A new world record was set for Roderic O'Conor at auction at Sotheby's Irish sale in London yesterday, when his pointilliste painting La Lisière du Bois, signed and dated from 1890, made €1.29 million under the hammer.
Top lot at Christie's Irish sale the day before was Sir William Orpen's Portrait of Gardenia 1908 which made €829,000 (€580,000-€870,000).
There were 10 paintings by O'Conor in the Sotheby's sale and at least two were withdrawn at auction. La Lisière du Bois was bought by London dealer Mark Adams for a private client, and the cover lot, Bretonne, also by O'Conor fetched €441,000 (€440,032-€733,387) and was bought by a Dublin institution.
At Christie's, Extensive Wooded River Landscape with Fishermen by 18th century landscape artist George Barret made €747,000 (€440,000-€734,000), a new world auction record for this artist. Condemned Man by Louis Le Brocquy made €436,000 (€440,000-€720,000), just below its estimate, as did Glory to the Brave Singer by Jack B Yeats which made €273,000 (€290,000-€400,000).
Some of the more contemporary artists did well at Sotheby's including William Scott's Still Life with Frying-Pan, which made €191,000 (€88,006-€117,341) and John Kingerlee's Grid Composition which made €44,100.