Exiled treasures go on display at Chicago Art Institute

A wire-strung harp made for a County Cork clergyman in the 1730s; playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan's snuffbox; the silver mace once carried on ceremonial occasions through the streets of Athy, County Kildare; James Gandon's original drawings for his work on the Houses of Parliament in Dublin; a marble bust of Henry Grattan who spoke so eloquently within its walls; a yew wood crucifix from Lough Derg, County Donegal carved with the date 1776; and a pair of earthenware wine cisterns manufactured in Dublin some 20 years earlier for Castle Leslie, County Monaghan.

These are just a handful of the diverse items included in an exhibition opening this week at the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois.

Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840 is a celebration of the country's cultural achievements during what has come to be known as the long 18th century. Featuring more than 300 exhibits including painting, sculpture, and furniture as well as bookbinding, ceramics, glass, metalwork, musical instruments and textiles, the show and accompanying catalogue are dedicated to the late Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin who long clamoured for such a display.

Symposium

Astonishingly, an exhibition of this kind has never been held anywhere before and, even more remarkable, all the items are on loan from private and public American collections: a reflection of how much of Ireland’s heritage has been lost to its country of origin.

Over the past weekend, while Chicago's river was dyed green and locals thronged the streets in emerald hats and fake red beards, a series of private viewings, talks, tours and dinners marked the Art Institute's latest exhibition. The gathering of artistic emigres will be officially opened on Tuesday by Minister for the Diaspora Jimmy Deenihan. A symposium in the Institute next Saturday, March 21st, will further explore aspects of the show and the work on display, not least how and why they came to leave.

Many of those present in recent days had likewise departed Ireland, if only temporarily, including some whose homes once held these treasures such as Geraldine, Countess of Dunraven: a portrait of her husband's forebear Windham Quin of Adare, painted by Stephen Slaughter around 1745 and now in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, is among the pictures on show.

Outstanding

Together with the Knight of Glin’s widow, Olda, Madam FitzGerald and her daughters, Irish art historians, collectors and dealers all arrived to marvel at the abundance of outstanding art created in Georgian Ireland and now on the other side of the Atlantic.

The directors of the National Gallery of Ireland, Sean Rainbird, and of Cork's Crawford Gallery, Peter Murray, also made the journey.

Although they were too diplomatic to say so, it must have been especially galling for them both to see so much outstanding work forever lost to this country and to know the exhibition will not be travelling to Ireland.

Instead anyone interested in learning more about the richness of Irish cultural life three centuries ago must travel to Chicago and catch the show before it closes in early June.