Russborough Revisited

The National Gallery dedicates its summer exhibition to Russborough House, the celebrated Palladian pile in County Wicklow, south of Dublin.

The gallery has had a long and illustrious relationship with Russborough, stretching back over a century when the stately home was owned by the Milltown family. When the Dowager Countess of Milltown gifted over 200 art works to the gallery in 1902 it led to the opening of the gallery’s Milltown Wing.

The links to the 18th-century house took a new direction in 1987. Russborough's then-owners, Sir Alfred and Lady Beit, presented the gallery with a magnicent collection of 17 European masterpieces by artists such as Velázquez, Murillo, Vermeer, Metsu and Gainsborough.

Between 1974 and 2002 the famous Beit collection at Russborough House was robbed four times, first by the IRA and then three times by notorious Dublin gangsters. Beit died in 1994 but Lady Beit remained in residence until her own death in 2005.

The estate is now managed by the Alfred Beit Foundation, and there are daily guided tours of the house on the hour, every hour, from 10.00 until 17.00.

The Russborough Revisited exhibition displays important works from both the Milltown and Beit collections, many of which have never been shown publically, but all of which came to Merrion Square from the historic house in Wicklow.

Mon-Sat 09.30-17.30 Thurs 09.30-20.30 Sun. 12.00-17.30