National Gallery of Ireland
Encyclopedia
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
national collection of Irish
Irish art
The early history of Irish art is generally considered to begin with early carvings found at sites such as Newgrange and is traced through Bronze Age artefacts, particularly ornamental gold objects, and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period...
and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square
Merrion Square
Merrion Square is a Georgian square on the southside of Dublin city centre. It was laid out after 1762 and was largely complete by the beginning of the 19th century. It is considered one of the city's finest surviving squares...
, beside Leinster House
Leinster House
Leinster House is the name of the building housing the Oireachtas, the national parliament of Ireland.Leinster House was originally the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, which house Oireachtas Éireann, its...
, 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
Dutch Golden Age painting
Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history generally spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe, and led European trade,...
painting. The current director of the gallery is Raymond Keaveney. Entry to the gallery is free.
History
In 1853 an exhibition, the Great Industrial ExhibitionGreat Industrial Exhibition (1853)
The Great Industrial Exhibition in 1853 was held in Dublin, Ireland. In its day, it was the largest international event to be held in Ireland. The Irish Industrial Exhibition Building housed the entire fair...
, was held on the lawns of Leinster House
Leinster House
Leinster House is the name of the building housing the Oireachtas, the national parliament of Ireland.Leinster House was originally the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, which house Oireachtas Éireann, its...
in Dublin. Among the most popular exhibits was a substantial display of works of art organized and underwritten by the railway magnate William Dargan
William Dargan
William Dargan , an engineer, often seen as the father of Irish railways, came from Killeshin, County Laois, Ireland. Born in 1799, he constructed Ireland's first railway from Dublin to Dún Laoghaire in 1833. He constructed over of railway to important urban centres of Ireland...
. 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 monument of gratitude to Dargan. The façade of the National Gallery copies the Natural History building of the National Museum of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland is the national museum in Ireland. It has three branches in Dublin and one in County Mayo, with a strong emphasis on Irish art, culture and natural history.-Archaeology:...
which was already planned for the facing flank of Leinster House. The building itself was designed by Francis Fowke
Francis Fowke
Francis Fowke RE was a British engineer and architect, and a Captain in the Corps of Royal Engineers. Most of his architectural work was executed in the Renaissance style, although he made use of relatively new technologies to create iron framed buildings, with large open galleries and...
, based on early plans by Charles Lanyon
Charles Lanyon
Sir Charles Lanyon DL, JP was an English architect of the 19th century. His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland.-Biography:Lanyon was born in Eastbourne, Sussex in 1813...
and was completed in 1864.
The Gallery was unlucky not to have been founded around an existing collection, but through diligent and skillful 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
Russborough House
Russborough House is a stately house situated near the Blessington Lakes in County Wicklow, Ireland, between the towns of Blessington and Ballymore Eustace and is reputed to be the longest house in Ireland, with a frontage measuring 210 m/700 ft...
to the Gallery. This gift included about 20000 paintings and prompted construction from 1899 to 1903 of what is now called the Milltown Wing, designed by Thomas Newenham Deane
Thomas Newenham Deane
Sir Thomas Newenham Deane was an Irish architect, the son of Sir Thomas Deane, and father of Sir Thomas Manly Deane, who were also architects....
.
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 of Hugh Lane
Hugh Lane
Sir Hugh Percy Lane is best known for establishing Dublin's Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and for his remarkable contribution to the visual arts in Ireland...
(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 Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
also made a substantial bequest, leaving 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
Office of Public Works
The Office of Public Works is a State Agency of the Department of Finance in the Republic of Ireland...
