EXCELLENT STREET IMAGES

HOW DARE YOU CALL ME KITTY

February 16, 2024 by infomatique

BRONZE LIONESS BY DAVIDE RIVALTA IN THE UPPER COURTYARD DUBLIN CASTLE

I photographed this again as I really like it. It looks black but up close it is obvious that it is bronze.

Original sculptures by Italian artist Davide Rivalta are on display in Dublin Castle and Lucan.

The exhibition, called Grazing in Lucan is a collaboration between Rome’s National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art and Dublin Castle.

Bronze buffalos are ‘grazing’ in the green park of Lucan House, the residence of the Ambassador of Italy in Ireland, while the courtyard square of Dublin Castle features a bronze lioness.

Davide Rivalta is an Italian artist who was born in 1974. Numerous key galleries and museums such as La Galleria Nazionale have featured Davide Rivalta’s work in the past.

WOLFE TONE OR IS IT TONEHENGE BY EDWARD DELANEY

February 16, 2024 by infomatique

I LIKE THE SETTING AT THE CORNER OF STEPHEN’S GREEN

Directly behind this Wolfe Tone Memorial in St Stephens Green is Edward Delaney’s Famine Memorial. It should be noted that the local name for the statue is “Tonehenge”

Edward Delaney (1930 – 22 September 2009) was an Irish sculptor born in Claremorris in County Mayo in 1930. His best known works include the 1967 statue of Wolfe Tone and famine memorial at the northeastern corner of St Stephen’s Green in Dublin and the statue of Thomas Davis in College Green, opposite Trinity College Dublin. These are both examples of lost-wax bronze castings, his main technique during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Though they do exhibit some of his trademark expressionism, the statues of Wolfe Tone and Thomas Davis are less abstract than was most of his work at the time; the famine memorial is more typical in this regard. However, arts writer Judith Hill points out that these statues make no attempt at an exact likeness of the figures they portray, instead, they communicate the public stature of their subjects and, indeed, the public role of memorial statues through their proportions and scale.In this way, it is argued, they mark the transition from memorial and public art.

What all Edward Delaney’s work shares is robustness, in an Irish Times review of his 2004 retrospective, arts writer Aidan Dunne described his bronzes as robust, but having an awkwardness, a tenderness about them.

From 1980 onwards, Edward Delaney concentrated on large scale environmental pieces and stainless steel works in Carraroe, County Galway. The Royal Hibernian Academy held a retrospectives of his work in 1992 and again in 2004.

SOMEBODY IS WATCHING ME – DID YOU EVER GET THAT FEELING

February 16, 2024 by infomatique

CHAPEL ROYAL DUBLIN CASTLE

These heads are but two of one hundred and three Tullamore limestone heads carved by Edward and John Smyth. They are portraits of Brian Boru (the one with the crown) and Saint Patrick.

There has been a chapel at Dublin Castle since at least 1242.

The present chapel was designed by Francis Johnston and was opened, as the Anglican chapel of the Viceroy, on Christmas Day 1814. Although several times smaller than Johnston’s nearby General Post Office, it was as expensive to build. It became known as the Chapel Royal after King George IV attended service on 2 September 1821.

Following Irish independence in 1922, it lay dormant before becoming a Roman Catholic church in 1943. It is now deconsecrated. The galleries and stained glass windows are ornamented with coats of arms representing many of Ireland’s Viceroys. The arms of the last Viceroy, Lord FitzAlan Howard, filled the very last available space in the last available window when they were installed in 1922.

The decoration of the ceiling of the interior was done by George Stapleton (son of Michael Stapleton), a leading stuccodore of the time, while sculptor Edward Smyth (responsible for the “river heads” on the Custom House) and his son John Smyth (responsible for the statues on the GPO) carved the larger figures.

