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Irish Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Jack B Yeats's painting of mournful scene after Bloody Sunday 1920 is acquired by National Gallery
The National Gallery of Ireland has acquired a Jack B Yeats painting with financial support from the Government and a private donor. Bought last year, the painting, titled Singing The Dark Rosaleen, Croke Park, is on display for visitors to view in the gallery's Irish rooms. This 'deepens the gallery's representation of one of Ireland's most beloved and influential artists, while offering a poignant reflection on a pivotal moment in Irish history', the National Gallery said. The painting was stolen in the 1990 Dunsany Castle art theft, however five years later it was returned to its owner, Sheila Plunkett, who subsequently sold it to the late businessman Ben Dunne for £500,000. READ MORE It is understood Mr Dunne and his wife sold the painting, via Gormleys, in 2022 for about €1 million. The 1921 painting is not a depiction of the scene of the 1920 Bloody Sunday tragedy in which British forces opened fire on a Dublin-Tipperary GAA match in Croke Park , killing 14 and injuring 60, although is said to be closely associated with it. 'Its title, setting, and sombre tone evoke the tragedy and its consequences,' the National Gallery said, saying that it remained unclear if the scene depicted a specific moment or an amalgam of Yeats's memories. The gallery described it as 'one of Yeats's few overtly political works', which 'stands as a deeply personal response from a keenly sensitive individual to a seismic moment in Irish history'. It is said this oil on canvas painting is an early representative of the expressionist paintings he would later be lauded for such as 1924's The Liffey Swim. 'This acquisition is a testament to the [gallery's] commitment to preserving and presenting Ireland's artistic and historical legacy, ensuring that future generations can engage with the powerful narratives woven into the national collection,' the National Gallery said. Gallery director Caroline Campbell said this acquisition 'enriches our national collection and allows us to share his remarkable legacy with all our visitors'.
Irish Times
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
12 must-see artworks at the RHA Annual Exhibition 2025
It is the largest and longest-running open-submission exhibition in Ireland, and the 195th RHA Annual features 422 pieces by academicians and artists old and new. It will also be the final Annual for Patrick Murphy, who retires as director of the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts at the end of 2025. He took up the role in 1998, since when the RHA has regained its relevance in the Irish art infrastructure, revamped its Ely Place headquarters, elected its first woman president, revised its charter and celebrated its 200th anniversary. [ From surviving dissent and debt to celebrating artists: The Royal Hibernian Academy at 200 Opens in new window ] The RHA Annual Exhibition itself is selected by a committee of artists. Their choices, this year from 4,565 submissions, are made anonymously, and are exhibited alongside pieces from RHA members, plus 11 invited artists. Despite not including performance or site-specific works, the RHA Annual is often said to offer a snapshot of the state of art-making today. So with all that going on, where do you start? We pick 12 works on which to feast your eyes. READ MORE Abigail O'Brien: Susanna and the Elders I & II 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Susanna and the Elders I, by Abigail O'Brien. Photograph courtesy of the artist 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Susanna and the Elders II, by Abigail O'Brien. Photograph courtesy of the artist Coming from the Bible's Book of Daniel, the story of Susanna and the Elders has been a pervy staple in art history, as two fully clothed men stare lustfully at the semi-naked Susanna. Rubens had a go, but it took Artemisia Gentileschi to give a sense of how Susanna herself might have felt, when she painted it, in multiple versions, in the 1600s. Abigail O'Brien's large-scale photographs show a female display mannequin perched on a chair in a junk or antique shop from a pair of angles. More or less naked ('she' is wearing a hat and necklace), the images show the ludicrous proportions that have been manufactured to characterise female 'beauty'. While the setting may hopefully imply how outdated these standards are, the images also underline the continuing objectification of women, in commerce as well as in art. O'Brien is the RHA's first woman president in its 200-plus-year history; her preface to the exhibition catalogue sets out the gender inequalities that women artists still face. Despite greater parity in representation