Doneraile, County Cork

Doneraile Court is majestically situated in 160 hectares of landscaped parkland and wildlife estate on the banks of the Awbeg river in north County Cork.

Now managed by the Office of Public Works (OPW), the house was built by the St Leger family around 1645 on the site of a ruined castle. By the time it was refurbished in the mid-eighteenth century it had become an outstanding example of Irish Georgian architecture. Thirteen generations of the St Leger family lived at Doneraile over three centuries, including Elizabeth St Leger (1693/5-1773/5), the first woman to become a Freemason.

We are delighted to loan eleven works from the National Collection to Doneraile Court spanning the seventeenth to twentieth centuries. Integrated into the fine décor and furnishings, The Battle of the Birds by Frans Snyders (1579-1657) commands the Dining Room, while portraits of architect Sir William Robinson (1644-1712) and author Elizabeth Bowen (1899-1973) complement Doneraile Court’s evocation of the world of the ‘Big House’.

Check venue for opening hours and ticketing information.

Crawford Art Gallery wishes to thank Mary Heffernan, Christopher Moore, Joanne Bannon, and the OPW team at Doneraile Court.

Featured artworks:

• John Baptist Closterman, Portrait of a Gentleman said to be a Member of the Browne Family of Riverstown, Co. Cork, c.1710.
• Artist unrecorded, Portrait of a Member of the J. Browne Family.
• Artist unrecorded, Portrait of a Member of the J. Browne Family.
• Artist unrecorded, Seated Gentleman with Cane.
• Nathaniel Grogan, View of Bartholomew O’Sullivan’s Paper Mills, 1790.
• Patrick Hennessy, Portrait of Elizabeth Bowen at Bowen’s Court, 1957.
• Attributed to Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of a Man in Armour.
• Studio of Godfrey Kneller, Portrait of Sir William Robinson, c.1693.
• James Arthur O’Connor, Moonlight Scene.
• Stephen Catterson Smith, Miss Catherine O’Conor of Mount Druid with Harp.
• Frans Snyders, The Battle of the Birds.

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