Adam's homan potterton 7th september 2021

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Auction Tuesday 7th
September 2021
HOMAN POTTERTON
A LIFETIME OF COLLECTING
ADAM’S
Est.1887

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www.adams.ie Homan Potterton | 7th
September 2021
A Lifetime of Collecting
Homan Potterton
AUCTION - LIVE ONLINE
Tuesday 7th September, 2021 at 2pm
Friday 3rd
September 10.00 - 5.00pm
Saturday 4th
Sunday 5th
Monday 6th
september 10.00 - 5.00pm
Tuesday 7th
VIEWING
26 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2. Ireland
+353 1 676 0261. D02 X665
info@adams.ie | www.adams.ie
ADAM’S
Est.1887

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HOMAN POTTERTON
A Lifetime of Collecting
We are delighted and honoured to have been chosen to handle the sale of the late Homan Potterton’s collection of
old master paintings, Irish art, engravings, furniture and silver from his homes in Dublin and in the Gaillac region
in France.
Homan’s place in the modern history of Irish art and culture is very secure, having been appointed in 1980 the
youngest ever director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Perhaps he was unfortunate that his tenure coincided
with a period of austerity in Ireland’s economic fortunes which thwarted his plans for a comprehensive refurbish-
ment. However, Homan is credited with the production of the ground-breaking concise catalogue of the collec-
tion in 1981 and a definitive catalogue of the gallery’s Dutch paintings. Perhaps his lasting legacy at the Gallery
was negotiating the gift of major paintings from the collection ofAlfred and Clementine Beit, works which today
are the cornerstone of the permanent collection.
Homan was a regular attendee atAdam’s auctions over many years, and having come from a venerable auctioneer-
ing family in Co Meath he was completely at home in the auction-rooms and quickly developed a friendship with
many of the sale-room staff. His easy and affable style made him a popular‘regular’ and regardless of the position
of the staff member, whether a lowly junior sale-room assistant, a porter or a director he treated everyone with
the same courtesy, respect and engaging demeanour.That innate generosity evident in all aspects of his life was
well known and indeed it continues with his favourite charities benefiting from the proceeds of this sale.
Homan’s expertise was primarily in Italian painting of the 17th and 18th centuries, but his encyclopaedic knowl-
edge extended too to modern Irish painting, marble portrait busts and engravings, all of which are well represent-
ed in the sale.This will be the last opportunity for his admirers to see his collection all in one place and perhaps to
acquire a piece as a fitting reminder of the man many called their friend.
James O’Halloran
Summer 2021

Homan Potterton by Andrew Festing MBE PPRP, Courtesy of the artist.

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Homan Potterton brought passion, scholarship and a highly original focus to his stellar career both as a curator and museum
director, as well as to his writings and memoirs and to his personal collection. His knowledge of the fine arts was deep and diverse,
informed by years of academic study along with a singular curiosity and appreciation for the profound and the beautiful in the arts.With
his encyclopedic knowledge of sculpture and paintings as well as arts and crafts,Homan built up a personal collection which is impressive
in quality and range.
His early career as Assistant Keeper in the National Gallery London saw him focus his scholarship on Italian seicento painting and, in
1979, he curated his first significant museum exhibition Venetian Seventeenth Century Paintings to tremendous success.Three year earlier,
his Guide to the National Gallery’s collection was published and remained a bestseller for several decades. In late1979, Homan was ap-
pointed as Director of the National Gallery of Ireland and he heralded a golden era of spectacular acquisitions. Like his predecessor, Sir
Hugh Lane, over a half a century earlier, he was astute and focused in shaping and advancing the gallery’s collections. During his eight
year tenure, he introduced a new focus on the avant-garde of the early 20th century acquiring splendid works by Emil Nolde, Kees van
Dongen and Chaim Soutine and was most prescient in securing priceless paintings for the nation, includingVelazquez,Vermeer and Goya
from Sir Alfred and Lady Beit’s collection.
Also like Sir Hugh, his personal collection echoed the passion and initiative he brought to his time as Director and his homes presented a
cornucopia of delights.Adopting an elegant salon hang, the familiar greeting you like old friends, including Angelica Kauffman, Charles
Jervas, Robert Hunter and Batoni, while the new and sometimes relatively unknown introducing themselves and making their mark in
these captivating interiors, pulsating with a low key gravitas and grace.
Born in County Meath to a well established farming and auctioneering family,the youngest of eight children,Homan recounted his child-
hood memories in his first of a two volume autobiography Rathcormick:A Childhood Recalled (2001); a charming account of growing up in
Ireland in the 1950’s.The second volume Who do I think I am? (2017) reveals his wit and humour as well as the challenges and triumphs
of his tenure in the National Gallery of Ireland. Having raised the profile of the gallery immeasurably through exhibitions, famously
coining the phrase‘Irish Impressionists’, publishing catalogues on the collection and acquiring artworks which significantly added to the
stature of the collection, Homan left after eight years much to the astonishment of many, but such was his frustration at the lack of public
investment desperately required to refurbish the gallery. He went on to become a highly successful Editor of the Irish Arts Review and his
editorials were much anticipated. Never one to hold back on issues he held dear and on which he was thoroughly informed, he could be
funny and devastating in equal measure. His choice of subjects and authors was enlightened, often bringing welcome attention to little
known or forgotten excellence in Irish art and crafts.
Homan with his husbandAlex Heusen,spent many years in NewYork before dividing their time between London and their rustic country
house outsideToulouse, interspersed with regular and eagerly anticipated visits to Dublin.They had a wide ranging and wonderful circle
of friends.As Alex remarked, wherever Homan lived he brought a unique and unmistakably Irish feel to his homes. One of the very in-
teresting paintings in his Irish collection is the portrait of GuendolenWilkinson by LeoWhelan, which he purchased when living in New
York. Guendolen was the daughter of Sir NevilleWilkinson renowned for his dolls house designs.Aged three, her sighting of a fairy in
their garden in Mount Merrion, inspired her father to design the now famous dolls houseTitania’s Palace. It was created by the renowned
furniture makers Hicks of Pembroke Street, Dublin, between 1907 and 1922 and is now on display in Egeskov Castle, Denmark.
The Hicks connection would have added to Homan’s delight of acquiring this portrait give his appreciation of Irish furniture.Among the
several important pieces in his collection is the very beautiful and rare Irish Georgian walnut table with Kilkenny marble top, which is
included in the Knight of Glin’s book on Irish Furniture, published in 2007.
Marble busts by Irish and English sculptors graced his side tables including those by Edward Foley, elder brother of the more well known
John H. Foley, Joseph Robinson Kirk and Christopher Moore. Over these his impressive collection of paintings and works on paper were
hung in a thoughtful but highly individual style.As only Homan could, the 18th and 19th century works mingled happily with his 20th
and 21st century collection of Irish paintings seeing Willian Orpen, Henry Roberson Craig,Tom Ryan and Martin Mooney alongside
Laurent de la Hyre,Thomas Frye, Roberts and Kauffmann, not to mention wonderful smaller works judiciously placed which added to
the exuberance of the hang.
Homan’s innate appreciation of the arts which, coupled with his encyclopedic knowledge, makes this collection a unique assemblage. It
also reflects his personality – passionate, thoroughly informed, opinionated, stylish, eccentric, funny and courageous. It is the story of a
life fully lived, one of determination, ambition, love and adventure.
AsWalter Benjamin said “Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories”
A number of Irish arts and other charities will benefit from the proceeds of the auction, thanks to the generosity of Homan and Alex.
Barbara Dawson
Director, Dublin City Gallery, The Hugh Lane
Summer 2021

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IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR PURCHASERS
1. Estimates and Reserves
These are shown below each lot in this sale. All amounts shown are in Euro. The figures shown are provided merely as a guide to prospective
purchasers. They are approximate prices which are expected, are not definitive and are subject to revision. Reserves, if any, will not be any
higher than the lower estimate.
2. Payment, Delivery and Purchasers Premium
All purchases must be paid for no later than Thursday 9th September 2021. Please contact a member of staff to arrange collection/delivery
of your purchases. Auctioneers commission on purchases is charged at the rate of 25% (inclusive of VAT). Terms: Strictly cash, card, bank-
ers draft or cheque drawn on an Irish bank. Cheques will take a minimum of eight workings days to clear the bank, unless they have been
vouched to our satisfaction prior to the sale, or you have a previous cheque payment history with Adam’s. We also accept payment by credit
and debit card (Visa & MasterCard only). For payments by bank transfer please ensure all bank charges are paid in addition to the invoice
total, in order to avoid delays in the release of items. Goods will only be released upon clearance through the bank of all monies due.
Artists Resale Rights (Droit de Suite) is not payable by purchasers.
3. VAT Regulations
All lots are sold within the auctioneers VAT margin scheme. Revenue Regulations require that the buyers premium must be invoiced at a
rate which is inclusive of VAT. This is not recoverable by any VAT registered buyer.
4. Condition
It is up to the bidder to satisfy themselves prior to buying as to the condition of a lot. Whilst we make certain observations on the lot, which
are intended to be as helpful as possible, references in the condition report to damage or restoration are for guidance. The absence of such a
reference does not imply that an item is free from defects or restoration, nor does a reference to particular defects imply the absence of any
others. The condition report is an expression of opinion only and must not be treated as a statement of fact. Please ensure that condition
report requests are submitted before 12 noon on Monday 6th September 2021 as we cannot guarantee that they will be dealt with after this
time.
5. Absentee Bids
We are happy to execute absentee or written bids for bidders who are unable to bid online themselves and can also arrange for bidding to be
conducted by telephone. However, these services are subject to special conditions (see conditions of sale in this catalogue).
All arrangements for absentee and telephone bidding must be made before 5pm on the day prior to sale. Bidding by telephone may be
booked on all lots. Early booking is advisable as availability of lines cannot be guaranteed.
**Please note that once online bids are placed these bids may not be cancelled or retracted **
6. LOTS MADE OF / CONTAINING ANTIQUE IVORY AND/ OR CORAL
Bidders should be advised that importation regulations of several countries, including the US, prohibits the importation of ivory and that
of coral, or any goods containing same. Therefore Adam’s advises prospective purchasers who intend to ship lots containing either ivory or
coral to another country to familiarise themselves with the relevant importation regulations prior to bidding. Adam’s will not be responsi-
ble for shipping items herein and the onus will be on the buyer to organise shipping at their own behest.
LOTS MADE OF / CONTAINING ANTIQUE IVORY AND RHINO HORN ARE INDICATED BY THE
FOLLOWING SYMBOLS * & **
7. All lots are being sold under the Conditions of Sale as printed in this catalogue and on display on
our website.

