Local art find could net €300k

Three marble statues discovered in a house in Tullamore and dating from 1800s Italy, are expected to sell for thousands of euro at an upcoming auction. The discovery, described by auction-house Sotheby's as a "rare and important" find, was made at Annaghmore House in Tullamore, and could reach around €300,000 at auction. It is not known how the statutes came to be in Annaghmore House, however, an unidentified person went to Sotheby's office in Dublin with photos of the sculptures. The three Neo-classical sculptures are in mint condition and are a seminal example of Rome's flourishing artistic era in the early 19th century. The highlight of the trio is 'Die Spinnerin', an exceptional piece by the Northern artist Rudolf Schadow, his breakthrough achievement, which is estimated to fetch between €140,000 to €210,000 at auction. Schadow worked in Rome under the Italian master Antonio Canova, while King Frederick William of Prussia would have been his patron. The other two sculptures were also created in Canova's workshop and are called 'Venus Italica' and 'Hebe'. Estimated at €70,000 to €95,000, the marble statues were taken from two of Canova's most famous models. The trio were commissioned by Henry Patton while on tour in Italy, originally for his home in Westport. When Sotheby's sculpture specialist Erik Bijzet first cast his eye over the photographs of the sculptures that had been brought into Sotheby's Dublin office, he was immediately struck by their intrinsic quality and importance. "I am thrilled Sotheby's has the opportunity to offer these fantastic finds. That the sculptures are in perfect condition and virtually untouched is particularly gratifying. The literary references to Schadow's commission for Patten and the sculptor's evident delight in its progress as he carved, substantiates the importance he attached to this version of the work," said Mr Bijzet. "It is also rare for examples from Canova's workshop, made during the sculptor's lifetime, to come on to the market, and these two discoveries complement each other beautifully." The three sculptures will go up for auction at the Sotheby's European Scultpure and Works of Art sale on July 8 and there is a lot of reported interest in them as the last time sculptures from Canova's workshop went on sale was back in the 1930s.