John Lavery and Paul Henry are top sellers at Dublin auction – yet again

Whyte’s art auction in the RDS in Dublin on Monday attracted a large attendance and internet bidders from Ireland, the UK, Italy, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UAE, Hong Kong, the US and Brazil. Seventy per cent of lots sold, of which 18 per cent went to online buyers.

A portrait by Sir John Lavery, The Lady Parmoor, was sold prior to auction to a collector in Belfast, for €50,000 (€30,000-€50,000) . The top lot was An Achill Bog by Paul Henry which made €42,000 (€30,000-€40,000). It was bought by a Dublin collector in the saleroom. A collector in New York bought A Corner of the Farmyard by Walter Frederick Osborne for €38,000 (€20,000-€30,000); and, Portrait of Captain Colin David Brodie by Sir William Orpen for €34,000 (€20,000-€30,000).

A Portrait of Eileen M Le Poer Trench by Walter Frederick Osborne was withdrawn in advance of the auction. And, despite the publicity surrounding the 50th anniversary of his visit to Ireland and assassination in Dallas, a pencil drawing, Portrait Of John FitzGerald Kennedy by Frank McKelvey (€2,000-€3,000) failed to sell. Girl With Dark Eyes by Daniel O'Neill made €18,000, way above the estimate of €8,000-€12,000.