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September 2021
CONTACTS
Brian Coyle FSCSI FRICS
CHAIRMAN
James O’Halloran BA FSCSI FRICS
MANAGING DIRECTOR
j.ohalloran@adams.ie
Stuart Cole MSCSI MRICS
DIRECTOR
s.cole@adams.ie
Amy McNamara BA MA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
amymcnamara@adams.ie
Eamon O’Connor BA
DIRECTOR
e.oconnor@adams.ie
Adam Pearson BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
a.pearson@adams.ie
Helena Carlyle BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
h.carlyle@adams.ie
Niamh Corcoran BA
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
niamh@adams.ie
Nick Nicholson
CONSULTANT
n.nicholson@adams.ie
Nicholas Gore Grimes
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
nicholas@adams.ie
Ronan Flanagan
FINE ART DEPARTMENT
r.flanagan@adams.ie
Claire-Laurence Mestrallet BA, G.G
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
HEAD OF JEWELLERY & WATCHES
claire@adams.ie
CONTACTS
Giorgia Chiesa BA MA
FINEARTDEPARTMENT
giorgia@adams.ie

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HOW TO BID IN THIS LIVE ONLINE AUCTION
This auction is a Live Online sale which is a hybrid of traditional and online
formats. Bidding can be done by telephone, by absentee/commission bid
and online. No in-person bidding will be available on auction day.
To bid online, simply go to www.adams.ie and Sign Up for a My Adam’s
account. If you have already signed up for an online account with Adam’s,
you can Sign In with your email and password.
When signed in, click on ‘Upcoming Auctions’, select ‘Homan Potterton’
which will bring you to the list of lots.
VIEWING, CONDITION REPORTS & IMAGE REQUESTS
Subject to prevailing Covid-19 restrictions, we expect in-person viewing to
be able to take place at 26 St Stephen’s Green. In any event virtual viewing
and informative videos will be available on our website.
Our staff will be on-hand to carry out Condition Reports and attend to
Additional Image Requests for the lots in this sale.
These requests can be made through our website, or by calling our offices
at +353 (0)1 676 0261 or emailing info@adams.ie
Please ensure such requests are made in good time in advance of the
auction.

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September 2021

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Adam’s Live
We are delighted to advise that our own on-line bidding platform, Adam’s Live is now fully
operational for those who wish to bid on-line. Watch the auction as it happens.
On the Live platform you can arrange to bid as the auction is taking place or at any time-
leave comission bids and the Adam’s Live platform will bid on your behalf.
Bidding through this portal will attract no additional internet surcharge for lots purchased
so in effect those bidders will pay the same as a room/telephone bidder. Online bidding
through the-saleroom.com and invaluable.com remains unaffected.
Sign up today for your own My Adam’s account and start saving on your on-line purchases.
Browse-Bid-Buy
On-line at www.adams.ie
Browse
On-line Viewing
On-line viewing has never been easier. Go to www.adams.ie. Choose the auction you wish
to view from the Auctions/Forthcoming Auctions menu, and you will be offered a range of
ways to view. You may choose to view a digital version of the printed catalogue in the view
e-catalogue option or explore the virtual 3D option which allows you explore the saleroom
with easy to navigate options or view the List View which opens automatically. This last op-
tion provides additional information and photographs of each lot as you choose the View
Details button. Lastly, and only during office hours there is a live-chat button onscreen. If at
any time you have a question whilst you are on line you can open a live chat and one our
staff can help you.
My Adam’s
Log on to our web site www.adams.ie and create an account by signing up and registering
your particulars online. The process involves supplying valid credit card information. This is
a once off request for security purposes, and once the account is activated you will not be
asked for this information again. The card information supplied is securely stored by Sage
Pay. You can leave absentee bids online, and add, edit or amend bids accordingly as well as
bidding over the internet in real time through ‘Adam’s Live’. You can also view your invoices,
bid history, wish lists & other useful functions including paying your invoice and creating
you very own personalised catalogue with search tags that will notify you once a catalogue
is uploaded for your key word search.

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September 2021
VIRTUAL 360 VIEWING
Circular navigation points allow you to walk around
the viewing room
ADAM’S LIVE
Watch the Auction and bid live with Adam’s Live
Information points provide “point & click“ details on
lots in view

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1 AFTER JONATHAN FISHER (1740-1809)
A View of The Lakes of Killarney from the Park of the Right
Hon. Lord Viscount Kenmare;
A View of the Lakes of Killarney from near Dunlow Castle;
O’Sullivan’s Cascade
Three engravings, 42 x 55cm (16½ x 21¾’’)
€ 5,000 - 8,000
Fisher was first heard of in 1763 when he was awarded a premium for landscape by the Dublin
Society and he later received another in 1768. Strickland surmises that he was educated in
England.
He was employed by the antiquarians and was patronized by and friend of Lord Carlow, later
first earl of Portarlington and who belonged to the antiquarian set. From around 1778 until his
death he held the position of Supervisor of Stamps in the Stamp Office.
He painted all over Ireland, not only issuing sets of views of Carlingford and Killarney but also
making a first attempt, in 1795 at a comprehensive coverage of the scenery of Ireland in some
sixty sepia aquatints. Two sketch-books dating from 1768 to 1770 are in the National Library of
Ireland and relate to the two sets of paintings and engravings of Killarney and Carlingford. The
sets of oils of Killarney exists in several versions and the engravings for the six were advertised
in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal in November 1768.

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September 2021

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2 AFTER PAUL SANDBY (1731-1809)
Trim Castle in the County of Antrim, Ireland
Engraving, 16 x 20cm (6.2 x 7.8”);
Together with Ruins of an Abbey near Trim
Castle, Ireland; and another print of Trim Castle,
Meath. (3)
€ 200 - 300
3 IRISH SCHOOL
Trim Castle, East Meath
Mezzotint, 17 x 21cm (6.6 X 8.2”)
€ 50 - 80

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September 2021
4 ROBERT HAVELL AFTER J. HAVERTY
George IV’s Public Entry into the City of Dublin, 17th August 1821 and his Em-
barkation at Kingstown, 3rd September 1821
A pair, coloured engravings, 47 x 68cm (18.5 x 26.7”)
(unglazed)
€ 600 - 800

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5 JACOBUS HOUBRACKEN AFTER HOLBEIN, KNELLER ETC.
From the series : Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain: Anne Bullen, Queen of King
Henry VIII; Sir Isaac Newton; Sir Thomas Moore; Thomas Cromwell, Earl of Sussex; etc.
A set of nineteen engravings, 37 x 23cm (14.5 x 9”) (19)
€ 2,000 - 3,000
Jacobus Houbraken was born in Dordrecht, Holland in 1698 and learned the art of engrav-
ing from his father. In 1707 he moved to Amsterdam, where for years he helped his father
with his magnum opus, his art historical work The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters (1718–
1721). With this project he started his portraits of Netherlandish celebrities, that are today
in many cases the only likenesses left of these people.
Houbraken devoted himself almost entirely to portraiture. His work became fa-
mous through his collaboration with the historian Thomas Birch and artist George Vertue,
on the project entitled, Heads of Illustrious Persons of Great Britain, published in parts
in London from 1743 to 1752. His oeuvre of more than 400 portrait engravings form an
important record for art provenance. His portraits were often set in an oval frame, with a
subtitle with the subject’s claim to fame. Under that in small letters, he placed his notes
about the original oil portrait. He died in Amsterdam, aged 81.

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Homan Potterton | 7th
September 2021

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6 FRANCOIS VIVARES (1709-1782)
AFTER PIERRE PATEL
Engraved from a picture after Patel generally
called The French Claude
Engraving, 43.5 x 52cm (17 x 20”) (sheet size)
€ 50 - 100
7 DOMENICO CUNEGO (1727-1803) AFTER GUERCINO DA CENTO
Filius Prodigus (The Prodigal Son)
Engraving, 25 x 30cm (9.8 x 11.8”);
Together with Henry, Duke of Gloucester by G. Vertue, 30 x 20cm (11.8 x
7.8”). (2)
€ 200 - 300

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September 2021
8 JAMES MC ARDELL (1729-1765) AFTER REMBRANDT
The Holy Family at Night
Mezzotint, 37 x 51.5cm (14.5 x 20”)
€ 300 - 500

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9 GIOVANNI VOLPATO (C.1732-1803)
Pio Sexto Pont. Max (After Raphael)
A set of four engravings, 58 x 76cm (22.8 x 30”)
(sheet size)
€ 2,000 - 3,000

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September 2021

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Giovanni Piranesi was born in Venice the son of a stonemason. His brother Andrea introduced him to Latin lit-
erature and ancient Greco-Roman civilization, and later he was apprenticed under his uncle, Matteo Lucchesi,
who was a leading architect in Magistrato delle Acque, the state organization responsible for engineering and
restoring historical buildings.
From 1740, he had an opportunity to work in Rome as a draughtsman for Marco Foscarini, the Venetian ambas-
sador of the new Pope Benedict XIV. He resided in the Palazzo Venezia and studied under Giuseppe Vasi, who
introduced him to the art of etching and engraving of the city and its monuments. Vasi found Piranesi’s talent
was much greater than that of a mere engraver.
After his studies with Vasi, he collaborated with pupils of the French Academy in Rometo produce a series of
vedute (views) of the city; his first work was Prima parte di Architettura e Prospettive (1743), followed in 1745 by
Varie Vedute di Roma Antica e Moderna.
In the mid 1740s he was mainly in Venice where, according to some sources, he often visited Giovanni Battista
Tiepolo, a leading artist in Venice. It was Tiepolo who expanded the restrictive conventions of reproductive,
topographical and antiquarian engravings. He then returned to Rome, where he opened a workshop in Via del
Corso. In 1748–1774 he created an important series of vedute of the city which established his fame. In 1761 he
became a member of the Accademia di San Luca and opened a printing house of his own. In 1762 the Campo
Marzio dell’antica Roma collection of engravings was printed.
In the mid 18th century the Grand Tour was developing it’s centre in Rome. It became a new meeting place and
intellectual capital of Europe for the leaders of a new movement in the arts. The city was attracting artists and
architects from all over Europe beside the Grand Tourists, dealers and antiquarians. While many came through
official institutions such as the French Academy, others came to see the new discoveries at Herculaneum and
Pompeii. Coffee shops were frequent gathering places, most famously the Antico Caffè Greco, established
1760. The Caffe degli Inglesi opened several years later, at the foot of the Spanish Steps in Piazza di Spagna,
with wall paintings by Piranesi. With his own print workshop and museo of antiquities nearby, Piranesi was able
to cultivate relationships in both places with wealthy buyers on the tour, particularly English.
The remains of Rome kindled Piranesi’s enthusiasm. Informed by his experience in Venice and his study of the
works of Marco Ricci and particularly Giovanni Paolo Panini, he appreciated not only the engineering of the
ancient buildings but also the poetic aspects of the ruins. He was able to faithfully imitate the actual remains;
his invention in catching the design of the original architect provided the missing parts. His masterful skill at
engraving introduced groups of vases, altars, tombs that were absent in reality; his manipulations of scale; and
his broad and scientific distribution of light and shade completed the picture, creating a striking effect from the
whole view.
10 AFTER GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
(1720-1778)
Views of St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome
A set of three etchings, 71 x 95cm (28 x 37.4”)
€ 4,000 - 6,000

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September 2021

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11 SIR NICOLAS DORIGNY (1658-1746)
AFTER DANIELE DA VOLTERRA AND
AFTER RAPHAEL
The Descent from the Cross and The Ascension of
Jesus
A pair, engravings, 80 x 51cm (31.4 x 20”)
€ 400 - 600
13 SIR NICOLAS DORIGNY (1658-1746)
AFTER CHARLES VAN LOO
Guillelmo, Comiti, Cadogan etc.
Engraving, 65 x 42cm (25.5 x 16.5”)
€ 100 - 200
12 AFTER I. SILVESTRE
Apollo and Daphne
Engraving, 45.5 x 57cm
€ 50 – 100

