The National Gallery of Ireland (Irish: Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the Irish national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on Clare Street. It was founded in 1854 and opened its doors ten years later. The Gallery has an extensive, representative collection of Irish painting and is also notable for its Italian Baroque and Dutch masters painting. The current director of the gallery is Raymond Keaveney. Entry to the gallery is free.
History
In 1853 an exhibition, the Great Industrial Exhibition, was held
on the lawns of Leinster House in Dublin. Among the most popular
exhibits was a substantial display of works of art organized and
underwritten by the railway magnate William Dargan. The enthusiasm
of the visiting crowds demonstrated a public for art and it was
decided to establish a permanent public art collection as a lasting
mon History building of the National Museum of Ireland which was
already planned for the facing flank of Leinster House. The
building itself was designed by Francis Fowke, based on early plans
by Charles Lanyon and was completed in 1864.
The Gallery was unlucky not to have been founded around an
existing collection, but through diligent and skilful purchase, by
the time it opened it had 125 paintings, in 1866 an annual purchase
grant was established and by 1891 space was already limited. In
1897 the Dowager Countess of Milltown indicated her intention of
donating the contents of Russborough House to the Gallery. This
gift included about 200 hundred paintings and prompted construction
from 1899 to 1903 of what is now called the Milltown Wing, designed
by Thomas Newenham Deane.
At around this time Henry Vaughan left 31 watercolours by J.M.W.
Turner with the requirement that they could only be exhibited in
January, this to protect them from the ill-effects of sunlight.
Though modern lighting technology has made this stipulation
unnecessary, the Gallery continues to restrict viewing of the
Vaughan bequest to January and the exhibition is treated as
something of an occasion.
Another substantial bequest came with the untimely death in the
sinking of the Lusitania of Hugh Lane (1875–1915), since
1914 director of the Gallery; not only did he leave a large
collection of pictures, he also left part of his residual estate
and the Lane Fund has continued to contribute to the purchase of
art works to this day. In addition to his involvement in the
Gallery, Hugh Lane has also hoped to found a gallery of modern art,
something only realised after his death in the Hugh Lane Municipal
Gallery. George Bernard Shaw also made a substantial bequest, he
left the Gallery a third of royalties of his estate in gratitude
for the time he spent there as a youth.
The Gallery was again extended in 1962 with a new wing designed
by Frank DuBerry of the Office of Public Works. This opened in 1968
and is now named the Beit Wing. In 1978 the Gallery received from
the government the paintings given to the nation by Chester Beatty
and in 1987 the Sweeney bequest brought 14 works of art including
paintings by Picasso and Jack B. Yeats. The same year the Gallery
was once again given some of the contents of Russborough House when
Alfred Beit donated 17 masterpieces, including paintings by
Velázquez, Murillo, Steen, Vermeer and Raeburn.
In the 1990s a lost Caravaggio, The
Taking of Christ, known through replicas, was discovered
hanging in a Jesuit house of studies in Leeson Street in Dublin by
Sergio Benedetti, senior conservator of the gallery. The Jesuits
have generously allowed this painting to be exhibited in the
Gallery and the discovery was the cause of national excitement. In
1997 Anne Yeats donated sketchbooks by her uncle Jack Yeats and the
Gallery now includes a Yeats Museum. Denis Mahon, a well known art
critic, promised the Gallery part of his rich collection and eight
painting from his promised bequest are on permanent display,
including the Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph by
Guercino.
The Directors of the Gallery have been: George Mulvany, 1862-9;
Henry Doyle, 1869-92; Walter Armstrong, 1892-1914; Hugh Lane,
1914-15; Robert Langton Douglas, 1916-23; Lucius O'Callaghan,
1923-7; Thomas Bodkin, 1927-35; George Furlong, 1935-50; Thomas
McGreevy, 1950-63; James White, 1964-80; Homan Potterton,
1980-88.
Millennium
Wing
A new wing, the Millennium Wing, was opened in 2002. Unlike the
previous two extensions, this new wing has street frontage and the
English architects Benson & Forsyth gave it an imposing Bowers
Whitbed, Portland Stone façade and grand atrium. The design
originally involved demolishing an adjoining Georgian terrace house
and its ballroom mews; however, the Irish planning appeals
authority, An Bord Pleanála, required that they be retained. The
Millennium Wing is not without its critics: it is unforgiving of
poor maintenance and the compromise in the design as required by An
Bord Pleanala resulted in a final design diluted from the original
competition winning building concept. The circulation space also
lacks clarity, but it is generally considered that these flaws are
trivial details set against the drama of the building.
Highlights of the
collection
The collection includes 14,000 artworks, including 2,500 oil
paintings, 5,000 drawings, 5,000 prints and some sculpture,
furniture and other works of art.