. 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
Chester Beatty Library
The Chester Beatty Library was established in Dublin, Ireland in 1950, to house the collections of mining magnate, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty. The present library, on the grounds of Dublin Castle, opened on February 7, 2000, the 125th anniversary of Sir Alfred's birth and was named European Museum...
and in 1987 the Sweeney bequest brought fourteen 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
Russborough House
Russborough House is a stately house situated near the Blessington Lakes in County Wicklow, Ireland, between the towns of Blessington and Ballymore Eustace and is reputed to be the longest house in Ireland, with a frontage measuring 210 m/700 ft...
when Alfred Beit donated 17 masterpieces, including paintings by Velázquez
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
, Murillo
Bartolomé Estéban Murillo
Bartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
, Steen
Jan Steen
Jan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century . Psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour are marks of his trade.-Life:...
, Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
and Raeburn
Henry Raeburn
Sir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
.
In the 1990s a lost Caravaggio
Caravaggio
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
, The Taking of Christ
The Taking of Christ
The Taking of Christ is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , originally commissioned by nobleman Ciriaco Mattei. It is housed in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.-Description:...
, known through replicas, was discovered hanging in a Jesuit house of studies in Leeson Street in Dublin by Sergio Benedetti
Sergio Benedetti
Commendatore Sergio Benedetti is an Italian art historian and formerly Head Curator and Keeper of the Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland....
, 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. The painting was on loan to an Italian gallery from February until July 2010 as part of Caravaggio's 400th aniversairy. In 1997 Anne Yeats
Anne Yeats
Anne Butler Yeats was an Irish painter and stage designer. She was a daughter of the poet William Butler Yeats and a niece of the painter Jack B. Yeats, niece of Lily Yeats an embroiderer associated with the Celtic Revival, and botanic artist Elizabeth 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 Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph by Guercino.
The Directors of the Gallery have been: George Mulvany, 1862–69; Henry Doyle, 1869–92; Walter Armstrong, 1892–1914; Hugh Lane
Hugh Lane
Sir Hugh Percy Lane is best known for establishing Dublin's Municipal Gallery of Modern Art and for his remarkable contribution to the visual arts in Ireland...
, 1914–15; Robert Langton Douglas, 1916–23; Lucius O'Callaghan, 1923–27; Thomas Bodkin
Thomas Bodkin
Professor Thomas Patrick Bodkin was an Irish lawyer, art historian, art collector and curator.Bodkin was Director of the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin from 1927 to 1935 and founding Director of the Barber Institute of Fine Arts in Birmingham from 1935 until 1952, where he acquired the...
, 1927–35; George Furlong, 1935–50; Thomas McGreevy, 1950–63; James White, 1964–80; Homan Potterton, 1980–88.
Millennium Wing
A new wing, called 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. In line with its Brutalist style, the interior concrete walls are still unsealedHighlights 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 MoralesLuis de MoralesLuis de Morales was a Spanish painter born in Badajoz, Extremadura. Known as "El Divino", most of his work was of religious subjects, including many representations of the Madonna and Child and the Passion....
(c.1592–86) St Jerome in the Wilderness 1570s - Jusepe de Ribera (1591?–1652) St Onuphrius late 1620s
- Diego VelázquezDiego VelázquezDiego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez was a Spanish painter who was the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV. He was an individualistic artist of the contemporary Baroque period, important as a portrait artist...
(1599–1660) Kitchen Maid with the Supper of EmmausLa mulataLa mulata or Kitchen Maid with the Supper of Emmaus is one of the first known works by the Spanish painter Diego Velázquez, possibly begun at the end of 1617 or the start of 1618 and completed around 1623 in Seville. It shows a mulatto kitchen maid, with the supper at Emmaus in the left background....
c.1617–18 - Francisco ZurbaránFrancisco ZurbaránFrancisco de Zurbarán was a Spanish painter. He is known primarily for his religious paintings depicting monks, nuns, and martyrs, and for his still-lifes...
(1598–1664) The Immaculate Conception early 1660s - Bartolomé Esteban MurilloBartolomé Estéban MurilloBartolomé Esteban Murillo was a Spanish Baroque painter. Although he is best known for his religious works, Murillo also produced a considerable number of paintings of contemporary women and children...
(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 GrisJuan GrisJosé Victoriano González-Pérez , better known as Juan Gris, was a Spanish painter and sculptor who lived and worked in France most of his life...