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September 2021
14 C. CESIUS AFTER ANNIBALE CARRACCI
Bacchus in Procession
Engraving, 39 x 75cm (15.3 x 29.5”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500
15 AFTER GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIRANESI
(1720-1778)
Veduta degli Avanzi del Foro di Nerva
Engraving, 41 x 62cm (16 x 24.4”)
(unglazed)
€ 300 - 500

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16 WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697-1764)
France, Plate 1st and England, Plate 2nd
A pair, engravings, 33 x 40cm (13 x
15.7”);
Together with The Bathos, 33 x 35cm
(13 x 13.7”). (3)
€ 200 - 300
17 JOHN HALL (1739-1797)
AFTER NATHANIEL DANCE
Timon of Athens
Engraving, 48 x 55.5cm (18.8 x 21.8”)
€ 100 - 200
18 JOHN EGINTON (FL.1775-1804)
AFTER FRANCIS WHEATLEY
The Fairings
Stipple engraving, 55 x 44.5cm (21.6 x 17.5”)
€ 200 - 300

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September 2021
Gabrielli was brought to Ireland by Lord Cloncurry to decorate rooms at Lyons Demesne in Co. Kildare. While working
there he married Lady Cloncurry’s maid and this may have influenced him in staying in Ireland after completing the Lyons
project. The paintings there were ‘The Bay of Naples’ and ‘The Bay of Dublin’ as well as ‘Views of Herculaneum’.
He also painted similar decorative work at Tandragee Castle for the Duke of Manchester and the painted walls in the draw-
ing room of No. 41 North Great George’s Street in Dublin.
Practicing in Dublin as a landscape painter he exhibited numerous works in various exhibitions up to 1814 and his land-
scapes were described in a notice of the exhibition of the Hibernian Society of Artists that year as “decidedly pre-emi-
nent” and according to Strickland he was placed as a landscape painter above Thomas Sautelle Roberts. He was a keen
draughtsman and produced many drawings taken while touring the country, several of which were engraved including
‘Carlow Castle’ and ‘Drimnagh Castle’, both used to illustrate Cromwell’s “Excursions through Ireland” in 1820.
William Spencer Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire is quoted as suggesting that Gabrielli ‘repaired to Rome’ in 1814 to
paint landscapes, some of which were returned to Ireland but Gabrielli himself does not appear to have returned. His date
of death is unknown.
19 ATTRIBUTED TO GASPARE GABRIELLI (FL.1805-1830)
Ruins - Study
Ink and sepia, 16 x 21.5cm (6.2 x 8.4”)
Inscribed by Homan Potterton verso ‘This is by Gabrielli and is from the same sketchbook as the
drawing in the National Gallery’
€ 300 - 500

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20 ITALIAN SCHOOL (19TH CENTURY)
Architectural Ruins
Watercolour, 13 x 18cm
Inscribed with initials ‘MR’
€ 200 - 400
21 IRISH SCHOOL (19TH CENTURY)
Landscape with Castle and Cattle
Grazing in the Foreground
€ 500 - 700

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September 2021
Male Nude with Goat
Red chalk, 47 x 39cm (18.5 x 15.3”)
€ 500 - 700

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23 SIR WILLIAM ORPEN RA RWS RHA (1878-1931)
Figure Studies
Red chalk, 23 x 17cm (9 x 6.6”)
Provenance: Neptune Gallery, Dublin, Orpen Exhibition,
June/July 1971.
€ 4,000 - 6,000

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September 2021
24 STYLE OF GABRIEL BERANGER (C.1729-1817)
Trim Castle, County of Meath
Watercolour, 14 x 19cm (5.5 x 7.4”)
Inscribed ‘Trim Castle, County of Meath from Dr. Wynn’
Provenance: With Cynthia O’Connor & Co. Ltd., Dublin.
€ 500 - 800
Born into a French Huguenot family who had settled in Rotterdam, Berenger followed some family members to
Dublin at the age of twenty-one in 1750.
His skill as a draughtsman and recorder of topographical views set him apart and his first recorded work, dated
1751, is a view of the ‘Round Tower of St Michael le Pole’ (RIA Collection), - a drawing of some importance as the
6th century church was demolished shortly thereafter having been adversely damaged in the great storm of 1775.
Strickland notes that in 1763 he was making sketches of ruins and remarkable places and buildings in and around
Dublin. He exhibited many of these drawings in the Society of Artists during the 1760s and again in the early ‘70s.
In 1773 he made the first of his antiquarian tours of the country, commencing in Co. Wicklow. His skills were rec-
ognised by the newly formed ‘Antiquarian Society’ who employed him to make plans and drawings of antiquities
for the society. This involved Berenger in travelling throughout the country, but particularly the south-east and
also Meath and Louth. He kept an itinerary illustrated with sketches and arranged them for publication in bound
volumes. One of these volumes, entitled “A Collection of Drawings of the Principal Antique Buildings of Ireland
designed on the spot and collected by Gabriel Beranger” was presented to the Royal Irish Academy by Dr Sharkey.

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25 LUCIUS GAHAGAN (1773-1855)
Bonaparte
Signed and dated 1825
Provenance: With Cynthia O’Connor Gallery, Dublin
€ 1,000 - 1,500
LUCIUS GAHAGAN (1773-1855 OR 1866)
The Gahagan (Geoghegan) family tree is a puzzle as the exact relationship between the seven sculptor
members of the family is unclear. Walter Strickland in his ‘A Dictionary of Irish Artists’, first published in
1913, refers to a Laurence Geoghegan (fl.1756-1820) as a sculptor. He was first mentioned in 1756, hav-
ing received a premium of four pounds by the Dublin Society for ‘a piece of sculpture’. He later went to
London, and in 1777, having altered his name to ‘Gahagan’, received a premium of thirty guineas from
the Society of Arts for a cast of a Figure. His brother Sebastian Gahagan (fl.1800-1835) is also recorded by
Strickland as being a sculptor, working in London for Joseph Nollekens RA. There are various references
to other Gahagans who are thought to be off-spring of either Laurence or Sebastian. Lucius, one of the
next generation, was apparently born in Dublin in 1773 and, despite his obvious skill at drawing, he made
his living as a sculptor and lived in Bath from about 1820 until his death. Much of the extant work, both
drawings and sculpture, is simply signed ‘L.Gahagan’ compounding the confusion.
These drawings, while of differing dates in the early 19th century, would appear to reflect the fashion in
Britain for Napoleonic memorabilia and design, particularly after the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. They date
from as early as 1817 to as late as 1831 but are quite distinctly by the same hand which would rule Lau-
rence out as the artist. A similar work to this tranche, and undoubtedly from the same series was sold by
Sotheby’s London in 2008, attributed to Laurence Gahagan.
This collection was exhibited by Cynthia O’Connor and Co. Ltd in Dublin in an undated Christmas show of
‘Old Irish Watercolours’, where they were purchased by Homan Potterton. They were described as Sketch-
es “From the large Panoramic Model Executed in Terra Cotta by L.Gahagan & Exhibited in Bath ….. and
Cheltenham in 1817 – 18 & to 2(?2 or 4)”.

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September 2021

36
Coronation of Bonaparte after the Picture by David
Watercolour, 26.5 x 38cm (10.4 x 15”)
Inscribed with title verso
€ 1,000 - 1,500
Bonaparte’s Throne
Signed and dated 1817; inscribed verso ‘Bonaparte swears to
the Constitution, December 2nd 1804’
€ 1,000 - 1,500

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September 2021

38
An Attack on Bonaparte’s Carriage
Watercolour, 17.5 x 21.5cm (6.8 x 8.4”)
Signed verso
€ 1,000 - 1,500
A Donski Cossac Leading on the Imperial Russian
Guard
Watercolour, 26.5 x 36.5cm (10.4 x 14.3”)
Signed and dated 1817; inscribed with title verso
€ 1,000 - 1,500

39
September 2021
Alexander Emperor of Russia
Watercolour, 35.7 x 25cm (14 x 9.8”)
Inscribed verso ‘Alexander of Rufsia - Empe’
€ 1,000 - 1,500

40
‘Description of the Design - A Grand Alarmist Mounted
upon a Spanish Trumpeter in Pursuit of a Supposed
Enemy’ - A Political Cartoon
Watercolour, 36 x 26.5cm (14 x 10.4”)
Signed ‘Gay-again’ and dated 1831
€ 1,000 - 1,500
The Russian Advance
Watercolour, 26.5 x 34cm (10.4 x 13.3”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500

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September 2021

42
The Russian Bear
Watercolour, 26 x 36.5cm (10.2 x 14.3”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500

43
September 2021
The Equestrian Statue of Peter the Great at St. Petersburg
Watercolour, 26.5 x 37cm (10.4 x 14.5”)
Signed and dated 1817; inscribed with title verso
€ 1,000 - 1,500

44
A set of six framed caricatures:
- L’Anello;
- La Scritta Matrimoniale;
- L’Accademia;
- La Buona Notte;
- Il Ballo;
- Il Pranzo
Watercolours, 20 x 29cm (7.8 x 11.4”)
Inscribed
€ 1,200 - 1,800

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September 2021
36 ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM PAGE (1794-1872)
Roman Ruins
€ 500 - 800
37 PICOLLI
Tempio de Castore, Foro Romano
Watercolour, 18 x 10.5cm (7 x 4”)
Signed; inscribed on typed label verso
€ 400 - 600

46
38 F. WAINWRIGHT
Portrait of a Young Gentleman and a Young Lady,
Three-Quarter Length
A pair, watercolour, 46 x 29cm (18 x 11.4”)
Signed and dated 1843. (2)
€ 1,200 - 1,800
39 WILLIAM BINGHAM MCGUINNESS
RHA (1849-1928)
River Landscape with Moored Boat
Signed with initials
€ 400 - 600

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September 2021
40 JOHN FAULKNER RHA (1835-1894)
Sheep Farm, Warwick
Watercolour, 46 x 75cm (18 x 29½’’)
Signed and inscribed
€ 1,500 – 2,500

48
41 ENGLISH SCHOOL (EARLY 19TH CENTURY)
Miniature portrait of a young gentleman, James
Shelley
Oval, watercolour, 7 x 5.5cm (2.7 x 2”)
€ 150 - 250
42 ENGLISH SCHOOL (19TH CENTURY)
Miniature Portrait of a Lady
Oval, watercolour, 7 x 5.5cm (2.7 x 2”)
Together with a miniature portrait of a young
graduate wearing academic cap and gown
Oval, watercolour, 7.5 x 6cm (2.9 x 2.3”) (2)
€ 150 - 250
43 A COLLECTION OF FOUR OVAL SILHOUETTE MINIATURE PORTRAITS,
including Elizabeth Dorcas Reynell, drawn 1815 and John Rising (b. July 25th 1813). (4)
€ 200 - 300

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September 2021
44 VICTORIAN SCHOOL
Portrait of a Seated Gentleman in a Black Suit
Watercolour, 13 x 10cm (5 x 3.9”)
€ 100 - 150

50
Miniature Portrait of a Lady in a White Dress
Oval, watercolour, 6.5 x 5cm (2.5 x 1.9”)
€ 60 - 100
Miniature Portrait of a Young Gentleman in a Black
Coat
€ 150 - 250
Miniature Portrait of a Young Lady in Gentleman’s
Attire
Signed with initials G.Y.
€ 150 - 250

