National Gallery of Ireland

After his visit to the successful Great Exhibition in London in 1851, William Dargan, the Father of Railways in Ireland, agreed to underwrite the costs of a similar event on Leinster Lawn in 1853. It was a huge success and the art pavilion particularly popular. This enthusiastic response was noted and a committee was formed to promote the creation of a national gallery. The land was purchased from the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) and the gallery as we know it today (on Merrion Square), was opened by the Earl of Carlisle on 30^th January 1864.

The National Gallery of Ireland

Back then the entire collection of paintings numbered around 120. However, due to the generosity of a few collectors, namely Henry Vaughan (31 watercolours by JMW Turner), the Countess of Milltown, and Sir Hugh Lane, the Director of the gallery who died when the Lusitania was sank in 1915. The Lane Fund continues to fund the purchase of paintings to this day. And George Bernard Shaw, the famous playwright, made a significant bequest where the gallery receives a third of royalties of his estate. As a young man he often visited the gallery, happy times that he never forgot.

The gallery made international news when it discovered Caravaggio’s The Taking of Christ that until then thought lost or destroyed. The painting was restored and is now one of the gallery’s real gems. And the recently acquired La Vie des Champs (Life in the Fields) by the French post-Impressionist Paul Cézanne will no doubt prove to be a popular addition.

So much to see….

The addition of the Millennium Wing in 2002 provided a much-needed second entrance (on Clare Street), and it is where you will find the Gallery Shop, restaurant and new exhibition space. The gallery has much to offer, and its ethos ‘to provide a place where the people could learn about art’ is alive and well and eagerly encouraged.

It’s a ‘must see!

William Dargan

William Dargan, one of Ireland’s most important engineers of the 19^th century, was born on the 28^th February 1799 in County Carlow. He attended local school where he excelled at mathematics, before getting a position in a surveyor’s office in Carlow. By 1819, and with the help of local MP Henry Purcell, he was working with the renowned engineer Thomas Telford on the important Holyhead to London road. In 1824, and back in Ireland, he assisted Telford on extending the Howth Road from Raheny to Sutton, leading Parnell to describe the road as “a model for other roads in the vicinity of Dublin”. He also was assistant manager for three years on the Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal, as well as adding more roads in Dublin, Carlow and Louth.

William Dargan

Busy as he was he did find time to marry Jane Arkinstall on the 13^th October 1828 in the Church of St Michael & All Angels, Adbaston, Staffordshire, but they had no children.

In 1825 when the Irish parliament decided to construct a railway from Dublin to Kingstown – DKR (now Dun Laoghaire) he became committed to setting it up, and along with the engineer, Charles Vignoles, they designed the route and the line was opened on the 17^th December 1834. It was very successful, and it was the earliest dedicated commuter in the world. Other lines were completed: Dublin to Drogheda, and the Great Southern and Western Railway. He contributed nearly eight hundred miles of track to the rail network and was rightly called the ‘Founder of Railways in Ireland’. He also designed the Ulster Canal, connecting Lough Erne and Belfast, which was a difficult but brilliantly handled project.

Dargan Bridge, Dundrum, Dublin

In 1853 he was the lead promoter for the Great Exhibition that was held on the lawns of Leinster House. Afterwards, he was involved in the creation of the National Gallery of Ireland on the same site, and a statue to him stands outside the main entrance.

He died on the 7^th February 1867, and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery.

Beggars Bush Barracks

Built in 1827 the barracks, built for British Forces, has featured notably in Irish history. It was set-up as a link in the chain of barracks that surrounded the city, and offered quick access to main roads in the south-east and the port at Dun Laoghaire, that was essential for both troop and equipment arrival.

During the Easter Rising in 1916 it was, unknown to members of the Irish Republican Army who had taken up firing positions nearby on Northumberland Road and Lower Mount Street, lightly defended and would have been a significant prize if it had been taken. This, however, did not happen and the fighting around Mount Street Bridge saw the heaviest casualties of the insurrection.