(1887–1927) Pierrot 1921
French
- Jacques Yverni (flourished 1410–38) The Annunciation c.1435
- Nicolas PoussinNicolas PoussinNicolas Poussin was a French painter in the classical style. His work predominantly features clarity, logic, and order, and favors line over color. His work serves as an alternative to the dominant Baroque style of the 17th century...
(1594–1665)- Acis and Galatea 1627–28
- The Lamentation over the Dead Christ 1657–60
- Jean LemaireJean Lemaire (painter)Jean Lemaire was a French painter. He is also known as Lemaire-Poussin, due to his frequent close collaborations with Nicolas Poussin...
(1598–1659) Architecture Landscape with Classical Figures 1627–30 - Jean-Baptiste-Siméon ChardinJean-Baptiste-Siméon ChardinJean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin was an 18th-century French painter. He is considered a master of still life, and is also noted for his genre paintings which depict kitchen maids, children, and domestic activities...
(1699–1779) Still Life: Two Rabbits, a Grey Partridge, Game Bag and Powder Flask 1731 - Jean-Honoré FragonardJean-Honoré FragonardJean-Honoré Fragonard was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific artists active in the last decades of the Ancien Régime, Fragonard produced more than 550 paintings , of which only five...
(1732–1806) Venus and Cupid (Day) c.1755 - Eugène DelacroixEugène DelacroixFerdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix was a French Romantic artist regarded from the outset of his career as the leader of the French Romantic school...
(1798–1863) Demosthenes on the Seashore 1859 - Gustave CourbetGustave CourbetJean Désiré Gustave Courbet was a French painter who led the Realist movement in 19th-century French painting. The Realist movement bridged the Romantic movement , with the Barbizon School and the Impressionists...
(1819–77) Portrait of Adolphe Marlet 1851 - Alfred SisleyAlfred SisleyAlfred Sisley was an Impressionist landscape painter who was born and spent most of his life, in France, but retained British citizenship. He was the most consistent of the Impressionists in his dedication to painting landscape en plein air...
(1819–99) The Banks of the Canal du Loing at Saint-Mammes 1888 - Claude MonetClaude MonetClaude Monet was a founder of French impressionist painting, and the most consistent and prolific practitioner of the movement's philosophy of expressing one's perceptions before nature, especially as applied to plein-air landscape painting. . Retrieved 6 January 2007...
(1840–1926) Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat 1874 - Paul SignacPaul SignacPaul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style.-Biography:Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863...
(1863–1935) Lady on the Terrace 1898 - Kees van DongenKees van DongenCornelis Theodorus Maria van Dongen , usually known as Kees van Dongen or just Van Dongen, was a Dutch painter and one of the Fauves. He gained a reputation for his sensuous, at times garish, portraits....
(1877–1968) Stella in a Flowered Hat c.1907 - Chaim SoutineChaim SoutineChaïm Soutine was a Jewish painter from Belarus. Soutine made a major contribution to the expressionist movement while living in Paris....
(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 AngelicoFra AngelicoFra Angelico , born Guido di Pietro, was an Early Italian Renaissance painter described by Vasari in his Lives of the Artists as having "a rare and perfect talent"...
(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 LippiFilippino LippiFilippino Lippi was an Italian painter working during the High Renaissance in Florence, Italy.-Biography:...
(1457–1504) Portrait of a Musician late 1480s - TitianTitianTiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio (c. 1488/1490 – 27 August 1576 better known as Titian was an Italian painter, the most important member of the 16th-century Venetian school. He was born in Pieve di Cadore, near...
(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
- CaravaggioCaravaggioMichelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio was an Italian artist active in Rome, Naples, Malta, and Sicily between 1593 and 1610. His paintings, which combine a realistic observation of the human state, both physical and emotional, with a dramatic use of lighting, had a formative influence on the Baroque...
