Lives of the Laverys

It's easy to think of the famous power couple as a modern phenomenon fuelled by our celebrity-obsessed culture, but Sir John and Lady Hazel Lavery were courting fame long before Posh and Becks, as a new exhibition at the Hugh Lane Gallery demonstrates. Sir John Lavery: Passion and Politics, which opened on Thursday, offers a fascinating overview of the work of the renowned portrait painter, his role in Irish revolutionary politics, and their position as a media-conscious celebrity couple.

While Lady Lavery, seen here in a photograph by EO Hoppé, would of course become one of the most familiar faces in Ireland, after gracing our banknotes for so many years as Kathleen Ní Houlihan, it was the work of Sir John that recorded many of the events that shaped the country in its early years.

The exhibition, curated by Lady Lavery biographer Sinéad McCoole, is the first in a series that aims to examine the role of artists in shaping the history of Ireland in the turbulent years before and after the 1916 Rising. The exhibition runs until October 17th. See hughlane.ie for details.