Spanish
- Luis de Morales (c.1592–86) St Jerome in the Wilderness
1570s
- Jusepe de Ribera (1591?–1652) St Onuphrius late
1620s
- Diego Velázquez (1599–1660) Kitchen Maid with the
Supper of Emmaus c.1617–18
- Francisco Zurbarán (1598–1664) The Immaculate Conception
early 1660s
- Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–82) The Return of the
Prodigal Son c.1660
- Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828) Dona Antonia
Zarate c.1805–06
- Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881–1973) Still-Life with Mandolin
1924
- Juan Gris (1887–1927) Pierrot 1921
French
- Jacques Yverni (flourished 1410–38) The Annunciation
c.1435
- Nicolas Poussin (1594–1665)
- Acis and Galatea 1627–28
- The Lamentation over the Dead Christ 1657–60
- Jean Lamaire (1598–1659) Architecture Landscape with
Classical Figures 1627–30
- Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (1699–1779) Still Life: Two
Rabbits, a Grey Partridge, Game Bag and Powder Flask 1731
- Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) Venus and Cupid (Day)
c.1755
- Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) Demosthenes on the Seashore
1859
- Gustave Courbet (1819–77) Portrait of Adolphe Marlet
1851
- Alfred Sisley (1819–99) The Banks of the Canal du Loing at
Saint-Mammes 1888
- Claude Monet (1840–1926) Argenteuil Basin with a Single
Sailboat 1874
- Paul Signac (1863–1935) Lady on the Terrace 1898
- Kees van Dongen (1877–1968) Stella in a Flowered Hat
c.1907
- Chaim Soutine (1893–1943) Landscape with the Flight of
Stairs c.1922
Italian
- Master of Verucchio (14th century) The Crucifixion, Noli me
tangere c.1330–40
- Fra Angelico (1417–55) Sts Cosmas and Damian and their
Brothers surviving the Stake c.1440–42
- Zarobi Strozzi (attribute to) (1412–68) Assumption of the
Virgin with Sts Jerome and Francis 1460s
- Filippino Lippi (1457–1504) Portrait of a Musician late
1480s
- Titian (c.1485/90–1576) Ecce Homo c.1558/60
- Giovan Battista Moroni (before 1524–1578) Portrait of a
Gentleman and his two Children c.1570
- Caravaggio
(1571–1610) The Taking of Christ 1602
- Guido Reni (1575–1624) The Suicide of Cleopatra
c.1639–40
- Domenichino (1581–1641) Saint Mary Magdalene c.1625
- Guercino (1591–1666) Jacob blessing the Sons of Jacob
c.1620
- Sassoferrato (1609–85) Virgin and Child 1630s
- Luca Giordano (1634–1705) Venus, Mars and the Forge of
Vulcan 1660s
- Carlo Maratta (1625–1713) The Rape of Europa
c.1680–5
- Francesco Solimena (1657–1747) Allegory of Winter
c.1690
- Canaletto (1697–1768) St. Mark's Square c.1756
Ugolino di Nerio"Prophet Isaiah",Jacopo
Palma(Elder)"Resurrection",Giovanni Lanfranco"Last Supper"
German and
Dutch
- Salzburg School Christ on the Cross with the Virgin Mary and
John c.1430
- Master of the Youth of St Romold (active c.1490) St Romold
taking leave of his Parents c.1490
- Marinus van Reymerswaele (attributed) (c.1490/95–c.1567) The
Calling of Matthew c.1530–40
- Georg Pencz (active 1500–50) Portrait of a Gentleman
1549
- Angelica Kauffmann (1741–1807) The Ely Family 1771
- Emil Nolde (1867–1956) Two Women in a Garden 1915
Flemish
- Pieter Brueghel the Younger (1564–c.1637) Peasant
Wedding 1620
- Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) St Peter finding the Tribute
Money 1617–18
- Jacob Jordaens (1593–1678)
- The Veneration of the Eucharist c.1630
- The Supper at Emmaus c.1645–65
- Anthony van Dyck (1599–1641) A Boy standing on a Terrace
c.1623–24
Dutch
- Gerrit van Honthorst (1590–1656) A Musical Party
c.1616–18
- Rembrandt (and
studio) (1606–69) La Main Chaude c.1628
- Willem Cornelisz Duyster (1599–1635) Interior with
Soldiers 1632
- Aelbert Cuyp (1620–91) Milking Cows 1640s?
