European Art At The National Gallery of Ireland

Among the Gallery's collection of 14,000 works of art - the largest collection of visual art in Ireland - are a number of masterpieces by European artists and Old Masters from the Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch and French Schools. The Italian School is represented by altarpieces and Renaissance treasures by Titian, Fra Angelico and Mantegna, and one of the best collections of 17th century paintings outside Italy. The Gallery displays a recently discovered Caravaggio, as well as large Baroque canvases by Lanfranco, Maratta, Rubens and other outstanding artists.

Paintings of the Spanish school which hang in the National Gallery of Ireland are mainly religious in content, with an El Greco and altarpiece from the Escorial Palace by 'El Mudo' among the early artworks. Seventeenth century examples include a Velázquez, four paintings by Goya and pictures by Murillo and Zurbarán.

Woman Writing a Letter with Her Maid
by Jan Vermeer, the Dutch Realist
artist.

The Gallery built up its collection of Dutch seventeenth century masters during its early days. This was recently augmented by the Alfred Beit donation of masterpieces by Hobbema, Metsu, Ruisdael and Vermeer.

Among the works of the French School are outstanding examples of Rococo art (eg. by Fragonard and Chardin) plus neoclassical paintings by Jacques-Louis David and Gérard. Nineteenth century French pictures include works by academic, Orientalist and plein-air painters, and there are Impressionist works by Monet, Sisley, Pissarro and Gonzales. Early twentieth century paintings include masterpieces by Signac and Picasso.

Here are some of the specific highlights of the National Gallery of Ireland's collection of European paintings.

Young Woman in White, Reading,
by Pierre Auguste Renoir the
French Impressionist.

Italian Paintings

- Portrait of a Musician (c.1487) by Filippino Lippi.
- Ecce Homo (c.1558) by Titian.
- Portrait of a Gentleman & his two Children (c.1570) by GB Moroni.
- The Taking of Christ (1602) by Caravaggio.
- St. Mark's Square (c.1756) by Canaletto.

Spanish Paintings

- St Jerome in the Wilderness (1570s) by Luis de Morales.
- Kitchen Maid with the Supper of Emmaus (c.1617) by Diego Velázquez.
- The Return of the Prodigal Son (c.1660) by Bartolome Esteban Murillo.
- Dona Antonia Zarate (c.1805) by Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes.
- Still-Life with Mandolin (1924) by Pablo Picasso.
- Pierrot (1921) by Juan Gris.

Flemish Paintings

- Peasant Wedding (1620) by Pieter Brueghel the Younger.
- St Peter finding the Tribute Money (c.1617) by Peter Paul Rubens.
- A Boy standing on a Terrace (c.1623) by Anthony van Dyck.

Dutch Paintings

- Landscape with the Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1647) by Rembrandt.
- Bust of a Man Wearing a Large-brimmed Hat (c.1654) by Willem Drost.
- Woman writing a Letter, with her Maid (c.1670) by Jan Vermeer.
- Jeronimus Tonneman and his son Jeronimus (1736) by Cornelis Troost.

French Paintings

- The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c.1657) by Nicolas Poussin.
- Demosthenes on the Seashore (1859) by Eugène Delacroix.
- Portrait of Adolphe Marlet (1851) by Gustave Courbet.
- The Banks of the Canal du Loing at Saint-Mammes (1888) by Alfred Sisley.
- Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat (1874) by Claude Monet.
- Lady on the Terrace (1898) by Paul Signac.

More Details

For more information about European painters or sculptors at the National Gallery of Ireland, telephone: 01-661-5133.

• For details of other Leinster fine art exhibitions and collections, see: Irish Art Galleries and Museums.
• For facts about painting and sculpture in Ireland, see: Guide to Irish Art

• How to Update This Mini Review of European Painting at The National Gallery of Ireland