in the Annual, their work is still consistently undervalued, including by the artists themselves. Institutional inequalities also persist in our public collections. That said, we may be doing better than they are in Britain. O'Brien notes that the UK Royal Academy of Arts, in London, has been going for more than 250 years, yet only held its first solo show by a woman artist in its main galleries in 2024. As she writes: 'most of all, we need to keep talking about it.' Caoimhe McGuckin: Wellspring 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Wellspring, by Caoimhe McGuckin. Photograph courtesy of the artist While The Fall, a large architectural pavilion by Ben Mullen, Peter Maybury and Tom de Paor, initially grabs the attention as it eats up a large chunk of the upper main gallery, there are some very powerful smaller sculptural gems to savour. Áine Ryan's 'Go Make the Tea' He Said is a delicate pâte-de-verre trio of sculptures on a silver tray. What at first appear to be little biscuits are instead a pair of breasts. Serving up subversion with every sip? Alongside this, Caoimhe McGuckin's Wellspring is a cast-wax model of the human heart. Instead of aorta there are stubs of bright red crayons. It may bring to mind an idea of human creativity beginning at childhood, but it's also worth realising that the sculpture very strongly resembles a grenade. Elaine Byrne: Losing All Sense of Time 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Losing All Sense of Time, by Elaine Byrne. Photograph courtesy of the artist Elaine Byrne's sybaritic image of a swimming pool is photographed in vivid colour, as tanned families and loving couples disport themselves on fake rocks. So far so very escapist. But the pool is built out over the sea, which threatens to engulf the bathers on one side. Suddenly the thin fencing seems ludicrously fragile – as ludicrous, perhaps, as building a swimming pool at the edge of the ocean. While frequently beautiful, Byrne's work tends to have a political edge, so look closer still and see that the sea is a totally different hue of blue, and the real rocks edging into the picture are different again from their created cousins next door. The idea of sunbathing at the end of the world calls to mind Sun & Sea, the opera performance that came to Cork Midsummer in 2023, after winning the Golden Lion for Lithuania at the Venice Biennale in 2019. Bernadette Kiely: No Promised Land 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: No Promised Land, by Bernadette Kiely. Courtesy of the artist A highly accomplished painter, Bernadette Kiely has been increasingly focusing her subtle eye on the climate crisis . Her arresting oil painting No Promised Land seems as if it is literally saturated, as a bright-red delivery truck is swamped in the midst of a flooded plain. Conjuring all the nuances of greens and greys, and with a brilliant eye for composition, Kiely shows how easily our landscapes, and our sense of safety, can be obliterated by the power of natural forces. We can just make out roads, hedges and the tops of trees, but if we don't do something soon, the future could become a highly inhospitable place – even in Ireland's gentle fields. Ally Nolan: The Men/Na Fir 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: The Men/Na Fir, by Ally Nolan. Courtesy of the artist You'll need to go to the passage behind the RHA's reception desk to find this large mixed-media panel. Based on Thomas H Mason's photograph Four Aran Men, Inis Meáin, from the National Museum of Ireland , the artist has layered digitally printed organza, linen, wool and appliqué, complete with hand-woven embroidery. Nolan is an award-winning fashion graduate with a master's in art history, a background that tells in this richly complex work that brings the original black-and-white print to life. It shows the vibrancy of the layers of knowledge embedded in the legacies of craft, while underlining the craft embodied in some of today's technologies. Ronnie Hughes: Chromatic II 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Chromatic II, by Ronnie Hughes. Courtesy of the artist There is a joyful exuberance at this year's Annual not seen since before the Covid pandemic. This is not to say that artists are ignoring the panoply of problems the world is facing, but there is nonetheless a burst of colour, in painting particularly. A cluster of canvases in one of the upper galleries includes Tom Climent's Contour Lines, John Fitzsimons's Generation and Ann Marie Webb's Back Light. Chromatic II, by Ronnie Hughes, shows how the simple-seeming geometries of colour and line can make the eyes and mind dance. With none of the frenetic, brain-melting energies of full-on op-art, this work gets behind and beyond language to celebrate the power of colour in all its abstract glories. Cathal Carolan: Censored 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Censored, by Cathal Carolan. Courtesy of the artist In the Annual hang, the RHA's atrium is reserved for highly wantable small works, and this year there are plenty to shine. Conor Horgan's photograph of pinked-up oyster mushrooms comes from his Disco Vegetables series, Stephanie Rowe's Auction II captures a moment of intensity in jewel-like form, while Tara O'Reilly's Night Worker is a standout of a small portrait. Within this group Cathal Carolan's Censored continues to draw the eye. A headscarved woman is seated on a bus or train, looking away from the camera, her eye line bisected by a window panel. While this anonymising gesture is powerful in itself, what makes the work unforgettable is that this woman, out of context and perhaps even out of her home country, has all the qualities of posture and light of a Vermeer. Value and worth are curious notions, dependent entirely on the arbitrary whims of place and time. Pauline Rowan: Awake, Between the Gates 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Awake, Between the Gates, by Pauline Rowan. Courtesy of the artist There's a vast novel of story in this photograph. A baby sleeps while what we presume is its mother lies awake. It could be a moment in any new parent's life, yet the pair are on a mattress on a floor, the rumpled sheet not quite tucked in. Quietly heartbreaking, the image catches at homelessness, dispossession, determination and love. The work was actually made when Rowan moved with her newborn daughter to live in a house on grounds open to the public. When the work was shown at Photo Museum Ireland at the beginning of this year, the artist recalled that tourists would stand and look through the windows. Adding biographical narrative to understanding a work of art can sometimes expand but often limits it. You don't need to know the backstory to find this an unforgettable image. Agata Stoinska: Reverberations 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Reverberations, by Agata Stoinska. Courtesy of the artist Many artists have their eyes on nature in this year's Annual. Martin Gale imagines a return of wolves in a pair of paintings, while Tony G Murray's duo of Silent Forest prints leads you to imagine where myths of tree creatures may have come from. In this vein, Agata Stoinska's large-scale forest photograph brings you right to the heart of the emergence of legend, with a clever doubling device that manages to avoid becoming glib. Instead the mirrored trees create a portal, and everything is calling you to want to walk through. Rae Perry: Resolutions 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Resolutions, by Rae Perry. Courtesy of the artist The US-born, Dublin-based artist Rae Perry is largely self-taught, but her time in Florence, where she studied drawing, shows in her use of light and in the soft and rich Florence-school-inspired hues of her canvas. Nicely enigmatic, Resolutions is also tender and intimate. Amid the portraits crowding the exhibition – from Robert Ballagh's La Républicaine, to Emma Stroude's trio in An Acorn or the Sky, to the Portrait of Tony Strickland by Neil Shawcross – Resolutions stands out, quietly. Michael Wann: City Limits (Those Trees Will Have to Go) 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: City Limits (Those Trees Will Have to Go), by Michael Wann. Courtesy of the artist Adding a hint of red to his more usual shades of charcoal grey, Michael Wann gets away from the delicacies of trees, rural byways and rustic ruins with another way of looking at nature. Here the artist has collaged paper over canvas to lay out what looks like a much-folded cityscape – perhaps, in this imaginary world, looted from a planner's office somewhere, or salvaged from the chaos of some postapocalyptic future. [ Dorothy Cross: 'I don't think art is about talent really. It's about a route you take' Opens in new window ] Tower blocks reach for the leaden skies, while lower-rise civic buildings, and what might be edge-of-town sports or education complexes, come forward to meet the eye. As the city creeps beyond its limits, an area of vegetation is marked for destruction, reminding us of the Australian writer Tim Winton's comment that 'architecture is what we console ourselves with once we've obliterated our natural landscapes'. Vera Klute: Lustre II 195th RHA Annual Exhibition: Lustre II, by Vera Klute. Courtesy of the artist Extraordinarily versatile, Vera Klute is a renowned portrait artist. Her oil painting Slope, also in the exhibition, is a lush jungle of a canvas delving into the infinite varieties of our often overlooked riverbanks. Before you get to that, however, you'll have met her Lustre II, a marvellous sculpture in the RHA foyer that, depending on your perspective, imagination and predilections, could be a strange alien craft, a giant fuchsia or something slightly sexual. And that's the glories of art in a nutshell. The 195th RHA Annual Exhibition in association with McCann FitzGerald is at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts , in Dublin, until August 3rd