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September 2021
48 STYLE OF PAUL SANDBY (1731-1809)
A Pair of Caricatures of Gentlemen
Ink and monochrome wash, 17.5 x 12cm
(6.8 x 4.7”)
Framed as one
€ 100 - 200
49 VICTORIAN SCHOOL
A double silhouette portrait of Robert Montgomery
Esq., M.D., 74th Reg’t. Ballinasloe 23rd March 1841,
and Mrs. Dr. Hise
20 x 16.5cm (7.8 x 6.4”)
Inscribed
€ 150 - 200
50 VICTORIAN SCHOOL
Full Length Portrait of a Gentleman Wearing a
Top Hat
€ 150 - 200

52
51 S. ISHIDA
Two Figures in a Paddy Field
Watercolour, 49 x 31cm (19 x 12.2”)
Signed
€ 700 - 800

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September 2021
52 KOBE
A Woodland Scene with Figures
Watercolour, 30 x 23cm (11.8 x 9”)
Signed
€ 400 - 600

54
53 LAURENCE GAHAGAN (1756-1817)
Portrait Bust of Lord Nelson
White statuary marble, 28cm high (11”)
Signed
€ 2,500 - 4,000
Listed in Strickland as a sculptor, L. Geoghegan of Anglesea Street in Dublin was given a
premium of four pounds by the Dublin Society in 1756 for “a piece of sculpture”. Strick-
land surmised that this was probably the marble statuette of Rubens, which at that time
belonged to W.T. Kirkpatrick of Donacomper, Celbridge and which is signed ‘L. Geoghe-
gan 1756’. He altered his name to Gahagan on reaching London. In 1777 he received a
premium of thirty guineas from the Society of Arts for a cast of a figure and exhibited in
the Royal Academy in 1798 busts of Admiral Sir Thomas Paisley and Sir Horatio Nelson.
He continued to exhibit at the RA until 1817.
Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, (1758 – 1805), known simply as Admiral Nelson, was
a British flag officer in the Royal Navy. His inspirational leadership, grasp of strategy, and
unconventional tactics brought about a number of decisive British naval victories, partic-
ularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was wounded in combat, losing sight in one eye
in Corsica at the age of 35, and most of one arm in the unsuccessful attempt to conquer
Santa Cruz de Tenerife when he was 38. The following year he won a decisive victory over
the French at the Battle of the Nile and remained in the Mediterranean to support the
Kingdom of Naples against a French invasion.
His name is synonymous with the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, which is regarded as Britain’s
greatest naval victory but Nelson, aboard HMS Victory, was fatally wounded by a French
sharpshooter shortly before victory. His body was brought back to England where he was
accorded a state funeral.

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September 2021

56

54 EDWARD A. FOLEY (1814-1874)
Portrait Bust of the Actor William Farren (1786-1861)
White statuary marble, c.75cm high (29.5”)
€ 4,000 - 6,000
William Farren was born on the 13th of May 1786, the son of an actor (b. 1725) of the same
name, who played leading roles from 1784 to 1795 at Covent Garden. His first appearance on
the stage was at Plymouth at the Theatre Royal, then under the management of his brother
Percy, in Love a La Mode. Having spent some time in Dublin, he returned to London as ‘William
Farren of Dublin’ and his first London appearance was in 1818 at Covent Garden as ‘Sir Peter
Teazle’, a part with which his name is associated. He played at Covent Garden every winter until
1828, and began in 1824 a series of summer engagements at the Haymarket which also lasted
some years. At these two theatres he played an immense variety of comedy characters.
From 1828 until 1837 he was at Drury Lane, where he played a wider range of characters, in-
cluding Polonius and Caesar. He was again at Covent Garden for a few years, and next joined
Benjamin Webster at the Haymarket, as stage-manager as well as actor. The present work by
Edward Foley was completed in 1841 when the actor was at the height of his popularity, just
two years before he suffered a stroke on stage at the close of his performance of the title-part in
Mark Lemon’s Old Parr. He was, however, able to reappear the following year, and he remained
at the Haymarket a further ten years, though his acting never again reached its former level.
During his later years he confined himself to old men parts, in which he was unrivalled. In 1855
he made his final appearance at the Haymarket, as Lord Ogleby in a scene from the Clandes-
tine Marriage. He died in London on the 24th of September 1861.

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58
55 CHRISTOPHER MOORE HRHA (1790-1863)
Portrait Bust of a Gentleman
White statuary marble, 56cm high (22”)
Signed and inscribed ‘London’
€ 5,000 - 6,000
Moore was born in Dublin in 1790. He was living at Upper Gloucester Place by 1819 and
exhibited a ‘Portrait of Himself’ and ‘The Combat between the Archangel Michael and Sa-
tan’ in the Dublin Society’s House in Hawkins Street.
Shortly after, he went to London and was living on Tottenham Court Road. He again exhibit-
ed ‘The Combat between the Archangel Michael and Satan’ in 1821 at the British Institution
and also contributed three works to the Royal Academy – ‘Infant Orpheus’, ‘Bust of Henry
Gratten’ and a ‘Bust of Charles Phillips, barrister’.
Moore continued to exhibit at the British Institution until 1834 with figure subjects and
sculptural studies, but no portrait busts, while his Royal Academy entries were almost
exclusively portrait busts. He continued to exhibit yearly at the RA until 1860. Although
making London his home Moore made regular trips to Dublin and from 1829 to 1861 he
exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy, and was elected a member in 1846.

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60
56 JOSEPH ROBINSON KIRK RHA (1921-1894)
Bust of a Gentleman
White statuary marble, 72cm high (28.3”)
€ 3,000 - 5,000
The fifth child and eldest son of sculptor Thomas Kirk and his wife Eliza Robinson, James at-
tended Trinity College Dublin in 1838 at the age of 17, graduating in 1843. During his time in
Trinity he exhibited two busts at the 1840 annual exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy.
In 1843 he was awarded a prize of five pounds from the Royal Irish Art Union for a study from
life figure entitled ‘Andromeda’. Having been commissioned to execute the figure in marble
he spent a year studying in Rome, on the generous proceeds.
Strickland notes that Kirk, during his long and productive career, executed not only a great
number of portrait busts but also many important public statues and monuments including
in Trinity College the four figures of ‘Divinity’, ‘Law’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Science’ on the Campa-
nile. He is also responsible for the bronze bas-relief of the ‘Siege of Seringapatam’ which
decorates the base of the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Many of his
portrait busts are in institutions such as the Royal College of Surgeons and numerous mon-
uments are in Mount Jerome Cemetery.

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62
57 JAMES HEFFERNAN (1785-1847) AFTER SIR FRANCIS CHANTREY (1781-1841)
Copy of the Original Bust of Sir Francis Burdett, at Oxford
Signed, inscribed and dated 1846
€ 5,000 - 7,000
Irish sculptor James Heffernan (1785-1847) was born in Derry and at an early age was appren-
ticed to Cork architect Michael Shanahan. Ambitious and determined, he left Cork for London in
1807 and entered the studio of Chantrey, and also became a student at the Royal Academy. After
a spell in Rome he returned to London where he once again joined Chantrey’s studio. When his
master died in 1841, Heffernan completed many of the unfinished works, the execution of which
established him as a first-rate artist and attracted many valuable commissions in his own right.
Sir Francis Chantrey was an interesting character in the London art scene of the early 19th Centu-
ry. His first success was the exhibition of a plaster bust of the radical politician John Horne Tooke
(1736-1812) at the Royal Academy in 1811. Chantrey was introduced to Tooke by his friend John
Raphael Smith, the draughtsman and engraver and the young sculptor became a frequent visitor
at Tooke’s Sunday lunches in Wimbledon. Who suggested that Chantrey do his bust is unknown
and there is no record of money changing hands but the initiative for putting the energy and
effort into making this portrait was Chantrey’s own and it is considered amongst his finest work.
Chantrey exhibited it with a bust of Sir Francis Burdett (1770-1844), the present lot being a copy
by Heffernan. Burdett was a reformist politican, and close friend of Tooke and as a constant
thorn in the side of various governments had been in prison for sedition the year before. The
sculptor was a committed supporter of Burdett, regularly attending meetings of the ‘Friends of
Liberty’. He saw himself as a recorder of the heroes of British radicalism and his first major exhi-
bition staked out his personal political commitments. As his career developed, Chantrey strayed
from this narrow political path and undertook many other commissioned portraits of men of
“the other party” and became, by his old age, public iconographer of the British establishment.

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58 A COLLECTION OF NINETY-SIX PLASTER INTAGLIO
PORTRAIT MEDALLIONS,
depicting European historical, literary and royal
personages, contained in four frames
€ 400 - 600
59 A PAIR OF FAUX MARBLE CIRCULAR COLUMNS,
one raised on square platform base.
108cm high (42.5”)
€ 800 - 1,200
60 EDWARD A. FOLEY (1814-1874)
Portrait Bust of a Young Girl
Signed and inscribed ‘London 1859’
€ 5,000 - 6,000
Born in Dublin, the son of Jesse Foley, a native of Winchester, he
was the elder brother of John Henry Foley RA, RHA.
Edward showed a talent for modelling and received instruction
from his step-grandfather Benjamin Schrowder (c.1757-1826). He
had come to Dublin to do sculpture in the new Custom House and
assisted Edward Smyth (1749-1812) in the carving of the key-stones,
emblematic of the Irish rivers. Smyth, who was a close neighbour,
later took the thirteen year old Edward as an apprentice. Schrowder
had married Foley’s grandmother and he lived and had his studio
in the same house on Montgomery Street as the Foleys lived in.
Around this time Edward became a pupil in the Royal Dublin Soci-
ety’s School.
Foley was unable to finish his apprenticeship as Smyth was unable
to provide him with work, so he resolved to take his chances in Lon-
don. After some time, he was engaged by William Behnes as an as-
sistant. Soon Foley had achieved a reputation in his own right and
began to exhibit at the Royal Academy in 1834 and continued to
exhibit there regularly until 1873. Strickland describes his non-por-
trait works as “graceful ideal works” of which the present bust is an
example. He died tragically at the age of 60.

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LOT 60
61 AFTER THE ANTIQUE
The Dying Gaul
White statuary marble, 12 x 27 x 15cm high
(4.7 x 10.6 x 6”)
€ 150 - 200
62 AN ART UNION OF LONDON PARIAN-WARE
MODEL OF SOLITUDE
BY J. LAWLOR, 1859. 50cm high (19.6”)
€ 600 - 1,000
63 A COPELAND PARIAN CHINA MODEL OF A YOUNG
WOMAN READING,
after the original by P. MacDowell. 34.5cm high (13.5”)
€ 300 - 500

66
64 ATTRIBUTED TO LAURENT DE LA HYRE (1606-1656)
Artemisia at the Mausoleum of Her Husband
Oil on canvas, 100 x 135cm (39.3 x 53”)
€ 15,000 - 20,000
The subject of the present work exercised numerous colleagues and friends of Homans over the years, with Artemisia being
agreed upon as most likely even if there is no explicit allusion to the event in which she is involved. The indecipherable object
held by the two flying putti doesn’t help but the putto to the extreme right, touching a stone next to the two columns might
allude to the erection of the mausoleum.
Artemisia was the wife of Mausolus, the Provincial Governor of Caria in Asia Minor. On her husband’s death in 353 B.C. she
erected a great elevated tomb and monument to his memory at Halicarnassus, thus providing the origin of the word ‘mau-
soleum’. The structure was designed by the Greek architects Satyros and Pythius of Priene. It was one of the seven wonders
of the ancient world.
It was said that Artemisia mixed the ashes of Mausolus in liquid which she then drank, thereby, observed Valerius Maximus,
the 1st century Latin historical writer, making of herself a living, breathing tomb. Artemisia symbolizes a widow’s devotion to
her husband’s memory. In Renaissance painting she is depicted holding a cup or goblet, as in the present work.
The present attribution to La Hyre is Homan Potterton’s but in correspondence with fellow academics in Berlin, London and
Paris, alternative attributions were also offered, most notably Giacinto Gimignani and Charles Alphonse Du Fresnoy. La Hyre
was born in Paris in 1606 and became a pupil of Georges Lallemand. His use of colour and carefully posed figures are the
trademarks of his distinctive painterly style and owes much to the influence of Italian painters working in Paris at the time.
La Hyre was a leading exponent of the neo-classical style, known in art-historical circles as Parisian Atticism - a movement in
French painting from 1640 to 1660, when painters working in Paris elaborated a rigorous neo-classical style, seeking sobriety,
luminosity and harmony, and referring to the Greco-Roman world.