Over the chancel window are three life-size figures representing Faith, Hope and Charity. Over the galleries are heads representing Piety and Devotion. All the interior vaulting and columns are cast in timber and feature a paint wash (faux pierre) to give the effect of stone. It was described as having “the most flamboyant and luxurious Dublin interior of its era.”

The exterior was clad in a thin layer of “fine limestone from Tullamore quarry”, and famously features over 90 carved heads, including those of Brian Boru, St. Patrick, Archbishop Ussher and Jonathan Swift, done by Edward and John Smyth.

I LIKE THIS POST BOX – HAVE A GOOD ST VALENTINE DAY

February 14, 2024 by infomatique

DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU CAN VISIT THE SAINT HERE IN DUBLIN

Throughout the centuries since Valentine received martyrdom there have been various basilicas, churches and monasteries built over the site of his grave. Therefore, over the years, many restorations and reconstructions took place at the site. In the early 1800’s, such work was taking place and the remains of Valentine were discovered along with a small vessel tinged with his blood and some other artefacts.

In 1835 an Irish Carmelite by the name of John Spratt was visiting Rome. Apparently his fame as a preacher had gone before him, no doubt brought by some Jesuits who had been in Dublin. The elite of Rome flocked to hear him and he received many tokens of esteem from the doyens of the Church. One such token came from Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) and were the remains of Saint Valentine.

On November 10, 1836, the Reliquary containing the remains arrived in Dublin and were brought in solemn procession to Whitefriar Street Church where they were received by Archbishop Murray of Dublin. With the death of Fr Spratt interest in the relics died away and they went into storage. During a major renovation in the church in the 1950s/60s they were returned to prominence with an altar and shrine being constructed to house them and enable them to be venerated. The statue was carved by Irene Broe and depicts the saint in the red vestments of a martyr and holding a crocus in his hand. Hand-painted replicas of this statue are available in our Church Shop.

Today, the Shrine is visited throughout the year by couples who come to pray to Valentine and to ask him to watch over them in their lives together. The feast-day of the saint, February 14, is a very popular one.

I WAS SURPRISED TO DISCOVER THAT THE GARDA STATION HAS BEEN DEMOLISHED

February 13, 2024 by infomatique

HARCOURT TERRACE – CHARLEMONT PLACE 11 FEBRUARY 2024

When I checked online I discovered that Educate Together National School will be moving into a brand new school building at the former site of the Harcourt Terrace Garda station in September 2024. The site comprises the former Garda Station and Irish Film Censor Building, overlooking the Grand Canal. I do not know if the school will occupy the complete complex or if there is also commercial office space onsite.

Winner of competition to design a New Urban Primary School at Harcourt Terrace announced

In 2005 the Government had already decided the gardai [Irish police] should vacate Harcourt Terrace by July of that year, although a firm decision had not yet been taken on where the staff should be relocated. At the time Harcourt Terrace covered the St Stephen’s Green area and busy shopping and entertainment areas such as Wexford Street and South Great George’s Street. However, things did not go according to plan.

In 2012 the Irish Times reported that the Commercial Court had awarded the damages to Durkan New Homes, after the State failed to honour an agreement to hand over Harcourt Terrace Garda Station in Dublin as part of a land-swap deal. As part of a government programme Durkan built 215 affordable homes for first-time buyers during the height of the boom. It did so in return for getting possession of the garda station and the adjoining film censor’s office.

The building was officially described as follows: “This well-composed Garda station was built to a standard design by the Office of Public Works in 1948. Constructed during the Modernist era, it exhibits characteristic elements such as a horizontal emphasis. However, it is conservative in the Georgian influence evident in the design, as exemplified by its classically-influenced symmetry. Adherence to tradition is also apparent in the use of red brick and cut stone dressings. Carved stone and moulded render dressings articulate the façade, and enhance the external expression of the composition. The carved doorcase forms part of and entrance piece which provides an attractive focal point to the facade. Although its original function ceased when it was closed in 2012, the building continues to be a prominent and compelling feature at this canal-side corner.”