Demonstrating the emergence of one of Ireland's best-loved artists, this exhibition presents three of Harry Clarke's earliest stained glass panels in a darkened, secluded setting.
Dating to a highpoint in the Celtic Revival period, these panels were made while Clarke was still a student at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art. For these, he was awarded a highly coveted gold medal at the South Kensington National Competitions in 1911, for which work by students from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland was adjudicated. These panels offer early evidence of the artist's emerging creativity and also forecast the inventiveness and originality of his later work, particularly his first major commission at the Honan Chapel (1916), University College Cork.
The three stained glass panels are presented to visitors in order of creation: The Consecration of St Mel, Bishop of Longford, by St Patrick (1910), The Godhead Enthroned
(1911), and The Meeting of St Brendan with the Unhappy Judas (1911).