Beggars Bush Barracks

Six years later, on 1^st February 1922, it was the first barracks to be handed over after the signing of the Treaty in December 1921. On the day a small troop of soldiers (3 officers and 43 men) led by  Captain Daly, stopped outside City Hall (where the government was then based) and saluted Collins, Griffith and other cabinet members before heading off. They were dressed in new uniforms, carried rifles and were cheered on their way. At the barracks Richard Mulcahy, Minister for Defence, presented a tricolour to Captain Daly which was then raised. A service celebrating the 100^th anniversary was held recently.

The barracks were decommissioned in 1929, and since then various government agencies have been based there, including The National Print Museum, Labour Court, Geological Survey of Ireland and the Irish Labour History Society (ILHS). In there are photographs and paintings of famous labour men and women, including a  banner featuring Jim Larkin which has recently been on display in the National Gallery of Ireland. There is also a window frame from the original Liberty Hall that was rescued from the bombed building, and collections of diaries and papers of former Labour politicians. A visit can be arranged by contacting the ILHS.

Window frame from the original Liberty Hall

Dublin’s Culture Night – what fun!

Pearse Museum

It was busy in town with crowds visiting the many houses, galleries, houses, museums that took part in Culture Night. The pleasant, dry weather certainly helped matters, and everywhere there was excited talk as visitors moved from venue to venue. All in all it was a great event, and what I enjoyed most was the good nature and the genuine interest shown by Culture Vultures, both young and old!

The event has become one of the Dublin’s main attractions, for locals and tourists alike, and a real ‘must-see’. It offers unique opportunities to visit places that are often closed to the public and, as such, is engaging like no other event and growing year-on-year. And with venues from all corners of the city taking part; from Dunsink Observatory in the west to Windmill Lane Studios in the east and Malahide Castle in the north to the Pearse Museum in the south, there was something for everybody to see and enjoy. And, for those wishing to move quickly between venues there was a Free Culture Night Bus service. Yes, everyone was involved!

Dunsink Observatory

There is so much to see that you have to have a plan, something that is usually gets forgotten about after visiting a few venues. But that is part of the fun and it adds to the sense of discovery that is so important. That’s what happened to mine, anyway, but I was more than happy with I saw, and heard. For music is a big part of the event and there was so much on offer. There were formal shows in Dublin Castle and Smithfield Square and any number of impromptu performances in small venues and in the open air. Outside the National Gallery I saw four young trumpet players, in dress suits, playing Classical Music that got a loud round of applause. It was different, something that is very much the theme of the event.

Thomas Moore’s harp

I enjoyed a guided tour of the recently, and beautifully revamped, National Gallery that was abuzz with excitement. Then it was along a noisy Nassau Street and into the beautiful Royal Irish Academy on Dawson Street. This is a veritable treasure house of Irish history where you may indeed spend more time that you might have planned. You can see Ireland’s oldest manuscript that dates from the sixth century, and the collected works of the great singer and writer Thomas Moore, along with his harp. In the Meeting Room there are chandeliers and benches from the House of Lords that was abolished under the Act of Union of 1800.

Then it was into the Mansion House where the guide gave our group a very swift and informative tour of the building that has been the Mayoral Home since 1715, the oldest in the British Isles. The famous Rotunda was added in 1821 for the visit of King George IV, and ironically it was where the First Dáil assembled on 21st January 1919 and proclaimed the Declaration of Independence.

It was a great night and I just wish that I had the time to visit other wonderful places and meet more enthusiastic visitors. Maybe the organizers might consider extending the event to a two-night affair, but I am very happy to see it thrive and grow and continue to bring so much fun and excitement to so many.

The Mansion House

National Gallery – looking great

The National Gallery of Ireland

As I passed by the locked and boarded front gate during the last six years I often wondered ‘When will it be open?’ The National Gallery had opened in 1864 and it was no surprise that serious work needed to be carried out to allow it to continue in the most positive way for another hundred and fifty years. The removal of old and worn, parts and their sympathetic replacement with modern, state-of-the-art materials was essential, and took time. That’s understandable and the result, I must admit, has been spectacular.

