In May 2007, when the Celtic Tiger was reaching its neo-Shakespearian tragi-comic crescendo, Derek Quinlan, a Dublin accountant and former tax inspector with the Revenue Commissioners bought a painting by Jack B Yeats at the Christie's Irish Sale in London. The oil-on-canvas, dating from 1929, was titled, appropriately, A Man Doing Accounts. He paid £300,000 (€350,000). Peanuts to a man who had, during the previous few years become – on paper at least – a multi-billionaire property investor.
Quinlan’s empire was, in retrospect, quite astonishing with a portfolio of property that included London’s Savoy Hotel, five houses in Ballsbridge (three on Shewsbury Road, one on Ailesbury, and another on Elgin). There was also a €65 million villa in the south of France, a 13,000 sq ft townhouse in Manhattan – and a dizzying array of commercial buildings. But the empire didn’t hold. Within 24 months, Quinlan had relocated to Switzerland, owing billions to the banks. He never returned.
In a rare interview last year [with Niamh Horan in the Sunday Independent], he explained why he had left Ireland: "On the advice of KPMG, I moved to Switzerland so that I could maximise my debt repayment and reduce my tax leakage". The taxpayers of Ireland therefore had to mop up after this unfortunate "leakage" and Mr Quinlan's loans were "taken over" by the National Asset Management Agency (Nama), which also acquired his art collection.
Nama sent the Yeats back to Christie’s, where it went under the hammer again in 2011.
By then, the Irish art market had suffered its own crash and A Man Doing Accounts sold for the significantly lower sum of £183,650 (€214,000) to an unnamed Irish businessman. Although he reputedly "loves the painting", the man now needs to raise some funds and is "reluctantly" putting the painting up for sale. This time, A Man Doing Accounts will go under the hammer in Dublin – as Lot 39 in the Important Irish Art auction at Adam's on Wednesday, where it has an estimate of €200,000- €300,000. A return of the good times?
'Expressionistic' David Britton, of Adam's, said when the vendor bought the painting in 2011 "we thought he got a bargain" but "now time will tell". Mr Britton said the painting dates from the period when Jack B Yeats "became so expressionistic with his application of paint, in total contrast to the other RHA academics with their 'dancing at the crossroads' view of Ireland".
The auction has 194 lots which also include two other oils by Jack B Yeats: Lot 41, The Talent, a 1949 painting depicting a singer on a Dublin stage that was once owned by Lord Killanin, estimated at €100,000-€150,000; and Lot 99, a 1943 painting, The Fern, once owned by Sen Joseph Brennan (€30,000-€40,000).
Other highlights include Lot 35, Waiting for the Tide – described as "a typical Aran island scene" by Seán Keating (€50,000-€70,000); and the more affordable Lot 57, a dramatic Victorian oil, titled Retribution, by late 19th-century Dublin artist Joseph O'Reilly (€6,000-€10,000).
Viewing begins tomorrow, Sunday, 2pm-5pm, and continues on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from 10am-5pm at the saleroom of Adam’s, at 26 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, where the auction takes place on Wednesday at 6pm. Online bidding also available. See adams.ie
