Sale of old masters from Russborough House

Sir, – Last autumn the Alfred Beit Foundation insisted that a group of European old masters previously at Russborough House would again appear at auction in London this summer if no local buyer was found. But the fact that some of these have, in recent days, appeared on the Christie’s website for auction on July 5th and 7th, with no other warning as to the details or imminence of the sale, is remarkably disappointing.

It seems that the Beit Foundation still regards these works as mere assets to be casually disposed of in order to alleviate its own financial difficulties in maintaining the bricks and mortar of Russborough.

This justification is simply not acceptable, and once again exposes a depressingly parochial and shortsighted understanding of what should constitute Ireland’s heritage and cultural patrimony.

The lack of any State intervention also transmits a message that the country is apparently incapable of acting as a custodian of art of such international importance.

READ MORE

Just as the foundation trots out these important paintings for sale once more, so should the very significant arguments for their retention be restated. Even were it not that their sale would almost certainly be against the wishes of their late owners Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, these works are, in the context of Irish ownership, of a sufficient calibre and rarity to ensure that their impending exit from the country is a matter of serious public concern.

The country is simply not abundant in works of this nature, and once gone from Ireland they are not likely to return, nor will works of an equivalent significance take their place.

Among the auction items are an important Rubens oil sketch, and two views by Francesco Guardi that are exemplary of this artist’s supremacy as a painter of 18th-century Venice, often working, it must be stressed, for a British and Irish clientele, and with an environment such as Russborough in mind. These Venetian views are also clearly a pair, and it seems reckless that they should even appear as separate lots.

It is especially unfortunate that works by Guardi are under threat of leaving Ireland as, even putting aside the likelihood that the artist had Irish descendants, two other works by Guardi were among a group of paintings stolen from Russborough in the 1980s, and are still missing. – Yours, etc,

CARLA BRIGGS,

Dr PHILIP COTTRELL,

Dr NICOLA FIGGIS,

Prof

KATHLEEN

JAMES-CHAKRABORTY,

Dr ROISIN KENNEDY,

Dr JOHN LOUGHMAN,

Dr EMILY

MARK-FITZGERALD,

Dr LYNDA MULVIN,

School of Art History

and Cultural Policy,

University College Dublin,

Belfield,

Dublin 4.