Harry Clarke piece

Upper Gallery

The gallery is a place that I know well having being a regular visitors for many, many years. The Millennium Wing that was opened in 2002 is a great addition and gives a modern feel to the place. And now with the extra space available the gallery can have more of its works (there are more than 16,300 works of art, comprising: paintings, sculpture, objets d’art and works on paper) on show – almost 650 items. And, of course, its size and popularity allows it to attract works from international galleries.

William Dargan

The recently completed work in the Dargan and Milltown wings has been suitably praised, and rightly so. There is much to see and enjoy here, and my own favourite was a complete and wonderful surprise. Knowing the gallery I did not expect to find the atrium that, on the sunny day when I was there,  was seen at its best. The beautiful space had been ‘hidden away’ but its revelation is a real treat and the sculpture at its centre, Magnus Modus (by Joseph Walsh), will bring a smile. It’s a must-see!

 

Magnus Modus

Jack B Yeats – A Portrait of the Artist

Jack B Yeats

Jack B Yeats, one of Ireland’s foremost painters, was born in London on the 29 August 1871, the youngest child of John Butler Yeats and his wife Susan (nee Pollexfen). His father, who had trained as a lawyer, was also a painter although not nearly as successful as his son would become.

Jack spent his early years moving between London, Dublin and his maternal grandparent’s home in Sligo before moving to London in 1887. He studied at the South Kensington School of Art and the Chiswick School of Art where he met Mary Cottenham White who he married in 1894. They moved to Devon in where he developed his artistic career as an illustrator for various journals, and after focusing on watercolours had his first exhibition in London in the 1897.

The couple left Devon for Ireland in 1910, first settling in Greystones, Wicklow, before moving to Dublin and finally into 18 Fitzwilliam Square where they spent the rest of their lives.

Olympic Silver Medal

Back in Dublin Yeats began to work in oils and travelled widely capturing images of rural life, particularly in the West of Ireland and, of course, scenes in Dublin. One of his most famous and beloved paintings is The Liffey Swim (1924) which is now in the National Gallery. He entered this in the Paris Olympics and won the Silver Medal which is part of the Jack B Yeats archive that was donated to the gallery by his niece Anne Yeats, herself a painter and stage designer, in 1996. In 1999, his painting The Wild Ones was sold at Sotheby’s, London, for £1.2 million, the highest price ever paid for one of his works.

He continued to produce work for publication including illustrations for JM Synge’s The Aran Islands. And he wrote numerous plays, a collection of short stories for children and novels through the 1930s and 1940s. He died on 28 March 1957 and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery. He was 85.

The Liffey Swim

 

 

Time for Turner – The Vaughan Bequest

JMW Turner

January is often viewed as a comedown after the excitement of Christmas has finally died away, but not for those who are fans of the watercolours of JMW Turner. The annual display of his work lasts for the month of January, and it is one of the National Gallery of Ireland’s (NGI) most popular attractions.

In 1900 the National Gallery were bequeathed 31 watercolours by Henry Vaughan, and a stipulation that they should only be displayed in January when the light was weak. This was to protect the delicate drawings, and although modern measures can adequately do the job the National Gallery adheres to Vaughan’s request. This adds to the display and allows the viewer to see Turner’s magical work as Vaughan or the artist would have enjoyed them.

Henry Vaughan

Henry Vaughan was born in Southwark, south London, in April 1809 and his father, George, owned a very successful hat making business. And in 1829 when his father died Henry inherited the business and was an extremely wealthy young man. He had been privately educated, and his wealth allowed him to travel widely in Europe and begin his collection. This included many works and sketches by Michelangelo and Rembrandt and paintings by Reynolds, Flaxman and Constable. In fact, he presented Constable’s famous work the Hay Wain to the National Gallery (London) in 1886.

By that time he had become a friend of Turner’s and bought a considerable number of his works that would constitute a large part of the Vaughan Bequest. The works that the NGI acquired have since been added to and now there are 36 watercolours to enjoy. They show Turner’s mastery of light, and his skill in catching the fleeting moment that so impressed generations of aspiring artists. And, two hundred later they still have the power to move the viewer. It’ll be a great way to start the New Year – check it out.

National Gallery of Ireland