National Gallery of Ireland
European Art: Renaissance, Baroque, Dutch Realist Art, French Romanticism

Irish Art Exhibitions

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

National Gallery of Ireland
European Paintings in the Permanent Collection

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.

RECORD AUCTION PRICES
For a list of the Top 10 works
by artists from Ireland, see:
Most Expensive Irish Paintings.

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 examples of Rococo art (by Fragonard and Chardin) plus neoclassical paintings by Jacques-Louis David and Francois Gerard. Nineteenth century French pictures include examples of Orientalist painting, as well as works by academic and plein-air painters, plus 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.

TOP PRICED FINE ART
For a list of the most valuable
works of art to be sold at auction
by Sotheby's and Christie's, see:
Top 10 Most Expensive Paintings

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 Velazquez.
- 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.

17th Century Dutch Painting

- 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.

French Paintings

- The Lamentation over the Dead Christ (c.1657) by Nicolas Poussin.
- Demosthenes on the Seashore (1859) by Eugene 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

See also:
Irish Painting at the NGI
Drawings at the NGI
Sculpture at the NGI

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

World's Greatest Art Galleries

For details, see: Best Art Museums.

• For details of other Leinster fine art exhibitions and collections, see: Irish Art Galleries and Museums.
• For details of the world's top museums, see: Homepage.
• For more about oil painting in Ireland, see: Irish Art Guide.

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