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68
River Landscape with Figures in a Boat
Oil on canvas, 26 x 34cm (10.2 x 13.3”)
Inscribed indistinctly verso
€ 500 - 600
The Visitation
Oil on copper, 28 x 20cm (11 x 7.8”)
€ 1,200 - 1,800

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September 2021
67 CONTINENTAL SCHOOL
(LATE 18TH CENTURY)
Landscape with Waterfall and Figures
Oil on panel, 20 x 28cm (7.8 x 11”)
€ 400 - 600
68 DUTCH SCHOOL (19TH CENTURY)
Coastal Scene with Figures and Boats on a
Windy Day
Oil on panel, 14 x 20.5cm (5.5 x 8”)
€ 500 - 700

70
69 ATTRIBUTED TO ANGELICA KAUFFMAN (1741-1807)
Fame Decorating Shakespeare’s Tomb
Oil on canvas, 75 x 62cm, (29.5 x 24.4”) in painted oval
€ 8,000 - 12,000
The present painting attributed to the Swiss neo-classical painter Angelica Kauffman
depicts Fame as a woman decorating the tomb of the great playwright and poet Wil-
liam Shakespeare.
Kauffman achieved remarkable success for a woman painter of the period and under
the patronage of Joshua Reynolds she became one of the leading artists in England,
renowned for her allegorical subjects as well as her society portraits. She worked in
London from the 1760s to 1781 and notably was among the founding members of the
Royal Academy in London in 1768. Kauffman visited Ireland briefly during 1771, where
she received numerous commissions, including from the Earl of Ely at Rathfarnham
Castle, for whom she painted a large family portrait.
Her 1772 painting of Fame was made into an engraving a decade later by printmaker
Francesco Bartolozzi and versions appeared in many diverse mediums including most
commonly embroideries. A smaller version of this work, on metal panel is in the Burghley
House collection.

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September 2021

72
Judith with the Head of Holofernes
€ 2,000 - 3,000
Judith beheading Holofernes is the subject of many paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance and
Baroque periods. Holofernes was an Assyrian general who was about to destroy Judith’s home, the bibli-
cal city of Bethulia. In the story, Judith, a beautiful widow, is able to enter the tent of Holofernes because
of his desire for her. Overcome with drink, he passes out and is decapitated by Judith.
In keeping with the European tradition in representing the scene, Judith, in the present work, is assisted
by a maid in placing the severed head in a sack while the decapitated body of Holofernes is left in the
bed. The scene takes place just outside Bethulia whose city walls and towers are illuminated by moon-
light. Just below is the tent encampment housing Holofernes army, oblivious through drink to the fate of
their leader. Judith’s femininity is contradictorily combined with her masculine aggression but in the act
of placing the head in the sack she appears to turn her head away in revulsion. She is attractively attired,
representing more the ‘seducer-assassin’ of the late Renaissance period as opposed to the chaste ‘Virtue’
of earlier representations.

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September 2021
71 JUAN ANTONIO ARRIAGA (MEXICAN, 17TH CENTURY)
The Holy Family
€ 5,000 - 8,000

72 AFTER POMPEO BATONI (1708-1787)
The Choice of Hercules
Provenance: Florence Elkin Smith, 1959; Sale, Christie’s, New York, October 10th 1990, Lot 113.
The original of this composition is in the Galleria Sabauda, Turin.
€ 12,000 - 15,000
Pompeo Batoni was born in Lucca, in January 1708, the son of a goldsmith, Paolino Batoni and his wife, Chiara Sesti. He
moved to Rome in 1727, and was apprenticed with Agostino Masucci and later Sebastiano Conca. Batoni became a high-
ly-fashionable painter in Rome, particularly after his rival Anton Raphael Mengs, departed for Spain in 1761. Batoni was drawn
in his painting to the restrained classicism of painters from earlier centuries rather than to the work of the Venetian artists
then in vogue. In 1741, he was inducted into the Accademia di San Luca. He was greatly in demand for portraits, particularly
by the British travelling through Rome, who took pleasure in commissioning standing portraits set against the backdrop of
antiquities, ruins, and works of art. There are records of over 200 portraits by Batoni of visiting British ‘Grand Tour’ patrons.
In addition to art-loving nobility, Batoni’s subjects included kings and queens, Holy Roman Emperors, as well as popes Ben-
edict XIV, Clement XIII and Pius VI, and many more. He also received numerous orders for altarpieces for churches in Italy, as
well as for mythological and allegorical subjects such as the present work. Batoni’s style took inspiration and incorporated
elements of classical antiquity, French Rococo, Bolognese classicism, and the work of artists such as Nicolas Poussin, Claude
Lorrain, and especially Raphael.
The Choice of Hercules is an ancient Greek parable attributed to Prodicus and reported by Xenophon in Memorabilia. In
Xenophon’s text, Socrates tells how the young Hercules, as the hero contemplates his future, is visited by the female personi-
fications of Vice and Virtue. They offer him a choice between a pleasant and easy life or a severe but glorious life, and present
their respective arguments.
During the Renaissance the story of Hercules at the crossroads became popular again, and it remained so in Baroque and
Neoclassical culture. Famous examples from the visual arts include Albrecht Dürer’s print Hercules at the Crossroads (1498),
Paolo Veronese’s Allegory of Virtue and Vice (1565), and Annibale Carracci’s iconic The Choice of Hercules (1596). The original
of this composition by Pompeo Batoni is in the Galleria Subauda in Turin. It is listed as catalogue number 173 in Anthony M.
Clarke’s Catalogue Raisonne of Batoni’s ouvre, New York University Press, 1985. Previously in the collection of Florence Elkin
Smith, Homan Potterton purchased this version of The Choice of Hercules in Christies, New York in October 1990.

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76
Village Festival
Oil on canvas, 50.5 x 63cm (19.8 x 24.8”)
Provenance: Christie’s, New York 10/10/90, lot 13.
€ 5,000 - 8,000

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September 2021

78
74 NORTH ITALIAN SCHOOL (17TH CENTURY)
Lady with Table Laden with Fruit
Oil on canvas, 132 x 190cm (52 x 74.8”)
€ 8,000 - 10,000

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80
Saint Agnes of Rome
Oil on canvas, 46 x 36cm (18 x 14”)
€ 1,000 - 2,000
According to tradition, Agnes was a member of the Roman nobility, born in AD 291 and raised in an
early Christian family. She suffered martyrdom at the age of twelve or thirteen during the reign of
the Roman Emperor Diocletian, on 21 January 304.
Saint Agnes’ bones are conserved beneath the high altar in the church of Sant’Agnese fuori le mura
in Rome, built over the catacomb that housed her tomb. Her skull is preserved in a separate chapel
in the church of Sant’Agnese in Agone in Rome’s Piazza Navona.
Since the Middle Ages, Saint Agnes has traditionally been depicted as a young woman with her
long hair down, with a lamb, the symbol of both her virginal innocence and her name, and a sword
together with the palm branch being an attribute of her martyrdom.

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82
Lucretia
€ 3,000 - 4,000
Lucretia was the daughter of magistrate Spurius Lucretius and wife of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. In Roman
tradition the marriage of Lucretia and Collatinus was depicted as the ideal union, as both were faithfully
devoted to one another and Lucretia was considered an exemplar of ‘beauty and purity’ as well as Roman
standards. While her husband was away at battle, Lucretia would stay at home and pray for his safe return.
Because of her devotion to her husband, Roman writers Livy and Dionysus portrayed Lucretia as the role
model for Roman girls.
While engaged in the siege of Ardea, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last king of Rome, sent his son, Tarquin,
on a military errand to Collatia. Tarquin was received with great hospitality at the governor’s mansion, home
of Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus. While in camp, Tarquin and Collatinus were debating the virtues of wives when
Collatinus volunteered to settle the debate. In order to do so, he suggested riding to his home to observe
Lucretia. Upon their arrival, she was weaving with her maids. The party awarded her the palm of victory and
Collatinus invited them to stay, but for the time being they returned to camp.
Tarquin returned from camp a few days later with one companion to take up Collatinus’ invitation to visit and
was lodged in a guest bedroom. He entered Lucretia’s room while she was asleep in her bed. Tarquin having
woken her tried to convince Lucretia that she should be with him. However, Lucretia stood firm in her devotion
to her husband, even when Tarquin threatened her life and honour, while ultimately raping her. The following
day Lucretia dressed in black, went to her father’s house in Rome and cast herself down weeping in front of
her father and husband. She asked to explain herself and insisted on summoning witnesses before she told
them about her rape. After disclosing the rape, she asked them for vengeance, a plea that could not be ig-
nored because she was speaking to the chief magistrate of Rome. While the men debated the proper course
of action, Lucretia drew a concealed dagger and stabbed herself in the heart.
Since the Renaissance, the suicide of Lucretia has been an enduring subject for visual artists, including Rapha-
el, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Titian and Durer. Most commonly either the moment of the Rape is shown or Lucretia
is shown alone at the moment of her suicide as with the present work.

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84
77 ATTRIBUTED TO FRANCESCO TREVISANI (1656-1746)
Selene and the Sleeping Endymion
Bears signature ‘Coypel AC’
Provenance: Sale, Sotheby’s New York, February 1993, Lot 226.
€ 10,000 - 15,000
In Greek mythology, the moon goddess Selene, regarded as the personification of the Moon itself, is best known for her
affair with the beautiful mortal Endymion, the young shepherd who used to sleep on a mountain, and shown here with his
sleeping hound. In Roman mythology, Diana has the attributes of Selene and she was mentioned as the goddess who falls
in love with Endymion. Both goddesses were regarded as lunar goddesses, except for the fact that in Roman mythology,
Diana became a virgin goddess.
Selene is commonly depicted with a crescent moon, often accompanied by stars but sometimes, instead of a crescent, a
lunar disc is used as in the present work. A version of this painting is in the collection of the Museumlandschaft Hessen,
Kassel in Germany.
Born in Istria, then part of the Republic of Venice, in 1656, Francesco Trevisani was the son of Antonio Trevisani, an archi-
tect, who instructed him in the basics of design. He then studied in Venice under Antonio Zanchi after which he moved to
Rome, where he remained for the rest of his life, dying there in 1746. He was strongly influenced by Carlo Maratta, as it is
manifest in his masterpiece, the frescoes in San Silvestro in Capite, a commission in which he worked alongside Giuseppe
Chiari and Ludovico Gimignani. In Rome, he was favoured with the patronage of Cardinal Chigi, who employed him in sev-
eral considerable works, and recommended him to the protection of Pope Clement XI, who not only commissioned him to
paint one of the prophets in San Giovanni Laterano, but engaged him to decorate the cupola of the cathedral in Urbino.
There he represented, in fresco, allegories of the four Quarters of the World. He was employed by the Duke of Modena,
in copying the works of Correggio and Parmigianino, and also painted in Brunswick, Madrid, Munich, Stockholm, and
Vienna. He became a member of the Academy of Arcadia in 1712.

