Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) was the first superstar of northern European art. Vasari’s Lives of the artists (1568) describes Dürer as a ‘truly great painter and creator of the most beautiful copper engravings’. In typically chauvinist manner, the Florentine artist-historian further states that if Dürer had been born a Tuscan and had learned Italian technique fully, … Read more
James Barry remains the most ambitious, controversial and important painter that Ireland has produced. He was also a neo-classical painter of major international significance, although not often given his due as such. His reputation for eccentricity, for extreme political views, and for intemperate and paranoid confrontations with the art establishment still overshadows his considerable achievements … Read more
The apparently imminent closure of the Mountjoy prison complex on Dublin’s North Circular Road has raised a number of well-publicised issues. Do we need another prison? Is the site at Thornton the best site? Was e29m a fair price? I don’t have a vested interest in any of these issues. What I do have a … Read more
‘At Lincoln Cathedral there is a beautiful painted window, which was made by an apprentice out of the pieces of glass which had been rejected by his master.’ With this parable the budding English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay illustrated the central argument of his 1828 debut essay ‘History’, which advocated that historical scholarship could benefit … Read more
Shortly after 2am on Thursday 16 October 1943, Volunteer John Blake, at Loop Head lookout post, reported to the air message centre at Limerick that an aircraft of unknown nationality had been sighted about a mile to the north of the post. It was flying from the west in an easterly direction at 500ft, with … Read more