(1571–1610) The Taking of ChristThe Taking of ChristThe Taking of Christ is a painting by the Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio , originally commissioned by nobleman Ciriaco Mattei. It is housed in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.-Description:...
1602 - Guido ReniGuido ReniGuido Reni was an Italian painter of high-Baroque style.-Biography:Born in Bologna into a family of musicians, Guido Reni was the son of Daniele Reni and Ginevra de’ Pozzi. As a child of nine, he was apprenticed under the Bolognese studio of Denis Calvaert. Soon after, he was joined in that...
(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
- SassoferratoGiovanni Battista Salvi da SassoferratoGiovanni Battista Salvi da Sassoferrato , also known as Giovanni Battista Salvi, was an Italian Baroque painter. He is often referred to only by the town of his birthplace , as was customary in his time, and for example seen with da Vinci and Caravaggio.-Biography:The details of Giovanni Battista...
(1609–85) Virgin and Child 1630s - Luca GiordanoLuca GiordanoLuca Giordano was an Italian late Baroque painter and printmaker in etching. Fluent and decorative, he worked successfully in Naples and Rome, Florence and Venice, before spending a decade in Spain....
(1634–1705) Venus, Mars and the Forge of Vulcan 1660s - Carlo MarattaCarlo MarattaCarlo Maratta or Maratti was an Italian painter, active mostly in Rome, and known principally for his classicizing paintings executed in a Late Baroque Classical manner. Although he is part of the classical tradition stemming from Raphael, he was not exempt from the influence of Baroque painting...
(1625–1713) The Rape of Europa c.1680–5 - Francesco SolimenaFrancesco SolimenaFrancesco Solimena was a prolific Italian painter of the Baroque era, one of an established family of painters and draughtsmen.-Biography:Francesco Solimena was born in Canale di Serino, near Avellino....
(1657–1747) Allegory of Winter c.1690 - CanalettoCanalettoGiovanni Antonio Canal better known as Canaletto , was a Venetian painter famous for his landscapes, or vedute, of Venice. He was also an important printmaker in etching.- Early career :...
(1697–1768) St. Mark's Square c.1756
Ugolino di Nerio"Prophet Isaiah",Jacopo Palma(Elder)"Resurrection",Giovanni Lanfranco"Last Supper"
German
- 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 ReymerswaeleMarinus van ReymerswaeleMarinus Claeszoon van Reymerswaele was a Dutch painter. He worked in Zeeland from 1533-1545. Hence he is also named Marinus de Seeu . He studied at the University of Leuven and was trained as a painter in Antwerp .His name is known from a small number of signed panels...
(attributed) (c.1490/95–c.1567) The Calling of Matthew c.1530–40 - Georg PenczGeorg PenczGeorg Pencz was a German engraver, painter and printmaker.Pencz travelled to Nuremberg in 1523 and joined Albrecht Dürer’s atelier. Like Dürer, he visited Italy and was profoundly influenced by Venetian art and it is believed he worked with Marcantonio Raimondi...
(active 1500–50) Portrait of a Gentleman 1549 - Angelica KauffmannAngelica KauffmannMaria Anna Angelika/Angelica Katharina Kauffman was a Swiss-Austrian Neoclassical painter. Kauffman is the preferred spelling of her name; it is the form she herself used most in signing her correspondence, documents and paintings.- Early years :She was born at Chur in Graubünden, Switzerland,...
(1741–1807) The Ely Family 1771 - Emil NoldeEmil NoldeEmil Nolde was a German painter and printmaker. He was one of the first Expressionists, a member of Die Brücke, and is considered to be one of the great oil painting and watercolour painters of the 20th century. He is known for his vigorous brushwork and expressive choice of colors...
(1867–1956) Two Women in a Garden 1915
Flemish
- Pieter Brueghel the YoungerPieter Brueghel the YoungerPieter Brueghel the Younger /ˈpitəɾ ˈbɾøːxəl/ was a Flemish painter, known for numerous copies after his father Pieter Brueghel the Elder's paintings and nicknamed "Hell Brueghel" for his fantastic treatments of fire and grotesque imagery.-Life:Pieter Brueghel the Younger was the oldest son of the...
