A painting acquired at an auction in England last year for just £1,200 has become an important addition to the city of Waterford's collection.
The portrait of Charles Este, who was Bishop of Waterford in the 1740s, has been attributed to Jean Baptiste Van Loo and is to be housed in the award-winning Waterford Treasures museum. It will be formally accepted on behalf of the city by the Mayor of Waterford, Mr Davy Daniels, from the Friends of Waterford Treasures at a ceremony tomorrow night.
The general manager of the museum, Mr Eamonn McEneaney, says the acquisition of the painting, particularly at the price for which it was purchased, was a coup for the museum, which opened in 1999.
Mr McEneaney says it had not been definitively established that the portrait of Este, bought in November at an auction in Devon, is the work of Van Loo, but the available evidence suggested it was. Este mentioned in his will that he had a painting by Van Loo, believed to be his portrait, commissioned while he was bishop.
Van Loo was born in Aix-en Provence in 1684 and worked in France, Turin and Rome before setting up in Paris in 1720. His equestrian portrait of King Louis XIV secured him international recognition before he moved to England in December 1737, where he was the favourite painter of the prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole.
Charles Este, who was born in London, is best known for having commissioned the German-born Richard Castle, architect of Leinster House, to design the Bishop's Palace in Waterford.
The portrait is not signed but this was not unusual for Van Loo. Its attribution to the painter makes it of "international rather than local interest", according to Mr McEneaney. Tomorrow evening's ceremony at the Granary, where the museum is housed, will include a short talk by Dr Eugene Broderick on the life and times of Bishop Este.
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