Russborough House
On our second day in Wicklow, we toured Russborough House, built in the mid 1700s by the heir to a brewery fortune in Dublin. During his European tour, he bought paintings, textiles, clocks and furniture to stuff his new home. The building below is one of three – two more at either end of two curving colonnades.
The architect, Richard Cassels, also designed Carton House, Powerscourt, and Leinster House. The original residents were the Earls of Milltown, one through six. The widow of the final heir donated much of the family art collection to the National Gallery of Ireland, found in the Milltown wing. If you look out the windows of this building, you are looking at the Wicklow mountains.
The owners from the 1950s on were Lord and Lady Beit, heirs to the DeBeers diamond fortune. They bought the striking painting below for the entrance hall.
From Wiki: "Jean-Baptiste Oudry’s Indian Blackbuck with Three Pointers, painted in 1745, stands as a testament to the artist’s unparalleled skill in capturing the essence of the animal kingdom.
"Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755), a name synonymous with excellence in the 18th-century art world, was a celebrated Painter-in-Ordinary of the Royal Hunt at the court of King Louis XV of France."
There were numerous Gainsboroughs, chairs and tapestries from Versailles, a painting owned by Napolean's wife – on and on. Many 400-year-old or more clocks keeping perfect time.
Carpets were made in Madrid to match the ornate stucco ceilings, created by Swiss and Italian stuccodores. The paintings in the room below were created in the mid 1700s by a French artist specifically for the ornate stucco and plaster borders, which were made by the Lafranchini brothers, renowned Swiss-Italian stuccodores working in Ireland.
Russborough House is a bit infamous for being the site of a break-in by the IRA – and heiress turned rebel Rose Dugdale. The group beat up Lord and Lady Beit before making off with 19 paintings – all later recovered. After which, the Beits donated the most valuable paintings to the National Gallery's new Beit wing.
In front of the fire is a black and mother of pearl screen used by ladies to protect their faces from the heat, a necessity given that makeup was wax based. This gives us the expressions, "mind your own beeswax" and "save face."
After an exhausting tour – it's so hard being a tourist – back at the hotel Patricia and I hit 25 balls at the driving range then had a facial and massage. I was feeling a bit like a lady of the manor myself.
The goings on above were on a Monday. Tuesday morning we drove back to Belfast and played golf at 1:30 p.m in the weekly competition. Wednesday I had a wasp nest removed from the roof space of my house !!! Thursday I played at Rockmount Golf Club with a friend who has a match there next week and has never played it.
Saturday I went to the jazz afternoon at the American Bar and got my dinner from the Grateful Bread kitchen within the bar. Playing were local legends Ronnie Greer, Ken Haddock, and Scott Flanagan. Sunday was a mixed foursomes, my partner Damian and I doing OK but not brilliant. We were playing for the Bleakley Salver and I'm delighted that Geoff and Paula Bleakley won. The salver was donated by his mother years ago in honour of his father and it's a fun annual challenge.
And now we are up to date.
12 October