Letter from Dublin

The beautiful portrait by dint of John Butler Yeats, on the overspread of this year's Apollo Irish Art & Antiques Feature, depicts the singer, Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh and provides a foretaste of an exhibition that celebrates the centenary of the Abbey, Ireland's national theatre. This exhibition in the National Gallery of Ireland's Milltown Wing (19 October-16 January) will bring together a choice selection of portraits and busts from sum of two units collections: the Irish National Portrait Collection and that of the Abbey Theatre itself. When it make opened in 1904 the theatre's foyer was hung with portraits by the agency of John Butler Yeats and since that time the collection has grown to above sixty works by several renowned artists. single exhibit is William Orpen's vigorous portrait of the dramatist, Lady Augusta Gregory, who with W B Yeats and others established the Irish Literary Theatre in 1899 which five years later became the Abbey Theatre. The National Gallery's main international display this autumn is in the Millennium Wing and is the first at any time wide-ranging survey of German Romanticist painting to appear in Dublin. "A German Dream: Masterpieces of Romanticism from the Nationalgalerie Berlin" (16 October-30 January) comprises a certain quantity of sixty works that document the unfolding of this movement (1800-60) from portraits and idealized landscapes of the Goethe period to the literature inspired narratives of the later years. Artists include Carl Blechen, Caspar David Friedrich (see illustration), Karl Friedrich Schinkel and Moritz von Schwind.

Last of this autumn's displays at the National Gallery, on the other hand not at all least is an exhibition that highlights 150 years of the Watercolour Society of Ireland. The society evolv in the late 19th hundred from an amateur drawing society locate up in Lismore, Co. Waterford. Since its foundation there have been above a thousand members of the society, many of whom have made a valuable contribution to the history of Irish art and the promotion of works upon paper. Over forty of the best examples of work through past members are exhibited, including the following artists, well-known to Irish collectors: Walter Osborne (see illustration), William Orpen (see illustration), Sarah Purser Jack Hanlon, Letitia Hamilton, Harry Clarke, Mainie Jellett Anne Yeats and Rose Barton. The exhibition is drawn from the Gallery's permanent collection as well as loans from the couple public and private collections in Ireland. Also illustrated in this article is a fresh watercolour acquisition for the gallery by the agency of Samuel Frederick Brocas (1792-1847). They have also acquired: a Portrait of James FitzGerald, 20th Earl of Kildare, later Duke of Leinster by the agency of Robert Hunter (c.1715/20-c.1803); Walter Osborne's The Dublin Streets: A Vendor of volumes which was bequeathed by John Hamilton huntsman and George Barret's oil painting, A timber-landed river landscape with figures and horses at a ford and fallow deer in a clearing purchased at Christies, London this year

In the meantime the visitor to Dublin should not the miss the large number of picture galleries in the city. In July 1 gibbeted the threshold of some 25 galleries, many of which are advertising in these pages. Using the National Gallery as a starting point single can stroll up to the Royal Hibernian Academy's Gallagher Gallery in Ely Place to view a major exhibition of Martin Gale's paintings and then visit The Taylor Galleries, who will be having a selling exhibition of his work. circular the block is Molesworth public way home to a number of art establishments. Jorgensen Fine Art have a fine Georgian building to themselves and will be showing exquisite and zinc sculpture by Olivia Musgrove in September, inspired through Greek and Irish mythology followed by the agency of the carefully observed still life paintings of Ian McAllister in October. They will also be exhibiting Irish and European artists at the Irish Antique Dealers Fair (sec illustration). Paintings through Anuie Robinson can always be seen at the Apollo Gallery in Dawson Street; daughter of the late Markey Robinson, her work is plenteous more readily available than that of her father, although also proving popular. They also have another thriving artist in William Mulhall, who is making a name for himself as a portrait painter of musicians and writers. freshly opened is Hillsboro Fine Art rapiered down Anne's Lane and opposite The Kerlin Gallery. single of the longer established Dublin galleries is the Solomon Gallery, who are based at the top of the Powerscourt Town House middle point They have a busy exhibition schedule that culminates in their exhibition of important Irish fresh and contemporary art in the next to the first half of October. Behind them in southern william Street one finds Combridge Fine Arts with a large gallery space upon two floors and The Kennedy Gallery, a walk away upon the other side of St Stephen's verdant with its new tramlines. The Kennedy Gallery is raw materialed full of artists' materials and easels as well as having a next to the first floor hung with a wide range of paintings, including an exhibition of Thomas Ryan's watercolours in October. Other contemporary galleries can be lay the foundation of in Temple Bar, particularly for prints, the greatest in quantity notable being the Graphic Studio Gallery, who exhibit internationally and across the river the Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, whose impressive portrait exhibition by means of Mick O'Dea has recently closed