An early Louis le Brocquy sells for €2,800

Morgan O’Driscoll’s art auction in RDS included one of Irish artist’s earliest known works


The most intriguing lot in Morgan O’Driscoll’s art auction in the RDS on Monday night was an untitled painting inscribed on the back: “Watercolour by Louis le Brocquy done at St Gerard’s School, October 1930”. It sold for €2,800, below the estimate of €3,000-€5,000.

Louis le Brocquy, who went on to become one of Ireland’s best-known artists of the late 20th century, was just 14-years-old at the time. He died in 2012 aged 95.

The auctioneer said: “This drawing is one of Louis le Brocquy’s earliest known works.”

Early proof, perhaps, of his talent or a warning – unheeded by his teachers and parents – that he wasn’t suited to a career as an artist?

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Overall, 72 per cent of lots sold with the top price achieved for Travelling Through Kerry by Daniel O'Neill which made €35,000 (€20,000-€30,000). A still-life of daffodils wrapped in pages of The Irish Times titled Spring Times by Desmond Hickey made €550. Robert Taylor Carson's Lighting Up (Old Dan), estimated at €6,000-€9,000 failed to sell when bidding stalled at €5,000.