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86
The Holy Family with St. John
Oil on panel, 19 x 15cm (7.4 x 6”)
€ 1,000 - 2,000
79 ATTRIBUTED TO MICHELE ROCCA (1671-1751) ITALIAN SCHOOL
Madonna and Child
€ 2,000 - 4,000

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September 2021
Originally from Parma, where Correggio was a primary influence, Michele Rocca traveled to Rome in 1682 and trained under
a follower of Pietro da Cortona. Five years later he was back in Parma, but by 1695 he had returned to Rome.
Rome’s artistic environment provided Rocca with the major elements of his style. Under Sebastiano Conca’s influence, Rocca
painted works that are often mistaken for Conca’s. Conca’s elegant, sweet manner also inspired Rocca; through him, Rocca
may have met French painters working in Rome and by the 1720s Rocca’s paintings displayed the languorous eroticism and
fashionable chic of the French Rococo. His Clemency of Scipio (c. 1720; Rome, Private Collection) relies heavily on Conca’s
Antony and Cleopatra, while the shared dimensions of the two paintings (87×135 cm) have suggested to some that they were
executed as pendants. In 1710 Rocca was elected to the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon, and about the same time
he executed two of his best-known paintings: the Toilet of Venus (Providence, Museum of Art) and the Finding of Moses (Uni-
veristy of Chicago, Smart Museum of Art). These are among the finest of the small-scale, semi-precious cabinet pictures of
mythological and hagiographical subjects that dominate Rocca’s oeuvre and gained for him the reputation of being a petit
maître in early 18th-century Rome. Their decorative rarity, luminous pigmentation and rich painterly effects betray the fun-
damentally sensual nature of Rocca’s style and clearly suggest that his artistic vision was in some ways more closely aligned
with the emerging French Rococo than with the neo-Baroque style of his contemporary Roman colleagues.
Works by Rocca are represented in the following collections: J Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Louvre, Paris; Museu de
Arte de Sao Paolo; Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago, amongst others.

88
80 ENGLISH SCHOOL (EARLY 19TH CENTURY)
Landscape with Two Cattle and a Figure and
Dog Resting
Oil on panel, 37 x 43cm (14.5 x 17”)
€ 750 - 1,000
81 DUTCH SCHOOL (EARLY 19TH CENTURY)
A Hunter with his Dogs in Landscape
Oil on panel, 24 x 19cm (9.4 x 7.4”)
€ 600 - 800

89
September 2021
Landscape with the Flight into Egypt
€ 1,500 - 2,000
Landscape with Sheep
Oil on panel, 29 x 36cm (11.4 x 14”)
€ 750 - 1,000

90
A Concert
Oil on metal panel, 27 x 35cm (10.6 x 13.7”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500
85 ATTRIBUTED TO PETER LA CAVE (1769-1811)
Farmyard with Figures and Animals
Oil on panel, 23 x 33cm (9 x 13”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500

91
September 2021
86 ENGLISH SCHOOL (17/18TH CENTURY) (POSSIBLY ISAAC FULLER THE YOUNGER)
Charity
€ 2,000 - 3,000

92
Madonna and Child
€ 1,000 - 2,000
88 CONTINENTAL SCHOOL
(LATE 18TH CENTURY)
Figures at a Well
€ 500 - 800

93
September 2021
Collecting the Manna from Heaven
Oil on panel, 30 x 44cm (11.8 x 17.3”)
Provenance: Formerly in the collection of Lucius O’Callaghan (1877-1954), architect.
€ 1,000 - 2,000
Previously in his collection, Lucius O’Callaghan, second son of James Joseph O’Callaghan, was born on 18 August
1877 at the family home at 31 Harcourt Street, Dublin. After attending the Catholic University School and Blackrock
College, he became an architecture pupil in his father’s office. He set up as an architect in his own right at the age of
twenty-six and later with partners developed a successful practice.
O’Callaghan was a connoisseur and collector of paintings - particularly seventeenth century Dutch works - and of
antique furniture and porcelain. In 1917 he was appointed Governor and Guardian of the National Gallery of Ireland
for a five-year term and, in November 1923, Director, having stipulated in his application for the post that, if appoint-
ed, he should be allowed to continue to practise as an architect. He conducted the gallery’s affairs ‘in a quiet and
efficient manner’ until June 1927, when he resigned on account of his architectural commitments.

94
90 ATTRIBUTED TO CHARLES JERVAS (1675-1739)
Portrait of Captain Smith, in Armour
€ 5,000 - 8,000
Born in Clonlisk, Co. Offaly around 1675, the son of John Jervas and Elizabeth, daugh-
ter of Captain John Baldwin of Shinrone Castle, High Sheriff of County Offaly. Jervas
studied in London as an assistant under Sir Godfrey Kneller between 1694 and 1695.
Strickland notes that after selling a series of small copies of the Raphael Cartoons
c.1698 to Dr. George Clarke of All Souls College, Oxford, the following year he trav-
elled to Paris and Rome remaining there for most of the decade before returning to
London in 1709 where he developed a successful practice as a portrait painter. About
1715 he paid a visit to Ireland and remained there for a year or so. During this time he
painted a number of portraits, including Jonathan Swift. Painting portraits of the city’s
intellectuals, Charles Jervas became a popular artist often referred to in the works of
literary figures of the period.
With his growing reputation, Jervas succeeded Kneller as Principal Painter in Ordinary
to King George I in 1723, and continued to live in London until his death in 1739.

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96
91 THOMAS FRYE (1710-1762)
Portrait of an Elderly Gentleman in Brown Velvet Jacket
Signed, dated 1745 and inscribed ‘Aged 88’
Provenance: With Gimbel Brothers, New York; Sale, Sotheby’s New York, 17th January 1991, Lot no.
124, where purchased.
€ 5,000 - 8,000
Born in Edenderry, Co. Offaly into an Anglo-Irish family, Thomas Frye went as a young man to London
where he commenced painting portraits in oils, pastel, charcoal and in miniature. His big break came
with the commission from the Hall of the Saddlers, Cheapside in London to paint a full-length portrait
of Frederick, Prince of Wales. This important work brought the young artist a great deal of attention
and was the catalyst for a successful practice as a portrait painter. He developed a close and life-long
friendship with Sir Joshua Reynolds.
Described by Walter Strickland as a clever and versatile artist, in 1744 he became interested in a pro-
ject for making porcelain and with Edward Heyleyn developed the Bow factory. Frye became manager
and for a period of fifteen years devoted virtually all his time and energy to the creation of porcelain of
distinction. However, he was forced in 1759 to withdraw from the management of the business due to
ill-health and resumed his portraiture practice.
Frye’s artistic legacy also includes the development of the mezzotint into an artform in itself - a print-
making process which enabled half-tones to be produced without using line or dot-based techniques,
achieving tonality with a high level of quality and richness which was particularly useful in the pro-
duction of portraits. In the 18th century the mezzotint was viewed largely as a reproductive process
slavishly copying the fashionable portraits of the day. However, Frye was using mezzotint as a form
of artistic expression in itself, his head series of portraits were conceived as mezzotints, executed as
mezzotints, as original works of art and so from an 18th century point of view his approach was com-
pletely unique.

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September 2021

98
92 ROBERT HUNTER (FL.1752-1803)
Portrait of a Gentleman, Wearing a Brown Coat
Signed and dated 1762 bottom right
€ 5,000 - 8,000
Robert Hunter, widely regarded as the principal Irish portrait painter of his time, was a native of Ulster,
but little of his family and early years are known. The earliest reference to his artistic activity comes
with an 1752 advertisement in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal for engravings after his portrait of Tom Ech-
lin. As he painted Sir Charles Burton, Lord Mayor of Dublin (1752–3), the following year, he was by then
becoming established as an important portraitist in the city.
His portrait of Burton was afterwards engraved in mezzotint by J. McArdell; and ten years later, in
1763, the Dublin Society awarded him a premium of ten guineas for a full-length portrait of Lord
Taaffe, which was engraved in mezzotint the same year by John Dixon.
He contributed six works, including a “Susanna and the Elders,” to the exhibition of the Society of
Artists in George’s Lane in 1765, and was then living in Bolton Street. He regularly contributed to the
exhibitions of the Dublin Artists down to 1777, and again, for the last time, in 1800. Strickland noted
that Hunter was for many years at the head of his profession as a portrait painter and had a large
and profitable practice but after the arrival of Robert Home in 1780 his vogue declined. He was a
renowned collector of Old Master paintings and held an exhibition and sale of his pictures in 1792.
“Sleator’s Gazetteer” for 12 March 1763, contains verses on the merits of Hunter as a portrait painter.
After lauding his great genius and matchless merits the writer concludes with the lines: “Could Hoga-
rth, Reynolds, view the bold design, They’d gladly weave their richest wreaths with thine.”
Strickland mentions that ‘an excellent example is the “Portrait of a Gentleman” which was formerly
at Bellevue, Co. Wicklow, and was sold in 1906, a work which might almost pass as a Reynolds or
a Cotes. W. B. S. Taylor (“Fine Arts in Great Britain and Ireland”) says “he took excellent likenesses
and his practice was extensive; he was truly a gentleman in feeling, and had he practised his art at a
time or in a country where the arts were better understood, he would have been very eminent in his
profession.”

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September 2021

100
93 ROBERT WOODBURN (18TH CENTURY)
Portrait of a Lady Wearing a Lace Bonnet (Mrs. Phil Walsh)
Inscribed verso and dated 1794
€ 2,000 - 4,000
Not a great deal is known about Woodburn but according to Strickland he was a pupil and assis-
tant to Robert Home when the latter was in Ireland, and afterwards practised as a portrait painter
in Dublin and Waterford. Portraits by him of the Earl of Bective and Sir Robert Scott were exhib-
ited at Ellis’ Museum in Mary Street in 1792. In 1801 and 1802, when he was living at No.15 Great
Ship Street, he exhibited twelve portraits and landscapes in the Parliament House. Among them
were a portrait of Peter Walsh Reading by Candle-light and a portrait of Major-General Johnson,
who commanded at the battle of Ross in 1798. This portrait was engraved in mezzotint by Robert
Dunkarton and published by Woodburn.

