[The following passage comes from an article in the September 1878 issue of the The Graphic. — George P. Landow]
In this sketch of the Irish capital, made necessarily brief by smallness of space, it is impossible to give any more extended account of the churches than we have done, neither can we deal with such corporate buildings as the City Hall and the Mansion House, nor with the hospitals in the number and capaciousness of which Dublin is . peculiarly gifted. Nor can anything beyond mere mention be said of such deserving and interesting scientific institutions as the College Observatory at Dunsink (presided over by the Astronomer Royal for Ireland), the College of .Surgeons in Stephen’s Green, the King and Queen's College” of Physicians ; or the various schools of medicine, the prepon- derance of which latter places Dublin in the highest position in the minds of the faculty. There are, however, two or three institutions, the functions of which are of such a general nature, and which are always so eagerly sought out by visitors, that a few words must be said about them.
The College of Science
This institution, which is situated on the east side of Stephen’s Green, is a continuation of what was once the “Museum of Irish Industry and School of Science.” When first founded the Museum was simply exhibitional, and was formed on the model of the London School of Mines, then in Craig’s Court, but now in Jennyn Street. Subsequently, when Dr. Lyon Playfair was one of the Secretaries in the English Department of Science and Art, the courses of lectures which used to be delivered in the Royal Dublin Society House were transferred here. A particular branch of the present course of studies is chemistry. To aid the development of this study a laboratory has been added, and under the present Professor of this science the College has made much advancement, several U the pupils having gone from it to England, and there gained the highest chemical honours the London University can bestow. In 1S64 a Select Committeee advised that the Exhibitional Functions of the Institution should be handed over to the Royal Dublin Society, in whose buildings a national museum on the plan of South Kensington will soon be inaugurated. The title of the Stephen’s Green establishment then became “The College of Science.” and the whole of its duty is now instructional. The College costs the country 7,000l. a year.
The Royal Dublin Society
In the year 1731 two gentlemen named Madden and Prior started a society for the advancement of “ Husbandry and other useful Arts.” With their own capital the Institution was inaugurated, but as prizes were offered for progress in the linen manufacture and industrial and agricultural exhibitions were pro- moted by the Society its usefulness became most manifest The first cattle show which ever took place in Dublin was held on the ground where now stands the Theatre Royal, part of which, that in Hawkins Street, was built by the Madden and Prim Society. For this building as well as for other philanthropic cflorts of the Society the Irish Parliament voted a handsome annual grant. When George II. was on the throne the Society became n chartered Institution, and assumed its present title. Its duties have also been enlarged, and it now not only fosters husbandry and literature, but science of all kinds and all the useful arts. The present building in Kildare Street is historically famous, having been for a long period the town residence of the Dukes of Leinster, and was celebrated for the festivities carried on there, as well as for the notable escape of Lord Edward ruzgerald from the town major and his officers by means of a spiral staircase. In- 1S1 3 the Royal Dublin Society bought this House for 20,000/.— it had cost 80,000/., but the then Duke of Leinster sold it at a sacrifice, seeing it was to be used far such benevolent purposes. You are reminded of this great family on entering the grounds, by seeing a venerable old man, Mr. Boshall, the head gardener, whose father, grand and great grandfather have each acted in the same capacity to Ireland’s premier Duke. The gardens, called the Leinster Lawn, of which he now has charge are small, but very ornamental. In the centre of the green slopes rises an equestrian statue of the Prince Consort. There is also here a statue of the “ Irish Railway King ” — Dargan— and a bust by Farrell of the greatest of late Irish composers— Balfe.
