A never-before-seen courtroom sketch of Roger Casement, done by the acclaimed Irish painter John Lavery, has been purchased in an auction by a private buyer for a sum ten times higher than its initial low-end estimated value. This sketch was a preliminary work for Lavery’s painting, The Hearing of the Appeal of Sir Roger Casement.
The piece of art that had been anticipated to sell for somewhere between £15,000 (€17,500) and £25,000 (€30,000) at a larger auction of Lavery’s works at Dreweatts, a British auction house, was eventually acquired for £155,200 *(€181,800).
Roger Casement was a former British diplomat who later became an Irish revolutionary. He was found guilty of treason due to his involvement in instigating the Easter Rising, an event that eventually led to his execution in London in 1916.
Charles Darling, the judge who ruled over Casement’s appeal invited Lavery, who had earlier painted his family’s portraits, into the courtroom to document the proceedings in a sketch. Kenneth McConkey, an art historian with expertise in Lavery’s works noted that during the course of the two days, Lavery, accompanied by his wife Hazel, painted the scene from the witness box, under intense focus.
McConkey disclosed that Lavery’s concentrated work on the 10in x 14in sketch, painted in a cramped space, did not escape the notice of the press and the accused in the dock.
Relating the excitement at Dreweatts when the gavel fell for Lavery’s work, Francesca Whitham, the auction house’s painting specialist, mentioned that the auction attracted considerable interest. She added that there had been keen competition between an online bidder and one on the phone, with the piece ultimately going to a private buyer.