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September 2021
94 IRISH SCHOOL (LATE 18TH CENTURY)
Portrait of a Gentleman in a Red Coat
€ 2,000 - 4,000

102
Portrait of Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (1760-1842)
Oil on panel, 28 x 23cm (11 x 9”)
€ 1,000 - 2,000
Richard Colley Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley, was born in Dangan Castle in County Meath
and was educated at the Royal School, Armagh, at Harrow and Eton and at Christ Church,
Oxford. At the age of twenty he entered the Irish House of Commons as the member for Trim.
The following year, upon the death of his father he was elevated to the Irish House of Lords as
2nd Earl of Mornington. In 1784 he joined the British House of Commons and soon afterwards
was appointed a Lord of the Treasury by William Pitt the Younger. His younger brother, Arthur,
was Field Marshal, The 1st Duke of Wellington.
In 1799, he was granted the Irish peerage title of Marquess Wellesley. As a colonial adminis-
trator he made his name as Governor-General of India between 1798 and 1805, and he later
served as Foreign Secretary in the British Cabinet and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. During
his time as the fifth Governor-General of India, while portraying his enemy as a cruel tyrant
needing to be put down, he invaded Mysore and defeated Tipu, the Sultan of Mysore, in a
major battle. The result of these wars and of the treaties which followed them was that French
influence in India was greatly reduced, and that Britain acquired increased influence in the
heartlands of central India.

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September 2021

104
96 JOHN LEWIS (FL.1736-1776)
Portrait of a Lady in a Blue Silk Dress
Oil on canvas, painted oval, 75 x 63cm (29.5 x 24.8”)
€ 2,000 - 4,000
Scant information is available about Lewis before he was engaged as a scene painter at Smock Alley Theatre in
Dublin. At that time the theatre was run by Jonathan Swift’s godson the playwright, Thomas Sheridan (1719-1788).
Sheridan is credited with gentrifying the neighbourhood around the theatre and returning the title of ‘Theatre
Royal’ to Smock Alley. Lewis lives on in Irish theatrical history as the first scene-painter to be permanently engaged
on the staff of a Dublin playhouse, a role that lasted from 1750 until 1757. He seems to have aligned himself with
Sheridan and when the Director retired in 1754, Lewis too ceased his involvement with the theatre only to return
later when Sheridan resumed the management.
Strickland noted that Lewis painted a beautiful ‘act-drop’ for Smock Alley at a time when London theatres had
nothing but the usual green curtain. He also painted three or four sets of scenes including one for “The Emperor
of the Moon” in 1757, the final year of his involvement with the theatre. Throughout his time in Dublin he devoted
much of his spare time to painting portraits, including one of Sheridan himself and the actress Peg Woffington,
which is now in the permanent collection of the National Gallery of Ireland.
On a visit to Quilca House, near Mullagh in Co. Cavan, Sheridan’s family home, he decorated the parlour with
painted clouds on the ceiling and portraits of Sheridan, Swift, Shakespeare and Milton along with allegorical
figures on the east wall. The house fell into decay a short time later and all but one of the decorations were lost.

105
September 2021

106
Portrait of a Gentleman, Wearing a Gold Braided Waistcoat and Brown Jacket, in Painted Oval
€ 2,000 – 3,000

107
September 2021
Gathering Turf
Signed indistinctly
€ 800 – 1,200

108
99 EDWIN HAYES RHA RI ROI (1819-1904)
Dutch Boats Running Free off Tantallon Castle, Isle of Wight
Oil on canvas, 36 x 61cm (14¼ x 24’’)
Bearing partial signature; also signed and inscribed verso
€ 5,000 - 8,000

109
September 2021

110
100 JEREMY WILLIAMS (1943-2015)
Residence of Homan Potterton Esq.,
No. 78 Merrion Square
A pair, watercolour, 28 x 17cm
Signed and dated October 1987
€ 800 - 1,200
101 JEREMY WILLIAMS (1943-2015)
119 W.71st Street, Manhattan
€ 500 - 700
101A THOMAS RYAN PPRHA (B.1929)
A Momento of the National Gallery
Outing - Dulwich Gallery 28 Nov
1981
Ink & watercolour, 18 x 12cm
€ 200 - 300

111
Homan Potterton | 7th
September 2021
102 THOMAS RYAN PPRHA (B.1929)
‘Farewell’ or The Going of Homan, a Tragedy
Ink & watercolour, 15 x 20cm
Signed, inscribed and dated 1988;
and another humourous sketch by the same hand, dated 1986.
(2)
€ 800 - 1,200
103 THOMAS RYAN PPRHA (B.1929)
Humourous Sketches for Homan Potterton
A set of three ink & watercolour, c.11 x 15cm
€ 800 - 1,200

112
104 LEO WHELAN RHA (1892-1956)
Portrait of Guendolen Wilkinson, Seated in an Elegant Interior
Signed
Exhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy 1926, catalogue no.74.
€ 15,000 - 25,000
Guendolen Wilkinson was one of two daughters to Sir Nevile Wilkinson and his wife Lady Beatrix Herbert,
1st daughter of the 14th Earl of Pembroke. In the early years of the 20th century the family lived at
Mount Merrion House in south county Dublin. In 1908 Sir Nevile was appointed Ulster King of Arms
and as such he was Principal Officer of Arms of Ireland and one of the chief heraldic officers in the
United Kingdom, a role he fulfilled until his death in 1940.
Wilkinson designed two spectacular doll’s houses, Pembroke Palace and Titania’s Palace. The latter
was hand built by the renowned Dublin cabinet-maker James Hicks of Pembroke Street, and was com-
pleted in 1922. It’s inspiration apparently came from Guendolen who claimed to have seen a fairy in
the woods at their home. Her father designed the palace to consist of eighteen rooms filled with hand
carved mahogany furniture. It was bedecked with three thousand tiny works of art from around the
world. The Wilkinson family, who had retained Titania’s Palace put it up for auction in London in 1978
where it was purchased by Legoland in Denmark. It is now on display at the 16th century water castle,
Egeskov in Denmark,.
Born in Dublin in 1892, Leo Whelan studied painting and drawing at the Metropolitian School of Art
under the tutelage of Sir William Orpen. He would become, along with Sean Keating and Patrick Tuohy
a highly influential member of the school of Irish painting in the early 20th century - a school which
adhered strongly to the academic style of portraiture promoted by Orpen. He first exhibited at the
Royal Hibernian Academy in 1911 with a portrait of Dr. O’Connell Redmond and over the course of his
career he would contribute 250 paintings to the annual show.
In 1916, as a student at the RHA art school, he won the Taylor Art Scholarship. A number of portrait
commissions followed, including one of the IRA headquarters in 1922, featuring Michael Collins whom
Whelan painted several times. In 1924, Leo Whelan was elected a full member of the RHA and became
Visiting Teacher of painting and drawing at the RHA schools.
His commissioned works, such as the present full-length portrait of Guendolen Wilkinson were treated
with his signature meticulous attention to detail. Exhibited at the 1926 RHA annual show he presents a
young society lady in a relaxed pose, fashionably attired in a red silk dress, and seated before a Geor-
gian mantelpiece. Another portrait by Whelan was exhibited that year, one of another Gwendoline,
Count John McCormack’s daughter. The tenor was one of Whelan’s closest friends and tried unsuc-
cessfully to get the painter to relocate to the United States. Whelan however developed a hugely suc-
cessful practice in Dublin as the principal portraitist in the country and was the immediate choice for
commissions for the church hierarchy, politicians, medics and senior business figures until his death
in 1956.

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114
106 NORAH MCGUINNESS HRHA (1901-1980)
Study of a Reclining Gentleman
Pencil, 28 x 44cm (11 x 17.3”)
€ 500 - 800
105 AFTER SIR HENRY MAXIMILIAN
(MAX) BEERBOHM (1872-1956)
Mr. W.B. Yeats Presenting Mr. George
Moore to the Queen of the Fairies
Print, 34 x 21.5cm (13.3 x 8.4”)
€ 100 - 150

115
September 2021
107 JOHN COSMO CLARK (1897-1967)
Café at Dieppe (1938)
Crayon and charcoal, 22 x 29cm (8½ x 11½’’)
Signed and inscribed ‘Dieppe 1938’
€ 1,500 - 2,500
108 MAURICE MACGONIGAL PRHA
(1900-1974)
Mr. O’Flaherty Johnston’s Goats (1957)
Pencil sketches, 15 x 23cm (6 x 9”)
Provenance: With the Grafton Gallery, Dublin.
€ 150 - 250

116
111 HENRY ROBERTSON CRAIG RHA
(1916-1984)
Portrait of a Gentleman of the Napier Family
Oil on canvas, 88 x 59cm (34¾ x 23¼’’)
Signed
€ 2,500 - 3,500
(1916-1984)
Landscape, Estuary with Figures
Oil on board, 24.5 x 34.5cm (9¾ x 13½’’)
Signed
Provenance: With David Hendriks Gallery,
Dublin
€ 1,500 - 2,500
(1916-1984)
The Sovereign Isles
Oil on canvasboard, 18 x 25cm (7 x 9¾’’)
Signed, also inscribed with title and numbered
6 verso
Provenance: With Ritchie Hendriks Gallery,
Dublin.
€ 1,000 - 1,500

117
September 2021

118
MICHAEL HEALY (1873-1941)
Born in Dublin in 1873 in humble circumstances Michael Healy had an innate interest in art and an
ability in drawing which developed further with his attendance at the Dublin Metropolitan School of
Art in 1892. His artistic education was interrupted for a couple of years while he investigated whether
he had a religious vocation. He re-enrolled in art college and on graduating secured a job as an illus-
trator with The Irish Rosary a new Dominican publication. Through the influence of his editor Healy
travelled to Florence where he attended the Life School of the Academia di Belle Arti.
He returned to Ireland in 1901 but it wasn’t until 1903 that his career really got going with Sarah
Purser’s invitation to join An Túr Gloine, the stained glass studio whose other members included
A.E.Child, Beatrice Elvery, Wilhelmina Geddes and Evie Hone. Initially he assisted in the painting of
windows designed by others but within a year or two was designing and painting windows entirely
himself. The quality of his work set him apart from many of his peers and before long he had ceased
assisting others and developed his own style and ultimately a successful practice, producing win-
dows for chapels, churches and cathedrals in Ireland and throughout the world. While stained glass
is what he is best known for, we are all very familiar with his ‘Dubliners’ series, small watercolour
sketches of people in his native city going about their everyday activities. He did exhibit a small
number of oil paintings throughout his life, painting both portraits and landscapes. The present
collection of charming and attractive oils were purchased by Homan at Michael Healy’s studio sale
held by DeVere’s in September 2003.

