A dust covered hinged triptych discovered in a disused garage at the parochial house in Piercestown has turned out to be a rare altarpiece valued in the region of €100,000 when it goes for auction next month.
Discovered when workmen were filling a skip, it was put to one side by the parish priest, Fr John O’Reilly, but later identified as a rare 15th century Flemish altarpiece.
Fr O’Reilly initially sought the opinion of local art connoisseur, Mairead Furlong, who immediately became excited at the discovery and realised that Fr O’Reilly had something very special.
Ms Furlong takes up the story: “Fr O’Reilly contacted me and asked me to take a look at it. I knew immediately it was a triptych which would have been kept for private prayer.
Fr O’Reilly has been in contact with experts from the National Gallery and from the Netherlands, and the piece has been recognised as a work of art created during the Northern Renaisance, which flourished in the Netherlands and Flanders over 500 years ago.
A burning question locally is how such a rare and valuable object get to Wexford and why it only came to notice now, and accidentally too!
The altarpiece will go under the hammer at Sheppard’s auction rooms in Durrow, Co. Laois, next month, when it will arouse considerably curiosity, and even the auctioneers are excited and anticipating a strong interest in the lot.
Full story this week in THE WEXFORD ECHO.
