THE last of this year's fine art and literature auctions conducted by de Veres is being held, as usual, in the National Concert Hall on Tuesday, December 10th. The range of items among the 220 plus lots is catholic, running from an oil of flowers in an urn by Beatrice, Lady Glenavy (estimate £2,000-£3,000) to a large rectangular panel called The Long Night Of Brian Keenan by Tony O'Malley (£2,500-£3,500).

The late Arthur Armstrong is well represented, not least by a very large Landscape in Blues and Greens (£2,090-£3,000) and a handsome Spanish interior (£800-£1,200). There are also a considerable quantity of pictures by Gerard Dillon, including a number of works the artist painted while living in Roundstone, Co Galway, in the late 1940s. Near Roundstone (£2,000-£3,000) and Back View, Roundstone (£1,500-£2,000) are both striking oils with swirling abstract forms and the paint applied in heavy impasto.

Among the pictures likely to fetch the best prices in this auction is one called Reflections, Killarney, Co Kerry by Paul Henry (£20,000-£30,000) and the same artist's Turf Stacks, Donegal (£12,000-£26,000). Pictures by Jack B. Yeats such as an oil called Near Cahirciveen, Co Kerry (£20,000-£25,000) should do well given that this artist is currently the subject of a major show at the Waddington Galleries in London. But as the results from this week's Christie's sale prove, expectations over Yeats can still be disappointed.

Finally, among the other paintings in this de Veres auction which are likely to attract attention is an oil by Aloysius O Kelly of Cattle Sheltering (£4,000-£6,000), two watercolours by Mildred Anne Butler (£700-£1,000 and £600-£900 respectively), a charming oil of four children in a summer meadow by Walter Osborne and a very late French landscape by Roderic O Conor.