Irish Times
31-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Mainie Jellett painting fetches record price
There was great excitement at Whyte's art auction on Monday night when the Mainie Jellett painting Achill Horses, 1933, was sold to a private collector for €210,000. This is the highest price achieved for one of the Irish modernist painter's works to date, and the second-highest for a painting by an Irish woman. Sarah Purser's portrait of Constance and Eva Gore-Booth made €239,000 at the Lissadell House auction in 2003. The Jellett painting, which had an estimate of €70,000-€100,000, was one of a series of more representational works by the artist created in the 1930s. Previously, the highest price achieved for a Jellett painting was €110,000 for The Land Eire 1940, at Whyte's in 2019. This latter painting is part of the current National Gallery exhibition, Mainie Jellett and Evie Hone: The Art of Friendship . Garden calm Thoughtfully designed and thoroughly maintained gardens are more relaxing for the mind and body, according to a new Japanese study. The researchers found a correlation between rapid gaze shifts and a reduction in heart rate and improved mood among students interacting with Kyoto's famous Murin-an garden, compared with a garden in the University of Kyoto. READ MORE Visitors to Bloom , the annual gardening festival in the Phoenix Park this weekend will no doubt be seeking inspiration on how to create moments of calm when viewing the 21 show gardens on display. While many of the show gardens focus on naturalistic planting and biodiversity, there is also a nod to heritage. The Pot Gallery Garden's uses free standing and vertical pots to show how to create green spaces on terraces and balconies, and the Estate's Essence, a mini-walled garden inspired by garden designer Patrik Weisser's work on Abbeyleix House and Farm in Co Laois, are cases in point. Victor Mee's Summer Garden sale in Co Cavan on Tuesday, June 10th and 11th, has been timed to follow Bloom, with the expectation that gardening enthusiasts will be keen to create new areas of interest in their green spaces after their visit to the country's largest and most popular gardening festival. The 2025 Summer Garden sale at Mee's auction rooms has more than 1,000 lots. Outdoor sculptures are always of interest, but this year the bronze and cast-iron statuary features a range of wild and domesticated animals, including Irish hares, horses, sheep, ducks, pigs and red squirrels. Two life-size bronze pigs (€600-€1,200) at Victor Mee's Summer Garden sale Two bronze hares (€1,500-€2,500) Two bronze geese (€600-€1,200) Take for example, the two life-size bronze pigs (€600-€1,200), the two bronze hares (€1,500-€2,500), the two bronze geese (€600-€1,200) or the bronze galloping horse (€10,000-€20,000). Peter Dowdall of the Irish Gardener says animal sculptures can do something quite magical in a garden. 'They catch the eye, spark curiosity and often bring a sense of playfulness or nostalgia,' he says. There are also some larger pieces with the potential to become the centre pieces of a garden. These include a wrought-iron English Victorian-style glasshouse (€18,000-€22,000). And, then there is the usual mix of cast-iron tables, garden seats, bird baths, sundials and a good range of troughs in limestone and granite. The French wrought-iron entrance gates (€1,500-€2,500) might be exactly what a rural or urban homeowner requires to bring a dash of style to the entrance to their property. Irish sculptor Bob Quinn's Best Night Ever (€47,000) will feature on the grounds of Cork's Castlemartyr resort Irish sculptor Eamonn Ceannt's Happy Face III (€55,000) will feature on the grounds of Cork's five-star Castlemartyr resort The five-star Castlemartyr resort in Co Cork is the venue again this year for Art and Soul, the touring art and sculpture exhibition run by Gormleys Fine Art Gallery. This is the third time that Oliver Gormley has opted to use one of Cork's most luxurious hotels as the sumptuous setting for his art and sculpture sale. With more than 350 works for sale, including pieces by world famous artists such as Andy Warhol, Damien Hirst, Banksy and Salvador Dalí, the show is an opportunity for people to view works – even if they can't afford to buy. Ninety large sculptures and installations will be set throughout the 220-acre grounds of the 18th-century manor house estate. These include works by Irish sculptors Bob Quinn (Best Night Ever, €47,000) and Eamonn Ceannt (Happy Face III, €55,000). Both sculptors are renowned