In this iconic example from le Brocquy’s Portrait Heads series, Image of Samuel Beckett, the artist aimed to discover, or uncover, ‘aspects of the Beckettness of Beckett’. Sotheby’s currently holds the auction record for one of le Brocquy’s Portrait Heads series, achieved in 2007 for a painting of Beckett. The sale includes a further work, Image of James Joyce, painted in 1977 (est. £60,000-80,000 / €68,000-90,500). Both are appearing at auction for the first time.

Rowan Gillespie (b.1953), Failing Better maquette III, signed bronze, 2019 (est. £15,000-20,000 / €17,000-22,600)

This sculpture relates to Failing Better which was recently installed at the Pierce Street entrance of Trinity College Dublin. Of the three maquettes the artist made, this is the largest. In conducting his research for the work, Rowan Gillespie developed an interest in Trinity College Dublin's curious connection to aviation, particularly the flying experiments of George Francis FitzGerald in the late 19th century. The sculptor was drawn to the concept of inspired vision inching towards success through a series of failures; his flying machine is a horse which develops wheels and then propellers, though will never fly. Gillespie’s ascendancy on the auction market has seen prices far surpass their estimates, with Sotheby’s holding the current auction record for a bronze sold in 2015.

Hughie O'Donoghue (b.1953), The Owl Run, oil on canvas, 2013 (est. £15,000-25,000 / €17,000-28,200)

The Owl Run depicts a field near the Glencullen River where O’Donoghue’s mother grew up and where the artist visited every year as a child. Like much of his work, rather than making descriptive or topographical landscapes, the real subject of the painting is the reconstruction of experience and remembering of place. The artist remembers the Owl Run as a mysterious and magical place from his childhood, while the bird's flight is meant to represent the mental or imaginative travel of the individual.

Further contemporary highlights include: Janet Mullarney (b.1952), Mirroring, bronze, 1998, unique within an edition of 9 (est. £8,000-12,000 / €9,100-13,600); Joy Gerrard (b. 1971), Flag (Protest against Brexit, London, June 2018), Japanese ink on linen, 2019 (est. £5,000-7,000 / €5,700-7,900); and Brian Harte, Interior, with Figure, oil on canvas, 2019 (est. £5,000-7,000 / €5,700-7,900).