(1564–c.1637) Peasant Wedding 1620 - Peter Paul Rubens (1577–1640) St Peter finding the Tribute Money 1617–18
- Jacob JordaensJacob JordaensJacob Jordaens was one of three Flemish Baroque painters, along with Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck, to bring prestige to the Antwerp school of painting. Unlike those contemporaries he never traveled abroad to study Italian painting, and his career is marked by an indifference to their...
(1593–1678)- The Veneration of the Eucharist c.1630
- The Supper at Emmaus c.1645–65
- Anthony van DyckAnthony van DyckSir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
(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 DuysterWillem Cornelisz DuysterWillem Cornelisz Duyster was a Dutch Golden Age painter from Amsterdam.-Biography:According to the RKD, his name was taken from his house on the Amsterdam Koningstraat, which was called "De Duystere Werelt", the dim world. He was a pupil of Pieter Codde...
(1599–1635) Interior with Soldiers 1632 - Aelbert CuypAelbert CuypAelbert Jacobsz Cuyp was one of the leading Dutch landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age in the 17th century. The most famous of a family of painters, the pupil of his father Jacob Gerritsz...
(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 DrostWillem DrostWillem Drost was a Dutch Golden Age painter and printmaker of history paintings and portraits who died young.-Biography:...
(1652–80) Bust of a Man Wearing a Large-brimmed Hat c.1654 - Anthonie de LormeAnthonie de LormeAnthonie de Lorme , was a Dutch painter.De Lorme primarily painted church interiors. The detail in which he depicted the interior of the Church of Saint Lawrence, Rotterdam were used in the designs by church restorers years later. He died in Rotterdam in 1673.-References:...
(1610–73) Interior of St Laurenskerk, Rotterdam c.1660–65 - Gabriel MetsuGabriel MetsuGabriël Metsu was a Dutch painter of history paintings, genre works and portraits.- Life :Metsu was the son of the Flemish painter Jacques Metsu , who lived most of his days at Leiden, and Jacomijntje Garniers, his third wife, whom he married in 1625. Jacomijntje was the widow of a painter with...
(1629–67)- Man Writing a Letter c.1663
- Woman Reading a Letter c.1663
- Jan SteenJan SteenJan Havickszoon Steen was a Dutch genre painter of the 17th century . Psychological insight, sense of humour and abundance of colour are marks of his trade.-Life:...
(1625/26–79)- The Village School c.1665
- The Marriage Feast at Cana 1665–70
- Johannes VermeerJohannes VermeerJohannes, Jan or Johan Vermeer was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime...
(1632–75) Lady Writing a Letter with her MaidLady Writing a Letter with her MaidLady Writing a Letter with her Maid is a painting by the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer, completed between 1670–1671 and held in the National Gallery of Ireland. The work shows a middle-class woman attended by a maid who is presumably acting as messenger and go-between for the lady and her lover...
c.1670 - Cornelis TroostCornelis TroostCornelis Troost was a Dutch painter from Amsterdam, "by far the most original and versatile artist of his age", which was however the period following the Dutch Golden Age painting of the previous century...
(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 HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
(1697–1764)- The Western Family c.1738
- The Mackinen Children c.1747
- Thomas GainsboroughThomas GainsboroughThomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Suffolk:Thomas Gainsborough was born in Sudbury, Suffolk. He was the youngest son of John Gainsborough, a weaver and maker of woolen goods. At the age of thirteen he impressed his father with his penciling skills so that he let...
1727–88- A view in Suffolk c.1746
- Mrs Christopher Horton (1743–1808) later Duchess of Cumberland 1766
- The Cottage Girl 1785
- Joshua ReynoldsJoshua ReynoldsSir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
(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 RaeburnHenry RaeburnSir Henry Raeburn was a Scottish portrait painter, the first significant Scottish portraitist since the Act of Union 1707 to remain based in Scotland.-Biography:...