for their figurative work in bronze. Following a career as a commercial artist and designer, Quinn became a full-time sculptor in 2002. His works can be seen in the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin, the Newman House garden on St Stephen's Green and on the University College Dublin sculpture trail. Similarly, Eamonn Ceannt turned to sculpture later in life, after a long career in the private and public sector. His work can be seen at Blarney Castle, Co Cork; Sligo town; Bewley's Cafe on Grafton Street; and on the UCD sculpture trail. Art & Soul at Castlemartyr runs June 1st-29th, 11am-7pm daily, with guided tours at noon, 3pm and 5pm each day. There is also a series of talks by participating artists. Anyone keen to incorporate a visit into an overnight at the hotel can avail of the Art + Soul visit and stay package. Finally, the biggest Vintage and Antiques Fair, run by Robin O'Donnell of Hibernian Antiques Fairs, goes ahead next weekend, June 7th and 8th, 11am-6pm at Limerick Racecourse. Admission €5 for adults and children go free. Antique and vintage dealers will also gather to sell their wares in the Royal Marine Hotel, Dún Laoghaire, tomorrow (June 1st), 11am-5.30pm. Admission €3.50. And an Antiques, Vintage and Collectables fair will be held in the Abbeyleix Manor Hotel in Abbeyleix, Co Laois, on Sunday, June 8th, noon-5.30pm. , , , What did it sell for? West of Ireland Bog by Paul Henry West of Ireland Bog, Paul Henry Estimate €120,000-€180,000 Hammer price €125,000 Auction house Whyte's Anglesea Market, Dublin, 1933 by Harry Kernoff Anglesea Market, Harry Kernoff Estimate €30,000-€50,000 Hammer price €40,000 Auction house Whyte's Mid-18th-century limestone Medici lions Mid-18th-century Medici lions Estimate €50,000-€70,000 Hammer price €42,000 Auction house Adam's A life-size bronze horse by Anthony Scott. Bronze horse, Anthony Scott Estimate €30,000-€50,000 Hammer price €26,000 Auction house Sheppard's
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Artist Michael Kane dies at 89 shortly after opening show at Taylor Galleries
Celebrated Irish artist Michael Kane, who opened an exhibition of new work on Thursday, has died at the age of 89. Mr Kane, who would turn 90 on Monday, died on Friday afternoon following a short illness, his family said in a statement. Speaking to The Irish Times this year , Mr Kane acknowledged there was a possibility he might not reach 90, saying: 'Without actually trying, I do find myself living more in the moment than in the future or in the past.' The artist and writer from Dublin celebrated the opening of his solo exhibition of new work at the Taylor Galleries on Kildare Street, Dublin, on Thursday night with close family. READ MORE The painter was still producing work in his Dublin studio this month. Video: Bryan O'Brien His work is also currently on display at the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma) and Hillsboro Fine Art in Dublin. Kane was still producing work in his studio this month and attended the opening of a major exhibition, Staying with the Trouble, at Imma, which featured several of his paintings. Born in Dublin in 1935, he was raised in Wicklow, before returning to the capital in 1956 to study at the National College of Art and Design. At the time, he said he was surprised to be accepted and more surprised to receive praise for his work by a tutor. 'I was in my early 20s, and that was the first person who ever praised anything I did. It was of tremendous significance to me,' he said. Since the 1960s, Kane has worked consistently, exhibiting his painting, drawing and print in Ireland and Europe including shows in Hugh Lane Gallery, Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA), and Imma. Artist Michael Kane in his studio. Photograph: Bryan O'Brien/The Irish Times He was also among the first members of Aosdána, the affiliation association of creative artists in Ireland, and was a pivotal figure in the Independent Artists, a group created as an alternative to the RHA and the Living Art exhibition. In his 2023 memoir, Blind Dogs, he wrote: 'We were ambitious not just for our individual selves, but for art itself.' Kane was also a co-founder of the Project Arts Centre, and the editor of the sociopolitical art journal, Structure. Speaking to The Irish Times this year, Kane said he wondered if he would work again after spending part of 2024 in ill health. He subsequently began to paint while sitting down at a table instead of standing, 'to see what would come.' In the wide-ranging interview, he said: 'Most people are very intelligent, but they don't use parts of their brain a lot of the time and I think if they observed more, they would enjoy living a lot more.' Kane is survived by his widow, architect Shelley McNamara, his children Aoife and Oisín, and his brother Tony.
