auction in the RDS on Monday where Jack B Yeats and Paul Henry also starred.

Clare painter Michael Hanrahan, the only artist granted media accreditation to cover the visit, was "absolutely thrilled" by the outcome. The highest price, €5,400, was achieved for The Queen at the Garden of Remembrance(€1,000-€1,200). Five of the paintings were sold to telephone and internet bidders, including The Queen and An Taoiseach Enda Kenny at Government Buildingswhich made €3,400 (€1,500-€1,800).

A man who bid unsuccessfully for a number of the paintings eventually acquired The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh Arriving On Irish Soilfor €2,300 (€1,000-€1,200). He said it was his "first time at an auction" and he had bought the painting as a "surprise gift" for his wife for their 20th wedding anniversary. He believed it would "double or treble in value" in the years ahead.

A couple who had driven from the Border area bought President McAleese Greets The Queen at Áras an Uachtaráinfor €2,200 (€1,000-€1,200) and also believed it was "a good investment".

There was surprise that The Queen and Lady Chryss O'Reilly at The National Stud, Kildareachieved the lowest price (€1,500) of the seven pictures. One man quipped: "Wouldn't you think O'Reilly would have bought it?" Perhaps he did, and got a bargain.

The top-selling lot of the evening was a painting by Jack B Yeats, Rescue Men, dated 1949, which sold for €110,000 (€60,000-€80,000). A Paul Henry Connemara landscape, measuring 12 by 16 inches and not seen in public for 80 years, sold for €60,000 (€60,000-€80,000).

Ruthby Belfast-born painter Daniel O'Neill made €37,000 (€25,000-€35,000). There was spirited bidding for a Harry Kernoff picture Anglesea Market (Off Moore Street)which made €8,500 (€6,000-€8,000). Ivan Sutton's The Former Law Library of the Four Courts, Before 1922made €1,900 (€2,000-€3,000).

Overall, Whyte’s said that 65 per cent of lots sold for a total of over €700,000.