The National Gallery of Ireland has acquired its first painting by the late Patrick Collins, in the process setting a new record for this artist at auction. Offered yesterday at the James Adam salerooms in Dublin, the picture, Liffey Quaysides, had been expected to fetch £40,000£50,000. But due to widespread interest among collectors it eventually went to the gallery for £80,000.
Three years ago the same auction house set the previous record for a Collins painting when it sold his Liffey Quays for £40,000.
Mr Raymond Keaveney, director of the National Gallery, said: "This is a significant picture and it will be a marvellous addition to the collection."
Aside from the absence until now of any work by Patrick Collins in the National Gallery's holdings, its acquisition of Liffey Quaysides is to be welcomed for other reasons. The painting was one of three large oils produced by the artist in 1957/58, subsequently described by art critic Frances Ruane as being an "important landmark in his career."
A year after it had been painted by Collins, the work won him the Guggenheim National Section Award for Ireland, which came with a prize of $1,000.