Irish Times
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Prominent Irish art from collection of former postman for sale at deVeres
The late art collector Alan Conroy had a good eye – an innate ability to discern quality. 'It's amazing how few people can distinguish a great painting from a good one, and how many people enthusiastically buy poor ones,' writes Dr Frances Ruane in a catalogue essay about him. The former postman, who lived in a relatively small house filled with art, art books and catalogues, regularly visited art galleries and auction rooms. He collected the work of prominent Irish artists from the 1970s onwards including Nano Reid, Sean McSweeney, Barrie Cooke, Colin Middleton, John Shinnors, Charles Tyrrell and Patrick Scott. 'His acquisitions suggest that he was drawn specifically to the painterly, semi-abstract tendency that dominated Irish art of that period,' writes Dr Ruane in the deVeres catalogue for an upcoming sale of part of his collection. READ MORE Conroy bequeathed several paintings to the National Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. Now, the remaining 60 paintings in his collection are included in the Irish Art & Sculpture auction at deVeres on Tuesday, May 27th, at 6pm. One painting of note in the auction is Summer Inscape, Callan by Tony O'Malley (€15,000-€20,000). Dr Ruane describes O'Malley as 'a kingpin of the poetic genre that dominated the second half of the 20th century' – more upbeat than Louis le Brocquy and Patrick Collins, and more positively enraptured by his subjects and by certain places such as his birthplace, Callan, Co Kilkenny. O'Malley often drew from memory, capturing the 'inscape' of the place. Interestingly, Head of Tony O'Malley by Brian Bourke (€2,000-€3,000) is one of several pieces of sculpture in the deVeres auction. The sculptures will be exhibited in the garden of the Merrion Hotel, Dublin 2, May 19th-26th, while the art is on view at deVeres showrooms at 35 Kildare Street, Dublin 2. Meanwhile, just around the corner, Whyte's auction rooms on Molesworth Street is also hosting an Irish and international art auction next week, on Monday, May 26th at 6pm in the Freemasons Hall, 17 Molesworth Street. The auction includes many impressive paintings by some of Ireland's best-known 20th-century artists, including Wiliam Percy French, Mildred Anne Butler, Grace Henry and Willian Leech. Anglesea Market, Dublin 1933 by Harry Kernoff (€30,000-€50,000) at Whyte's Irish and International Art auction Anglesea Market, Dublin, 1933 by Harry Kernoff (€30,000-€50,000), a painting purchased directly from the artist and for sale for the first time since then, is one piece of note. Viewing of all works in Whyte's galleries is May 19th-26th. Also at 31 Molesworth Street, Bonhams will hold a showcase of paintings, prints, furniture and sculpture in their forthcoming summer London sales, May 22nd-28th. Jack B Yeats: Crossing the City Roderic O'Conor: A Woman Seated, Holding Two Roses These include highly collectable pieces by Paul Henry (The Milk Cart £120,000-£180,000/€140,000-€210,000), Jack B Yeats (Crossing the City, £100,000-£150,000/€120,000-€170,000) and Roderic O'Conor (A Woman Seated, Holding Two Roses, £50,000-£70,000/€58,000-€81,000) all of which will be for sale in Bonhams' Modern British and Irish Art auction on New Bond Street, London, on June 18th. Prints by Andy Warhol, Lucian Freud, Francis Bacon, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein and others to be sold at Bonhams Print sale on New Bond Street, London, on June 25th, will also be on show. Finally, Adam's online auction of architectural salvage and garden statuary on Tuesday, May 20th, is on view at their auction partner The Store Yard in Portlaoise, Co Laois, today, tomorrow and Monday. The Store Yard – which was recently featured in this column – is a treasure trove of antiques and collectables. This auction has a wide selection of stone statues and busts from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, as well as garden urns, cast iron gates, seats and fountains. In a catalogue essay, garden designer Diarmuid Gavin writes poetically that 'statues softened by time, urns that have held the weight of trailing roses, sundials once surrounded by lavender and bees' bring a 'quiet grandeur' to gardens. As Ireland has basked in early summer sun this year, garden owners will no doubt be seeking out striking pieces to enrich their verdant surroundings. Gavin continues, 'as a garden designer, I believe that beauty in a garden lies as much in its ornamentation and craft as in its growth – and these pieces offer that rare stillness, anchoring a space in both history and imagination.' The top lot in the Adam's Home to Garden auction is a pair of mid-18th-century limestone Medici Lions (€50,000-€70,000) The top lot in the Adam's House to Garden auction is a pair of mid 18th century limestone Medici lions (€50,000-€70,000). Inspired by a second-century Roman marble statue and a later work carved by Roman sculptor Flaminio Vacca for Villa Medici in Rome (later moved to Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence), carved stone versions of the Medici lions became widely adopted ornaments in 18th-century gardens in Britain and Ireland. Another standout piece is a cast-iron fountain of the Three Graces (daughters of Zeus) (€8,000-€12,000), made in 19th-century Paris, inspired by one commissioned by Catherine de Medici to house the ashes of her husband, King Henri II of France. , , , What did it sell for? Ring with Kashmir sapphire and diamonds Kashmir sapphire Estimate €150,000-€200,000 Hammer price €550,000 Auction house Adam's A rare cultured pearl clip pendant brooch circa 1940 Pearl clip pendant brooch, circa 1940 Estimate €5,000-€7,000 Hammer price Not sold Auction house Adam's An early-20th-century pearl necklace with diamond clasp, circa 1920 Early-20th-century pearl necklace Estimate €8,000-€12,000 Hammer price €48,000 Auction house Adam's René Boivin Bombé ring René Boivin Bombé ring Estimate €15,000 – €20,000 Hammer price €17,000 Auction house Adam's