119
112 MICHAEL HEALY (1873-1941)
Co. Dublin Landscape
Oil on board, 20 x 30cm (7¾ x 11¾’’)
Provenance: Michael Healy Studio Sale,
De Vere’s 23/9/03, lot 9
€ 500 - 800
Oil on board, 22 x 29.5cm (8¾ x 11½’’)
De Vere’s 23/9/03, lot 12.
€ 500 - 800
Oil on board, 19 x 25.5cm (7½ x 10’’)
De Vere’s 23/9/03, lot 28.
€ 500 - 800
Oil on board, 20 x 26.5cm (7¾ x 10½’’)
De Vere’s 23/9/03, lot 26.
€ 500 - 800

120
Oil on board, 18 x 23.5cm (7 x 9¼’’)
De Vere’s 23/9/03, lot 22.
€ 500 - 800
117 JAMES NOLAN RHA (1929-2015)
Lambay Island from Malahide
Oil on board, 15 x 20cm (6 x 7¾’’)
Signed; presentation inscription from the artist
to Homan Potterton, June ‘88 verso
€ 500 - 800

121
September 2021
118 ERIC PATTON RHA (1925-2004)
Tree Study
Oil on board, 15 x 25cm (6 x 9¾’’)
Signed verso
€ 300 - 500
119 DEREK HILL HRHA (1916-2000)
Small Lake near Lough Salt, Donegal (1969)
Oil on canvas, 25 x 25cm (9¾ x 9¾’’)
Provenance: Collection of the artist.
€ 1,500 - 2,500

122
120 ESTELLA FRANCES SOLOMONS HRHA
(1882-1968)
Bogland, Breaghy Head, Co. Donegal
Oil on canvasboard, 27 x 35cm (10½ x 13¾’’)
Signed
€ 2,000 - 3,000
121 BEA ORPEN HRHA (1913-1980)
Deep in the Woods
Gouache, 21 x 28cm (8¼ x 11’’)
Signed
€ 300 - 500

123
September 2021
122 MARTIN MOONEY (B.1960)
Aqueduct in the Campagna
Oil on board, 17 x 22.5cm (6¾ x 8¾’’)
€ 1,000 - 1,500
123 JOHN COYLE RHA (1928-2016)
Interior, Bologna
Oil on canvasboard, 32.5 x 39.5cm
Signed
€ 600 - 800

124 JAMES NOLAN RHA (1929-2015)
Little Venice, Mykonos
Watercolour, 16 x 24.5cm (6¼ x 9½’’)
Signed; presentation inscription from the artist to
Homan Potterton
€ 500 - 800

125
September 2021
125 HENRY ROBERTSON CRAIG RHA (1916-1984)
Rocky Shore
Oil on canvasboard, 33 x 40cm (13 x 15¾’’)
Signed
Provenance: With David Hendriks Gallery, Dublin.
€ 1,500 - 2,500

126
126 LILIAN LUCY DAVIDSON ARHA (1879-1954)
The Seine, Paris, Through Trees
Watercolour, 40 x 33cm (15¾ x 13’’)
Signed with monogram
€ 1,500 - 2,500
Originally from Bray, Co. Wicklow, Lilian Davidson studied at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where
she was a prize-winning student. In 1897 she won the RDS Scholarship which carried a free studentship,
it didn’t come too soon as that was the year of her father’s death. She began exhibiting at the RHA in 1914
and did so regularly until her death. When in Dublin she taught painting privately in her studio and at
schools around the county. Although not in very buoyant financial circumstances she travelled extensively
and did so for most of her life. She painted landscapes in France, Belgium and Switzerland, besides vari-
ous parts of Ireland.
She first exhibited at the Watercolour Society in 1912, and did so until 1954. She also exhibited regularly
with the Dublin Painters Society (1939-54) and the Munster Fine Art Club, and was part of an interesting
circle, being friendly with Jack Yeats whom she painted. She also wrote plays under the pseudonym of
‘Ulick Burke’, and her most famous play ‘Bride’ was directed at the Gate Theatre by Hilton Edwards, with
sets designed by Michael McLiammoir. She was certainly aware of the works of Honore Daumier and Jean
Francois Millet and used the same prototype of humanity for important works depicting the Irish Peasant.
Davidson portrayed the Claddagh, the Irish-speaking district of Galway, at a time when she was involved
with the Torch Theatre for whom she was writing a play.
Her portraits of Jack B. Yeats and Sarah Purser can be found in the permanent collection of the National
Gallery of Ireland, and other works including a self-portrait ‘The Golden Shawl’ are in Dublin City Gallery,
the Hugh Lane, the Abbey Theatre and Ulster Museum Collections.

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September 2021

128
127 CHARLES LAMB RHA (1893-1944)
A Summer Day in Connemara
Oil on panel, 29 x 39cm (11½ x 15¼’’)
Signed
€ 4,000 - 6,000
Born in Portadown, Co. Armagh, Charles Lamb initially studied life drawing at night at
the Belfast School of Art before winning a scholarship to study full time at the Metropol-
itan School of Art in Dublin in 1917.
In 1921 Lamb visited Carraroe in Connemara for the first time. Charles Lamb, like Henry,
Keating and MacGonigal had a deep attachment to the West of Ireland, especially the
area around Carraroe where he settled in 1935 and ran a painting school during summer
months. From the mid-1930s he concentrated on depicting landscape, working rapidly
on a warm-toned surface whilst trying to capture the changing mood and light of Con-
nemara. His vision which is characteristically contemplative is characterised by broad
brushwork and restrained impasto.
He also lived and worked in Brittany for a time during the 1920s, where the locals and
way of life came to be the focus of his subject matter, as the people of Connemara did
while he worked there. He exhibited in London, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles as well
as regularly at the RUA and RHA where he became a member in 1930 and 1938 respec-
tively. In 1947 a solo show was held at CEMA, Belfast, and a retrospective of his work
was held in 1969 at the Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin. Significant works can be found in the
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin City Gallery, the Hugh Lane and the Ulster Museum.

129
September 2021

130
128 THERESE LESSORE (1884-1945)
The Tea Party
Watercolour, 27 x 33cm (10½ x 13’’)
Signed
€ 1,000 - 1,500

131
September 2021
129 JOHN COYLE RHA (1928-2016)
Still Life with Open Book
Oil on canvas, 35 x 30cm (14 x 11¾’’)
Signed
€ 600 - 800

132
129A LIAM BELTON RHA (B.1947)
Cigarette Smokers, Bewleys ‘67
Pen & ink, 12 x 17cm
€ 250 – 350
130 LIAM BELTON RHA (B.1947)
Herb Cutter, Cheese Boxes & Eggs
Oil on canvas on board, 50.5 x 40cm (20 x 15¾’’)
Signed; also signed inscribed with title and dated 2001
verso
€ 4,000 - 6,000

133
September 2021

134
135 AN IMPORTANT 18TH CENTURY IRISH WALNUT RECTANGULAR SIDE TABLE, C.1740,
with flecked black Kilkenny marble top with moulded rim above a heavily carved oak leaf and acorn frieze
centred with a lion mask, raised on leaf capped double scrolled legs on carved paw feet. 116 x 75cm (45.6
x 29.5”)
Literature: Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture, Yale University Press, 2007, Reference number 65, illustrated page
221.
€ 40,000 - 60,000
Listed as number 65 in the Knight of Glin and James Peill’s Irish Furniture, published by Yale University Press
in 2007, Homan’s side table is illustrated in situ in his Dublin home occupying pride of place just below his
Leo Whelan portrait of socialite Guendolen Wilkinson. Described by the Knight as “A walnut side table with
Kilkenny marble top c. 1740, Private Collection” this important table was in Homan’s collection for nigh on
half a century and was a piece he was particularly fond and proud of.
In Desmond Fitz-Gerald’s writings on the origins of a distinctly Irish design he noted how it was primarily
inspired by a proto-nationalist movement at the start of the Georgian era, when the country enjoyed more
settled circumstances that it had for some time. While some of the finest craftsmen employed during the
period, were of French Huguenot origin, they were encouraged by a number of patrons and writers to
produce work distinctly different in character from that manufactured in England. The Knight notes for
example that in 1720 Dean Swift published, albeit anonymously, his pamphlet entitled A Proposal for the
universal Use of Irish Manufacture in Cloaths and Furniture of Houses etc. utterly Rejecting and Renouncing
Every Thing wearable that comes from England. Within two decades, another keen pamphleteer, Samuel
Madden, had published a number of documents such as the Reflections and Resolutions Proper for the
Gentlemen of Ireland, as to their Conduct for the Service of their Country as Landlords etc. of 1738. This
popular intellectual movement led to a style of furniture design that is easily recognisable, with idiosyn-
crasies that link it directly to Irish manufacturers, thus differentiating it from the work being produced by
English furniture makers of the same period. It is also well noted that Irish furniture design in particular, was
well behind the curve of prevailing fashions across the Irish Sea, with popular motifs being incorporated
long after they were deemed old-fashioned in England.
Dating from around 1740, Homan’s table has features clearly identifying its Irish origin, particularly the elab-
orately carved frieze composed of bas-relief oak-leaves and acorns centred with a stylised lion’s mask with
a truncated chin. The Knight, commenting on Homan’s table noted that ’The unusual leg profile of this table
relates to the pair of Kilruddery tables’. Those tables, now in a private collection have similar and distinctive
double scroll legs. The Kilruddery tables date to around 1730, and are “carved with acanthus leaves and
have panelled feet, a popular Irish motif and one that is rare in England.” The present table however has
a more robust, elaborately carved acanthus leaf capped leg and what one might call a ‘double cabriole’
terminating in a panelled ankle and elongated lion’s paw feet. Curiously the right hand frieze is uncarved
and no explanation has been provided to date as to this unfinished element. The original top is of Kilkenny
flecked black marble and has a thumb moulded rim. It probably originated in the fledgling Kilkenny Marble
Works which was founded by William Colles in 1730. Colles’ enterprise at Maddockstown on the banks of
the river Nore, was acknowledged as the first to apply water power to the sawing, boring and polishing of
marble. The marble was described contemporaneously as being ‘fully as durable and as fine a polish as any
brought from Italy’.

135
September 2021

136
136 A LATE VICTORIAN LOW SEAT CHAIR,
with rectangular padded back and seat covered in needlework
and velvet, raised on ebonised turned legs.
53cm wide x 73cm high (20.8 x 28.7”)
€ 300 - 400
137 A VICTORIAN GENTLEMAN’S
UPHOLSTERED ARMCHAIR,
covered in blue damask and raised on giltwood
octagonal legs.
75cm wide x 88cm high (29.5 x 34.6”)
€ 1,000 - 1,500

137
September 2021
138 A GEORGIAN STYLE MAHOGANY FRAMED
UPHOLSTERED WING BACK ARMCHAIR,
raised on carved cabriole legs and claw and
ball feet. 86cm wide x 112cm high (33.8 x 44”)
€ 750 - 1,000
139 A VICTORIAN LADIES UPHOLSTERED
BUTTONED LOW SEAT ROLL-BACK CHAIR,
covered in gold velvet and with tassel fringe.
65cm wide x 80cm high (25.5 x 31.4”)
€ 400 - 600

138
140 A PAIR OF GILTWOOD TWO LIGHT
TORCHERE WALL SCONCES,
in the Neo-Classical taste, decorated with
acanthus leaves and rosettes to scroll
branches and terminating in tapering
bellflowers. 46cm high (18”)
€ 600 - 800
141 A TURKISH WOOL CARPET,
in the traditional taste, the iron red ground decorated with
floral motifs within borders and guard stripes. 256 x 342cm
(100 x 134”)

€ 800 – 1,200

139
142 A DUN EMER WOOL CARPET,
with central multicoloured Celtic medallion on moss green ground, within a beige and yellow border.
301 x 251cm (118.5 X 99”)
€ 1,500 - 2,500

140
144 A VICTORIAN MAHOGANY POT CUPBOARD,
with raised gallery and single panel door, raised on
tapering legs. 38cm wide (15”)
€ 300 - 400
143 A 19TH CENTURY CONTINENTAL CARVED
GILTWOOD RECTANGULAR WALL MIRROR,
with gadroon rim and stylised egg and dart
border. 136 x 84cm (53.5 x 33”)
€800 - 1,200

Adam's homan potterton 7th september 2021

Adam's homan potterton 7th september 2021

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Adam's homan potterton 7th september 2021