- Matthias Stomer (1600–after 1650) The Arrest of Christ
c.1641
- Rembrandt (1606–69)
Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt 1647
- Willem Drost (1652–80) Bust of a Man Wearing a Large-brimmed
Hat c.1654
- Anthonie de Lorme (1610–73) Interior of St Laurenskerk,
Rotterdam c.1660–65
- Gabriel Metsu (1629–67)
- Man Writing a Letter c.1663
- Woman Reading a Letter c.1663
- Jan Steen (1625/26–79)
- The Village School c.1665
- The Marriage Feast at Cana 1665–70
- Johannes Vermeer (1632–75) Lady Writing a Letter with her
Maid c.1670
- Cornelis Troost (1696–1750) Jeronimus Tonneman and his son
Jeronimus 1736
Nicolas de Gyslaer"Interior with Figures";Emanuel de
Witte"Church Interior";Frans Hals"Fisherboy"
British and
American
- William Hogarth (1697–1764)
- The Western Family c.1738
- The Mackinen Children c.1747
- Thomas Gainsborough 1727–88
- A view in Suffolk c.1746
- Mrs Christopher Horton (1743–1808) later Duchess of
Cumberland 1766
- The Cottage Girl 1785
- Joshua Reynolds (1723–92)
- Parody of Raphael's 'School of Athens' 1751
- The Temple Family 1780–82
- Omai 1776 (On loan from a private collection)
- Charles Coote, The First Earl Of Bellamont 1776
- Henry Raeburn (1756–1823) Sir John and Lady Clerk of
Penicuik 1791
- George Romney (1734–1802) Titania, Puck and the Changeling,
from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' 1793
- John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) The Bead Stringers of
Venice 1880–82
- Stanley Royle (1888–1961) The Goose Girl c.1921
- Francis Wheatley (1747–1801) The Dublin Volunteers on
College Green, 4 November 1779 1779–80
Irish
- James Barry (1741–1806)
- The Temptation of Adam 1767–70
- Self-portrait as Timanths c.1780–1803
- The Death of Adonis
- Augustus Nicholas Burke (1838–1891) Connemara Girl
(1865).
- Nathaniel Hone the Elder (1718–84) The Conjurer,
1775
- Hugh Douglas Hamilton (1740–1808) Frederick Hervey, Bishop
of Derry and Fourth Earl of Bristol (1730–1803), with his
Granddaughter Lady Caroline Crichton (1779–1856), in the Gardens of
the Villa Borghese, Rome c.1790
- Francis Danby (1793–1861) The Opening of the Sixth Seal,
1828
- Daniel Maclise (1806–1870) The Marriage of Strongbow and
Aoife, 1854
- Sarah Purser (1848–1943) Le Petit Dejeuner 1881
- Roderic O'Conor (1860–1940) Le Jeune Bretonne
c.1895
- Walter Osborne (1859–1903) In a Dublin Park, Light and
Shade c.1895
- John Lavery (1856–1941) The Artist's Studio: Lady Hazel
Lavery with her Daughter Alice and Step-Daughter Eileen
1909–13
- Paul Henry (1876–1958) Launching the Currach
1910–11
- William John Leech (1881–1968) Convent Garden, Brittany
c.1912
- Sean Keating (1889–1977) An Allegory c.1922
- Mainie Jellett (1897–1944) Decoration 1923
- Gerard Dillon (1916–1971) The Little Green Fields
c.1945
- Louis le Brocquy (1916) A Family 1951
William Orpen"Holy Well"
The Yeats
Collection
- Jack B. Yeats (1871–1957)
- The Liffey Swim 1923
- A Morning in a City 1937
- Grief 1951
- John Butler Yeats (1839–1922) John O'Leary 1904
Drawings and Watercolours
- James Malton (1760–1803) The Custom House
- Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) Fishing Boats on
Folkestone Beach
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–82) Jane Burden as Queen
Guinevere 1858
- Frederick William Burton (1816–1900) Hellelil and
Hildebrand, the Meeting on Turret Stairs, 1864 1864
- James Abbott McNeill Whistler (1834–1903) Nocturne in Grey
and Gold — Piccadilly, 1881–83
- Edgar Degas (1834–1917) Two Ballet Dancers in a Dressing
Room
- Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881–1973) Two Dancers 1925
See also
- Art gallery
- Irish art
- List of Irish artists
- The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery
- The Irish Museum of Modern Art
References
- Raymond Keaveney (2002), The National Gallery of Ireland:
Essential Guide. London: Scala Publishers. ISBN
1-85759-267-0
- Homan Potterton (2003), The National Gallery of Ireland
in Brian Lalor (Ed.) The Encyclopedia of Ireland. Dublin:
Gill and Macmillian. ISBN 0-7171-3000-2
- Homan Potterton, Introduction to National Gallery of
Ireland: Illustrated Summary Catalogue of Paintings. Dublin:
Gill and Macmillan. ISBN 0-7171-1145-8
External
links
