THE SOCIAL NETWORK:Sotheby's on Molesworth Street was like the House of Lords on Monday evening for a private preview party of pictures from the forthcoming Irish Sale.
Guests filed past two portraits of the Marquis of Headfort and his wife Rosie, 4th Marchioness of Headfort, by Sir William Orpen.
Xenia, Countess of Meath, told me that she would not be buying anything at the auction, which will take place in London on May 10th. She is saving for next year’s property tax. So, how many rooms are there in Killruddery? “I’ve never counted,” she said. “I mean, where do you start?”
Last week the Earl of Rosse was appointed president of the Irish Decorative and Fine Art Society at its inaugural meeting, in his absence.
He told me that he hopes to do the job jointly with his wife Alison. He will also accept the position whether it is honorary or executive, he said. Lord Rosse entertained Michael Heseltine at Birr Castle last weekend.
Lady Rosse is delighted that her eldest son, Lord Oxmantown, has now moved to London from China with his family.
Her younger son, Michael Parsons, and his girlfriend, Prunella Hanbury, have gone to Cambodia, where he is working at the Centre for Khmer Studies.
Lord Henry Mount Charles of Slane Castle was accompanied by his wife Iona. He said he plans to build a new distillery at Slane to produce his own whiskey.
Cliona Buckley said she is a sponsor of the 3rd Indian Film Festival, which will be held here from June 8th-12th. Simone Orr told me she is organising the first art exhibition in the Royal Irish Automobile Club, of which her husband, David, is the chairman, on May 24th.
Nicholas Gore-Grimes of the Cross Gallery and his mother-in-law Judith Meagher from Sandymount surveyed the pictures. Gore-Grimes is a great-grandson of John Dillon, leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party.
James Stourton, the chairman of Sotheby’s UK, was also there. He is retiring later this year to write the authorised biography of art historian Kenneth Clark.
Who we spotted: Julian Gaisford-St Lawrence of Howth Castle; the Earl of Meath; Desmond Guinness and his wife Penny; Arabella Bishop of Sotheby’s and her mother and stepfather Livi and Ollie McNally; Consuelo O’Connor from Herbert Park; Trevor White and his son Benjamin; Derry and Gemma Hussey from Burlington Road.
A little late-night Chopin at BT
Judge Margaret Heneghan of the Dublin Circuit Court sits on the bench during the week, but likes nothing more than sitting at her baby grand piano in Sandymount on Sunday afternoons. She and her husband, Austin Power, were at the Irish Times Piano Evening in Brown Thomas on Thursday. The Dublin International Piano Competition takes place from May 4th to 15th inclusive, and 70 Irish Times readers were treated to a recital by the three Irish entrants.
Orna Mulcahy, editor of The Irish Times Magazine, welcomed the guests to the store. The event reminded her of her own piano-playing days, she said, when at the age of seven she made herself ill on purpose before a performance.
After supper, which was served in Domini Peaches Kemp at The Restaurant in Brown Thomas, guests were ushered to the Designer Rooms, where Dr John O'Conor introduced the three Irish pianists in the upcoming competition: Nadene Fiorentini, Benjamin Shaffrey and Maire Carroll. Shaffrey's mother, Caitriona, brought along her friend Sandra Walsh of Sandz boutique in Ranelagh. Sr Mary Brendan O'Donnell – originally from Co Mayo – was home from the Convent of the Incarnate Word and Blessed Sacrament in Houston, Texas. She was accompanied by her niece Deirdre Quinn and grand-niece Niamh Quinn, who was celebrating her birthday.
Who we spotted: Loreto O'Leary from Raheny and Penny McHugh from Sutton, who have never missed a final of the competition; Eamonn and Fionnuala Purcell from Glasnevin; Adam McDonagh from Stillorgan, a first-year student at DIT, who hopes to represent Ireland at the next Dublin International Piano Competition in three years.
Big night for city clickers
On Thursday some of the capital's creatives and local business owners gathered at the Lost Society in Dublin to celebrate the launch of Dublintown.ie, a new cultural website for Dublin. Drinking blue-coloured cocktails aptly christened "Dublintowns", those assembled were greeted by a mural of photographic portraits of little-known and well-known characters from around Dublin, from a Moore Street stall owner to Phil McMahon of Thisispopbaby.
The website is the result of a collaboration between Dublin City Business Improvement District (DublinCityBID) and local entrepreneurs Gareth Pitcher and Andrew Cosgrove.
"It's for Dubliners specifically," Cosgrove told me. "There are a lot of different things and people out there doing great things, and we wanted to bring it all together."
The site is backed by cultural networks such as Le Cool and Dublin Fashion Festival, which will make Dublintown.ie "one big cultural repository", said Clyde Carroll of DublinCityBID.
The website contains hyper-slick photography and video by Philip White and Al Hooi, and makes the city look oh-so-very attractive. -
Róisín Agnew
Mayoral music in mansions
The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Cllr Andrew Montague, admitted to being a musician in his own right at Monday's launch of the KBC Great Music in Irish Houses 2012 festival programme in the Mansion House. "Recently out in Nazareth House I played the guitar instead of giving a speech," he told us.
According to Montague, studies show that music can improve one's psychological wellbeing. The accordion player, Dermot Dunne, was wearing a shiny gold suit he had bought in Miami. "Dermot is making the accordion sexy again," Montague announced from the podium. The psychosexual therapist, Mary O'Conor, listened intently.
New venues have been added to this year's festival, which runs from June 12th to 17th. Likely highlights include guitarist Xuefei Yang who will play at the Little Museum of Dublin on St Stephen's Green on June 14th, and the Colin Currie Group who will perform the premiere of Steve Reich's Drumming at the NCH on June 17th.
Who we spotted: Arts Council member Judith Woodworth; violinist Katherine Hunka; CEO of KBC John Reynolds; chairman of the NCH Kieran Tobin; Linda O'Shea Farren
What we ateChicken curry and a side salad
A moveable feast of art
As an old boy of Glenstal Abbey school, Patrick Walshe is no stranger to ecclesiastical interiors. Walshe chose Christ Church Cathedral as the venue for his latest exhibition of paintings on Wednesday evening. Walshe, from near Laragh in Co Wicklow, said he was tired of galleries.
"It's devastating for artists at the moment. Five years ago I was selling everything I painted," he said.
His two sons, Liam and Marcus Walshe, served wine in the crypt of the cathedral. Keen rugby players, they attend East Glendalough school and have both made it to the Leinster under-18 youths. Lending a hand with the catering was their friend Raef Tyrrell from Monkstown, who was a flanker with Blackrock College's senior cup team this year. He accompanied his mother Orla and sister Hollie to the exhibition.
Clodagh Duff of Glendalough Green cafe and deli was sticking red dots on pictures that were selling.
Walshe's neighbours Pierre and Ilsa Guglielmina turned up to show their support. Pierre is writing a book on a discovery he has made about Hemingway's A Moveable Feast.
"The structure of the book follows chapter-for-chapter the Catholic calendar," he explained. "There are 19 chapters and 19 moveable feasts between Advent and Pentecost, and each chapter has a subtext about the particular feast."
Who we spottedThe director Paul Cusack (son of the late Cyril Cusack); designer Helen James of Castlepollard, a consultant with Avoca; Caroline Stephenson; Paolo Tullio
