Two of the former James Prendergast Library oil paintings — Emilio Sanchez Perrier’s “Environs De Tanger” and Charles Victor Thirion’s “Paysanne De La Creuse” —hanging in the Fireplace Room at the library in 2015. Perrier’s painting sold for $32,500 while Thirion’s art work did not sell during an auction held by Sotheby’s last week. P-J file photo

There could still be at least one more auction to be held to sell former James Prendergast oil paintings.

On Friday, four of the six former library paintings sold during an auction held by Sotheby’s. The results included Jules Joseph Lefebvre’s “Fatima” selling for $68,750, which was estimated to sell for $25,000 to $35,000; Emilio Sanchez Perrier’s “Environs De Tanger” sold for $32,500, which was estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000; Martin Rico y Ortega’s “Ponte Dell’Angelo” sold for $27,500, which was estimated to sell for $30,000 to $50,000 and Leon-Jean-Basile Perrault’s “Sleep, Baby, Sleep,” sold for $8,750, which was estimated to sell for $10,000 to $15,000.

The two paintings that did not sell were Charles Victor Thirion’s “Paysanne De La Creuse,” which had a sales estimate of $25,000 to $35,000, and Johan Mari Henri Ten Kate’s “Behind The Ramparts,” which had a sales estimate of $20,000 to $30,000.

Scott said it is likely the two paintings not sold during the auction will be offered again by Stair Galleries auction house, which has been working with Sotheby’s to sell the former library art work. She said no date has been set yet for a possible auction. Also, she said library officials could also receive post-auction offers as well. All of the paintings available during Friday’s auction had been available before, but none of the paintings received a bid higher than their reserved sale price.

“Also, in the previous auctions, (Sotheby’s officials) used to tell us about the possibility of post-auction offers, but because this was the second time they were put up for auction, we don’t know at this point (if library officials will receive post-auction offers),” she said.

Two of the paintings sold during the auction, had received post-auction sales offers after the first time they were available for auction by Sotheby’s in November 2017. “Fatima” sold for $68,750, which was $31,250 higher than a post-auction offer the library board received in December 2017. However, “Ponte Dell’Angelo” sold for $27,500, but the library board received a post-auction offer of $50,000 in December 2017, which is $22,500 less than the post-auction offer.

“When your talking about an auction, Sotheby’s they are the art experts. They come and give us their best estimates because they know their market and they know their customers, but you can never really truly tell,” she said. “In that one instance it would have been better (to accept the post-auction offer).”

Scott said the volatility of the art market is one reason why library officials were instructed by the state Attorney General’s Office to sell the art work.

In May 2017, the library board approved an agreement with the state Attorney General’s Office to hire a qualified auction house to sell the oil paintings in the library’s art collection. The deal with the Attorney General’s Office stems from a petition filed Sept. 16, 2015, by the James Prendergast Library Association with 8th Judicial District Surrogate Court Judge Stephen Cass. At the time, library officials filed the petition to obtain legal approval to sell art housed at the library.

The state Attorney General’s Office has oversight in New York state over nonprofit entities, like the library, and when the library board filed the petition for surrogate court’s permission to sell the artwork, the Attorney General’s Office was notified. The attorney general would only consent to a sale of the art collection if the library agreed to use an auction house that could market the collection nationally and internationally.

“(The volatility of the art world) is a good example of why the library or library board, because we are not art experts, were required to sell them by the attorney general by a qualified auction house and that is why that decision came to be,” Scott said.

The library board approved consigning 44 paintings to Sotheby’s in June 2017 to be auctioned. So far seven auctions have been held with Sotheby’s hosting four and Stair Galleries participating in three. Scott said, prior to Friday’s auction, the library has received $851,050 in revenue from the oil painting auctions. With the total sales price of the four paintings auctioned Friday being $137,500, the former library paintings have sold for a total of $988,550. Proceeds from the art auctions will go toward the library’s endowment fund.

The oil paintings were originally purchased following the death of library founder Mary Prendergast in 1889. Prendergast left $25,000 to the executor of her will to purchase art for the library.