The Drawing Room

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The Ceiling

The ceiling plasterwork is of coarser quality to that of the hall and is probably by a Limerick plasterer. Similar ceilings exist in two other houses - Ballysteen, Co. Limerick and Newpark, near Cashel, Co. Tipperary. It continues the festive theme of the Hall.

The central shell-scalloped medallion which is enclosed within a flowered wreath of roses, sacred to Venus, is further enriched with a plume of feathers. This alludes to the badge of the Prince of Wales, later King George IV, who established his own court in 1780, but, primarily, it recalls the Sun God Apollo. Its form derives from the ceiling of Apollo's temple illustrated in The Ruins of Palmyra (1753) by Robert Wood.

Vine-wreaths embellish the corners of the room and the bay, where a bacchic trophy comprises a wine-ewer and thyrus wand. Recalling Apollo's role as leader of the Muses on Mt. Parnassus, the cornice of the room is decked with his flower-garlanded lyre accompanied by figurative medallions recalling ancient libations at the altar of love.

The chimney piece

The chimney piece is by Pietro Bossi who worked in Pietre dure (inlaid marble). He was based in Dublin between 1782 and 1798 when he had to flee the country because of his involvement with the United Irishmen. It is not original to the house. Period mantelpieces were installed in the library, dining room, and smoking room by Madam Veronica FitzGerald. The two latter came from Tervoe, Co. Limerick, and the library example from Ballywilliam, Co. Limerick.

Pictures

Above the chimney piece
A portrait of Margaret (known as Celinda) Blennerhassett of Riddlestown, Co. Limerick, by James Latham, in a splendidly carved and gilded Irish mid-Georgian frame. Margaret was said to have been the only lady member of the Limerick Hellfire Club which used to meet in a house in the old castle at Askeaton in the 1740's.

Left of the door on either side of the bow window
A pair of oval drawings by the 4th Earl of Dunraven.

Around the room
Designs for fans executed on chicken skin. These date from the late 18th century and are probably French or Italian. The one on the left-hand side of the bow window is by Gasper Gabrielli, an Italien artist, who worked in Ireland between 1805 and 1807 for Lord Cloncurry at Lyons, Co. Kildare.

Above the chimney piece
A portrait of Margaret (known as Celinda) Blennerhassett of Riddlestown, Co. Limerick, by James Latham, in a splendidly carved and gilded Irish mid-Georgian frame. Margaret was said to have been the only lady member of the Limerick Hellfire Club which used to meet in a house in the old castle at Askeaton in the 1740's.

Left of the door on either side of the bow window
A pair of oval drawings by the 4th Earl of Dunraven.

Around the room
Designs for fans executed on chicken skin. These date from the late 18th century and are probably French or Italian. The one on the left-hand side of the bow window is by Gasper Gabrielli, an Italien artist, who worked in Ireland between 1805 and 1807 for Lord Cloncurry at Lyons, Co. Kildare.

Left-hand side at the end of the room
A fine portrait of an unknown lady dating from the 1740's by James Latham, Ireland's finest portrait painter of the period.

Right-hand side
A rather primitive portrait of Ellis Agar, Countess of Brandon, by Philip Hussey. She is shown displaying the corporate rolls of the boroughs of Thomastown and Gowran, Co. Kilkenny - boroughs which she aspired to control in the Irish parliament. She died in 1789.

Above the door
A decorative painting of Nelson's 'inamorata', Lady Hamilton, posing as 'Hebe' in the manner of the painter Antonio Zucchi or his wife, Angelica Kauffman.

In the corner
Portrait of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland by the school of Sir Peter Lely. Veronica Villiers, wife of the 28th Knight of Glin, was of this family. Below is a watercolour of a boy in the Deanery garden of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin by William Brocas, dated 1836.

Above the door on right-hand side of room:
Two gouaches of the Giant's Causeway in Co. Antrim by Susanna Drury. These, or two others identical now in the Ulster Museum, obtained a premium of Ł25 from the Dublin Society in 1740. They were later engraved by Vivares of London.A fine portrait of an unknown lady dating from the 1740's by James Latham, Ireland's finest portrait painter of the period.

Right-hand side
A rather primitive portrait of Ellis Agar, Countess of Brandon, by Philip Hussey. She is shown displaying the corporate rolls of the boroughs of Thomastown and Gowran, Co. Kilkenny - boroughs which she aspired to control in the Irish parliament. She died in 1789.

Above the door
A decorative painting of Nelson's 'inamorata', Lady Hamilton, posing as 'Hebe' in the manner of the painter Antonio Zucchi or his wife, Angelica Kauffman.

In the corner
Portrait of Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland by the school of Sir Peter Lely. Veronica Villiers, wife of the 28th Knight of Glin, was of this family. Below is a watercolour of a boy in the Deanery garden of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin by William Brocas, dated 1836.

Above the door on right-hand side of room:
Two gouaches of the Giant's Causeway in Co. Antrim by Susanna Drury. These, or two others identical now in the Ulster Museum, obtained a premium of Ł25 from the Dublin Society in 1740. They were later engraved by Vivares of London.

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Furniture and other objects

The porcelain hanging on the walls and placed elsewhere in the room is a botanical set decorated in about 1810 by a painter, who may have worked at Worchester, for the midland factory of Ridgeway. The lavender coloured pottery on the chimney piece and elsewhere has always been in the house and it was part of a very large service. It is probably Staffordshire and likely to have been manufactured by the Turners of Lane End between 1785 and 1825.

The little girandole, on the left-hand side of the door, bears the label of Franceis and John Brooker of Essex Bridge, Dublin. It dates from about 1760. The pair of oval gilt girandoles between the windows are Dublin made and reflect, as does the freize and plasterwork, the English neo-classical style associated with Adam and Wyatt. This pair came from Knockdrin Castle in Co. Westmeath.

The pair of Empire style gilt sofas date from about 1830 and were originally at Doneraile Court, Co. Cork.

In the bow end of the room is a pair of upholstered chairs, or back stools. These are fine examples of Irish seat furniture of the 1750-60s with their shaped stretchers and carved cabriole legs and paw feet.

The black marble inlaid table with a floral bouquet was made in Derbyshire and dates from 1840's.
The embroidered settee was worked by Lady Rodney, an aunt of Veronica FitzGerald, in about 1910.

A mahogany games table with internal backgammon board came from Dundrum House, Co. Tipperary, and dates from about 1750.
The firescreen was worked by Augusta Goold, the wife of the 3rd Earl of Dunraven, and came from Adare Manor. It bears her coronet and initials. She died in 1866.