The Royal Hibernian Academy
This building was erected in 1823 — when also the Society was incorporated— by the munificence of Mr. Francis Johnston, it. first President, he has been succeeded in the Presidential chair from time to time by Martin Cregan, George Petrie, Catlcrson Smith, and Sir Thomas Deane. At present the chair is held by T. A. Jones, who was one of the chief contributors to the Exhi- bition this year. In 1829 the Royal Hibernian Academy opened their first Exhibition, to which George Petrie contributed “ Ard- finnan Castle,” one of his largest and finest works — as he did in each succeeding year pictures of historic interest, and illustrative of the antiquities and ancient legends of the country. Amongst the more famous contributors from time to tftne have been Sir Martin A. Slice, Maclise, Mulready, Turner, Stanfield, and other eminent artists. Like other chartered Associations, the Hiber- nian Academy is the embodiment of several minor societies of Irish artists. The Hibernian Academy is the Burlington House of Dublin, and the Summer and Winter Exhibitions are, as in London, objects of considerable interest.
The National Gallery
At the close of the Exhibition of 1853, which was held upon the Leinster Lawn, Merrion Square, a number of influential citizens, admirers of Mr. William Dargan, assembled together with the object of establishing a memorial of this gentleman, whose enterprise and patriotism were shown not alone in respect to the Exhibition, but also in originating and deve- loping all the great railways in Ireland. A sum of 6,000 /. was collected, and with this a colossal Art Gallery was erected at the northern end of the Lawn, and a statue of Mr. Dargan, the work of Mr. Thomas Farrell, was placed in front of the structure. No sooner was the building of the gallery, which it was intended to call the Industrial Institution, begun, than the Government handsomely came forward with a large annual grant. The building, when completed in January, iS6.|, was opened as the National Gallery of Ireland. It assumed the character of a separate Government department directly under the Treasury like the London Gallery. It differs, however, from the latter, in that its governing body is larger, and partly of a representative character. The chief executive officer is the director, the present occupant, Mr. Henry Doyle, having held the office since 1869, when he was elected to succeed the late Mr. George Mulvnny, the first director. The collection is remark- able for its comprehensiveness, comprising, in addition to a singularly fine selection of casts from the antique in its sculpture half, one large gallery of original paintings by the old masters of various schools, and five smaller ones, divided as follows:—!, Modern Pictures ; 2, Water Colours ; 3, National Portrait Gallery ; 4, A Ix>an Collection of Pictures ; 5, Original Drawings by the Old Masters, Engravings, Autotypes, &c. The collection, as a whole, may fairly claim a place amongst European Galleries of the second rank, and it contains at least a few pictures of the chief schools, which might not unworthily find a place in those of the first. In the Italian schools may be mentioned the double portrait by S. Bellini and Gcorgione, the Holy Family by Chii- landago, the Predella by A. del Sarto, the St. Sebastian by Caravaggio, the portraits by Moroni and Tinloret, and the unique, Fete at Rome, by I’anini. In the Dutch and Flemish the choice examples of Cuyp, Van de Velde, Teniers, Ruysdacl, P. Potter, and Bega, ami in the Spanish, the Infant St. John, and the portrait by Murillo, the singular St. Jerome by Morales, and a good Ribera. In the modern room, though a certain promidence is given to native artists, such as Maclise, Dauby, O’Conner, Shce, there are several fine pictures by Wilkie, Roberts, and Leslie, &c., and a few by foreign painters. In the Water- Colour Room will be found represented all the great masters of that branch, the fifty-two sketches by Turner being a loan from the trustees of the Turner Bequest. The National Portrait Gallery is fortunate in the high standard of merit that has been preserved in the pictures, independent of the interest of their subjects. One of the most delicately finished works is a portrait of Lady Morgan, “The Wild Irish Girl.” Reynolds, Gains- borough, Hogarth, Lawrence, are all represented worthily. This will suffice to indicate the general character of this interesting collection, I will only add that the Gallery has developed rapidly, though gradually, into its present position, and that it is not nearly so well known as it dtserves to be. It would well repay a visit to Dublin, although the city possessed no other attraction.
Bibliography
“Dublin Illustrated.” The Graphic (17 August 1878): 169-81. Internet Archive online version of a copy in the University of Illinois Library. Web. 14 August 2018.
Last modified 14 August 2018