An array of works by some of the biggest names of Irish art in the 19th and 20th century will go under the hammer in London next month.
Paintings by Sir John Lavery, Sir William Orpen, Jack Butler Yeats, Daniel O’Neill and Louis le Brocquy will be among the 118 lots due to be auctioned off.
The pieces, which have been on display this weekend at Lismore Castle, Co Waterford, will be exhibited in Belfast’s Waterfront Hall next weekend before touring to Dublin and London.
The Irish sale at Sotheby’s London will be held on May 7th.
The auction house said it follows strong prices across the board for the work of Irish artists last year.
Grant Ford, senior director and head of Irish Art at Sotheby’s said: “Our Irish sale last year realised our second highest total for an Irish sale at Sotheby’s to date proving that the market for Irish Art is buoyant and that competition for the top quality pictures is stronger than ever.
“This May’s sale will offer a highlights selective collection of works and we expect interest from an international audience.”
Sotheby’s record sale in 2001 fetched £7 million.
At the heart of the auction will be one of the finest groups of work by Lavery.
The eight paintings span the entire progression of his career from his time at the artists’ colony at Grez-Loing in 1883 to the last decade of his life in 1932.
His evocative seascape entitled A Windy Dayis estimated to fetch up to €790,000. In addition to the strength of works by Lavery, an exceptional group of pictures by Roderic O'Conor will be for sale. The most valuable of these is Paysage, Pont Avena landscape with a price tag of up to €390,000.
The sale will also feature paintings by a more recent generation of artists, including Belfast-born Daniel O'Neill. His piece Reclining Nude, will be auctioned for an estimated €125,000.
Ireland’s most esteemed and celebrated living artist, Louis le Brocquy, will also be represented at the auction house by a number of works spanning his whole career.
Headlining the works by him will be two head studies depicting James Joyce and Samuel Beckett, estimated at the €250,000 price-mark each.
PA