It can be fascinating to see how differently artists respond to similar scenes from the Irish landscape. Paul Henry put his visual stamp on the west of Ireland so firmly that rocks have ever after had a certain purplish quality to my eyes. Painted in 1929, Henry’s Errigal, Co Donegal (€50,000-€70,000) is an outlier to the artist’s signature blue-mauve tones. Instead, it is all sepia with a dash of black. Appearing as the frontispiece to the 1932 Saorstát Éireann: Irish Free State Official Handbook, it is on view now ahead of the Adam’s Important Irish Art auction at 6pm on September 23rd.
Also at Adam’s, you can discover that while Letitia Marion Hamilton saw a dash of Vincent van Gogh in the hills and skies of Roundstone, Connemara (€15,000-€25,000), Gerard Dillon was more minded to a dose of idealised realism – should such a thing be possible – when looking at his Co Galway harbours. Connemara Quayside with Fishermen (€30,000-€50,000) sees a fisherman with a surprisingly white shirt under his jerkin in the foreground, while behind a boat bobs ready for the off.
Connemara Quayside with Fishermen by Gerard Dillon 
Fair Day at Castlepollard by Letitia Marion Hamilton
Harry Kernoff is also hanging out at the seaside with Grey Day by Tully Harbour (€2,000-€3,000), a peaceful scene where the beached boats and calm seas seen a world away from the more familiar wildness of this particular coast. Grey Day, like Henry’s Errigal, come from the collection of Brian Coyle, the late former chairman of Adam’s.
Coyle, who died at the end of 2025, and was renowned for his knowledge of 19th-century Irish furniture, was clearly matched with an eye for landscape painting.
Snow Scene with Woodcock by Patrick Collins
So far so representational, but it is also intriguing to explore the work of artists at the edge of abstraction. Patrick Collins’s Snow Scene with Woodcock (€2,000-€3,000) is also from Coyle’s collection, and has a similar emptying out to Patrick Scott’s early work, before that latter artist ditched the recognisable in favour of concentrating on how to balance, or perhaps better, juggle with colour and form.
Spring-Cattle, Crows and Monuments (1985) by Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
Colin Middleton’s Wall: Tullybrannigan (€15,000-€25,000) is another essay in colour and geometries that just about lingers on the representational side of things, but only just. Tony O’Malley’s Spring – Cattle, Crows and Monuments (€3,000-€5,000) continues the theme. You can catch more of O’Malley’s work, and that of his wife, Jane, at Kilkenny’s Butler Gallery. Tony & Jane O’Malley: The Shared Studio celebrates the donation of the pair’s estates to the Butler Gallery collection, and runs until October 26th.
Coastal Landscape by Donald Teskey
Further notable works in the Adam’s sale include Donald Teskey’s Coastal Landscape (€2,500-€3,500). Teskey has twin exhibitions with Oliver Sears this month: in Dublin until September 23rd, and at 92NY, New York, until November 19th. Look out too for Evie Hone’s small gouache Landscape (€1,000-€1,500) and Norah McGuinness’s The Nun’s Cove (€1,500-€2,000) and New York Harbour (€3,000-€5,000).
New York Harbour (1938) by Norah McGuinness
On the subject of landscapes, the Dublin Painting and Sketching Club’s 148th exhibition is now on, and runs until September 27th at Windmill Lane in Dublin, and online. Then, on October 8th, Elizabeth Magill’s Northern Sky, which has land and skyscapes to get lost in, opens at Kerlin Gallery and runs until November 14th.
Makers in Venice
Currently in Venice, Homo Faber, the biennial celebration of contemporary craftsmanship, features the work of five artists/makers from Ireland among its line-up of more than 500 renowned artisans from more than 70 countries.
Homo Faber, A Feast of Light. Photograph: Giulio Ghirardi
Jennifer Hickey’s delicate ceramic extravaganzas are on show alongside pieces by Helen O’Connell, Sasha Sykes, Nuala O’Donovan and Michael Rice. From saddle makers to embroiderers, bag makers to weavers and glass sculptors, Homo Faber puts contemporary craft in the spotlight on a glorious stage, which is this year under the artistic direction of the multi-award-winning artist and set designer Es Devlin.
Regarding the next generation, the Homo Faber Fellowship teams emerging talents with master artisans, and this year’s fellows from Ireland are stone carver Killian O’Flaherty; blacksmiths James O’Riordan and Gus Knight; and glass sculptors Suzanne O’Sullivan and Adrienne Diamond. The exhibition, which has been attracting global audiences to the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, runs until September 30th.
William III Irish silver trefid spoon
And while Homo Faber shows the work of today’s phenomenally talented makers, the auction houses abound with examples from the past. Still, you would need to have been born with a sliver soon in your mouth to put in a bid for the 332-year-old trefid silver spoon (£1,500-£2,500), which was made by Joseph Walker in Dublin in 1694 during the reign of William III. Something of a rarity, a great many of its fellows having been melted down for coin, it’s coming up at the Rosebery’s Silver Auction on September 30th.
adams.ie; butlergallery.ie; oliversearsgallery.com; dublinpaintingandsketchingclub.ie; kerlingallery.com; homofaber.com; roseberys.co.uk
What did it sell for?
Cutting Turf, Connemara by Seamus Coleman Cutting Turf, Connemara by Seamus Coleman
Estimate €600-€900
Hammer price €850
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll
Evening Bogland by Sean McSweeney Evening Bogland by Sean McSweeney
Estimate €2,000-€3,000
Hammer price €2,300
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll
Peat Stacks, Connemara by William Percy French Peat Stacks, Connemara by William Percy French
Estimate €1,500-€2,500
Hammer price €2,600
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll
Garden at Kilmurray by Mildred Anne Butler Garden at Kilmurray by Mildred Anne Butler
Estimate €2,500-€3,500
Hammer price €2,700
Auction house Morgan O’Driscoll