(1756–1823) Sir John and Lady Clerk of Penicuik 1791 - George RomneyGeorge Romney (painter)George Romney was an English portrait painter. He was the most fashionable artist of his day, painting many leading society figures - including his artistic muse, Emma Hamilton, mistress of Lord Nelson....
(1734–1802) Titania, Puck and the Changeling, from Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' 1793 - John Singer SargentJohn Singer SargentJohn Singer Sargent was an American artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian era luxury. During his career, he created roughly 900 oil paintings and more than 2,000 watercolors, as well as countless sketches and charcoal drawings...
(1856–1925) The Bead Stringers of Venice 1880–82 - Stanley RoyleStanley RoyleStanley Royle was a post-impressionist English landscape painter and illustrator who lived for most of his life in and around Sheffield and Canada...
(1888–1961) The Goose Girl c.1921 - Francis WheatleyFrancis Wheatley (painter)Francis Wheatley was an English portrait and landscape painter.-Life and work:Wheatley was born at Wild Court, Covent Garden, London, the son of a master tailor. He studied at William Shipley's drawing school and the Royal Academy, and won several prizes from the Society of Arts...
(1747–1801) The Dublin Volunteers on College Green, 4 November 1779 1779–80 - Andrew FestingAndrew FestingAndrew Festing MBE PPRP is a well known portrait painter, and fellow and former president of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters.-Life:...
(1981–present)
IrishIrish artThe early history of Irish art is generally considered to begin with early carvings found at sites such as Newgrange and is traced through Bronze Age artefacts, particularly ornamental gold objects, and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period...
- James BarryJames Barry (painter)James Barry , Irish painter, best remembered for his six part series of paintings entitled The Progress of Human Culture in the Great Room of the Royal Society of Arts...
(1741–1806)- The Temptation of Adam 1767–70
- Self-portrait as Timanths c.1780–1803
- The Death of Adonis
- Augustus Nicholas BurkeAugustus Nicholas BurkeAugustus Joseph Nicholas Burke was an artist and a member of the Royal Hibernian Academy .-Biography:Burke was born into the Galway Burkes of Glinsk and was the sixth son of William Burke of Knocknagur, Tuam, Co. Galway. He was born at Waterslade House in the town...
(1838–1891) Connemara GirlConnemara GirlConnemara Girl is an 1868 painting by the Irish artist Augustus Nicholas Burke . One of the most identifiable paintings in Ireland, it depicts a young, barefoot goat-herder girl carrying a bundle near the shore. It is one of many paintings Burke created of daily life around his native Connemara...
(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 DanbyFrancis DanbyFrancis Danby was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the central figure in a group of artists who have come to be known as the Bristol School...
(1793–1861) The Opening of the Sixth Seal, 1828 - Daniel MacliseDaniel MacliseDaniel Maclise was an Irish history, literary and portrait painter, and illustrator, who worked for most of his life in London, England.-Early life:...
(1806–1870) The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife, 1854 - Sarah PurserSarah Purser-Early life:She was born in Kingstown in County Dublin, and raised in Dungarvan, County Waterford. She was educated in Switzerland and afterwards studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and in Paris at the Académie Julian.-Artist:...
(1848–1943) Le Petit Dejeuner 1881 - Roderic O'ConorRoderic O'ConorRoderic O'Conor was an Irish painter.Born in Milltown, Castleplunket, Co. Roscommon, Ireland, O'Conor studied at Ampleforth College, then at Dublin and Antwerp before moving to Paris where he was deeply influenced by the Impressionists.O'Conor attended the Metropolitan School and Royal Hibernian...
(1860–1940) Le Jeune Bretonne c.1895 - Walter OsborneWalter OsborneWalter Frederick Osborne was an Irish impressionist landscape and portrait painter. Most of his paintings featured women, children, and the elderly as well as rural scenes.-Career:...
