From Rome to Russborough
Photo of the 1860 dining room at Russborough House
Delve into one of Ireland's greatest country house collections.
As part of our Homes of Literary & Visual Giants series, this lecture will explore the tradition of the Grand Tour and the articulation of high visual culture in the 18th century, through analysis of the Milltown library, donated to the National Gallery of Ireland in 1902, and later deposited with the National Library of Ireland and the Oireachtas Library, thus shedding some new light on Irish country house libraries.
In 1744 Joseph Leeson (later 1st Earl of Milltown) embarked on his first grand tour to Italy - his purpose to gather both the material and intellectual trappings of refinement. These were essential to the furnishing of his Richard Castle designed Palladian country house at Russborough and his unerring social ambitions. In little over a decade Leeson would succeed in assembling one of Ireland’s greatest, if sometimes idiosyncratic, country house collections.
Pauline Swords, Head of Collections & Conservation at Russborough in County Wicklow, is a graduate of University College Dublin. Since completion of an M.A. Archive Management in in 2009 she has gained extensive experience in the management of arts and heritage collections, including the Yeats archive at National Gallery of Ireland and the Abbey Theatre archive. Since 2016 she has worked at Russborough where her role encompasses both oversight of, and hands-on, collections management and conservation, along with research, interpretation, and display of Russborough’s collections and built heritage. Her research interests include 18th and 19th century private collections, in particular the Milltown and Beit collections, and the interconnectivity of art and collecting practice with historical contexts.
Read about our Homes of Literary and Visual Giants winter talk series.
If our team can be of any assistance, please contact us at learning@nli.ie
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