Portraits of leading Irish artists as rivals

Advance information on certain parts of the forthcoming sale of Irish art by Christie's in London was given here four weeks ago. Last Monday and Tuesday, the auction house put a selection of the lots on view in Dublin, providing an opportunity to see a representative cross-section of what is on offer.

Sir William Orpen was among the group whose pictures are being given particular focus. His A Mere Fracture and The Old Circus - both of which Christie's is hoping will perform particularly well at the May 22nd auction - have already been discussed on this page. However, a pair of fine portraits also deserve mention. These are of Mrs Georgina Drum and Mrs Oscar Lewisholm (the actress Edna May) respectively and both are very fine examples of Orpen's skill at portraiture. The two pictures share certain similarities, such as dark backgrounds and figures draped in white and blue clothing. Painted in 1915, the Lewisholm picture is the finer and larger, carrying a pre-sale estimate of £80,000-£120,000 compared with the £20,000£30,000 expected for the portrait of Mrs Drum. A charming little self-portrait by Orpen (£2,000-£3,000) is just one of the large number of pen and ink drawings by this artist in the sale. Portraits provide something of a leitmotif in this sale and it will be interesting to see how many of them fare, since this genre does not always enjoy the same widespread appeal as landscape or still-life. Pictures such as the two Orpens, both because of their scale (the Lewisholm work is almost seven foot high) and subject matter tend to be bought more by hotels and institutions than private individuals. Orpen's contemporary, almost rival in portraiture during the early decades of this century, Sir John Lavery, also has several similar pieces in the Christie's sale, such as his highly dramatic portrait of Jean Ainsworth, Viscountess Massereene and Ferrard (£35,000-£50,000), in which black, gold and rose-pink predominate. Again, the market for this kind of picture is rather limited, although an early Lavery portrait of a Spanish girl (£20,000-£30,000), dating from 1880 has plenty of immediate charm. A Lavery portrait of two sisters painted almost half a century later (£10,000-£15,000) should also perform well, although perhaps the most alluring picture of all in this group is the artist's delicate oil of his wife, Hazel, convalescing on a chaise longue in the garden (£20,000-£30,000).

Sean Keating is another artist with portraits in this sale, depicting W.B. Yeats and Sir Hugh Lane, the latter looking his customary languid self (both £3,000-£5,000 each). However, there are other genres on offer, with a very fine French streetscape - The Blue Shop, Quimper - by William Leech (£120,000-£180,000) being worth close attention thanks to its evocation of summer light and heat. Leech's The Market, Concarneau (£5,000-£8,000) and Still Evening, Concarneau (£5,000-£7,000) are small but effective pieces. Effective in an altogether more powerful fashion are three reclining nudes by Roderic O'Conor. One of these, lot 168, is intensely evocative of Toulouse-Lautrec, both in its impressionistic style and the bold use of heavy blue lines to define the body. The other two rely on the more customary O'Conor rich reds for their impact, with lot 166's figure looking as though she were nestling in a bed of garnets. This has an estimate of £70,000-£100,000.

A brief note of some landscapes included in this sale, the best of them dating from the 18th and early 19th centuries. Thomas Robert's view of the Powerscourt Waterfall (£35,000-£50,000) is a highly romantic approach to this Wicklow landmark, with feathery trees and two riders on horseback to the fore. James Arthur O'Connor's prospect of a traveller on horseback (£4,000-£6,000) is similar in spirit.

Jack B.Yeats's The Tinker's Fire has an estimate of £100,000-£150,000 for the Christie's auction of Irish art in London on May 22nd. Below: Walter Osborne's Beneath St Jacques, Antwerp ( £180,000-£220,000).