(1859–1903) In a Dublin Park, Light and Shade c.1895 - John LaveryJohn LaverySir John Lavery was an Irish painter best known for his portraits.Belfast-born John Lavery attended the Haldane Academy, in Glasgow, in the 1870s and the Académie Julian in Paris in the early 1880s. He returned to Glasgow and was associated with the Glasgow School...
(1856–1941) The Artist's Studio: Lady Hazel Lavery with her Daughter Alice and Step-Daughter Eileen 1909–13 - Paul HenryPaul Henry (painter)Paul Henry was a Northern Irish artist noted for depicting the west of Ireland landscape with a spare post-impressionist style....
(1876–1958) Launching the Currach 1910–11 - William John LeechWilliam John LeechWilliam John Leech was an Irish painter.-Biography:Leech was born in Dublin and studied there at the Metropolitan School. He later transferred to the Royal Hibernian Academy and studied under Walter Osborne...
(1881–1968) Convent Garden, Brittany c.1912 - Sean KeatingSeán KeatingSeán Keating was an Irish romantic-realist painter who painted some iconic images of the Irish War of Independence and of the early industrialization of Ireland...
(1889–1977) An Allegory c.1922 - Mainie JellettMainie JellettMary Harriet Jellett, known as Mainie Jellett was an Irish painter whose Decoration was among the first abstract painting shown in Ireland when it was exhibited at the Society of Dublin Painters Group Show in 1923.Mainie Jellett studied at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin and under Walter...
(1897–1944) Decoration 1923 - Gerard Dillon (1916–1971) The Little Green Fields c.1945
- Louis le BrocquyLouis le BrocquyLouis le Brocquy is an Irish painter born in Dublin. His work has received many accolades in a career that spans seventy years of creative practice...
(1916) A Family 1951 - William OrpenWilliam OrpenMajor Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen, KBE, RA, RHA was an Irish portrait painter, who worked mainly in London...
(1878–1931) "Portrait of John Count McCormack" 1923
The Yeats Collection
- Jack B. Yeats (1871–1957)
- The Liffey Swim 1923
- A Morning in a City 1937
- Grief 1952
- John Butler YeatsJohn Butler YeatsJohn Butler Yeats was an Irish artist and the father of William Butler Yeats, Lily Yeats, Lollie Yeats and Jack B. Yeats. He is probably best known for his portrait of the young William Butler Yeats which is one of a number of his portraits of Irishmen and women in the Yeats museum in the National...
(1839–1922) John O'Leary 1904
Drawings and Watercolours
- James MaltonJames MaltonJames Malton was an Irish engraver and watercolourist, who once taught geometry and perspective and worked as a draughtsman in the office of the celebrated Irish architect James Gandon...
(1760–1803) The Custom House - Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) Fishing Boats on Folkestone Beach
- Dante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
(1828–82) Jane Burden as Queen Guinevere 1858 - Frederick William BurtonFrederick William BurtonSir Frederic William Burton RHA was an Irish painter born in Corofin, County Clare. He was the third director of the National Gallery, London.-Artistic career:...
(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 DegasEdgar DegasEdgar Degas[p] , born Hilaire-Germain-Edgar De Gas, was a French artist famous for his work in painting, sculpture, printmaking and drawing. He is regarded as one of the founders of Impressionism although he rejected the term, and preferred to be called a realist...
(1834–1917) Two Ballet Dancers in a Dressing Room - Pablo Ruiz Picasso (1881–1973) Two Dancers 1925
See also
- Art galleryArt galleryAn art gallery or art museum is a building or space for the exhibition of art, usually visual art.Museums can be public or private, but what distinguishes a museum is the ownership of a collection...
- Irish artIrish artThe early history of Irish art is generally considered to begin with early carvings found at sites such as Newgrange and is traced through Bronze Age artefacts, particularly ornamental gold objects, and the religious carvings and illuminated manuscripts of the medieval period...
- List of Irish artists
- The Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery
- The Irish Museum of Modern Art