After passing through two sets of locked gates and doors, entering the newly refurbished Shaw Room of the National Gallery feels like visiting the Pentagon. Emma Pearson, Press Office Assistant of the gallery, directs me to the recently built ramps leading to the entrance of the wing. Inside, the atmosphere buzzes with anticipation and energy. The giant hall, with equally massive paintings lining the walls of the room, currently plays host to a crowd of gallery staff, press bloodhounds and numerous photographers. The lights are dimmed. A celebrity is in the room, re-entering the public spotlight after a health-related sabbatical.
‘The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife’, painted by Daniel Maclise (c.1854), has recently returned to permanent public display in the refurbished wing of the National Gallery following a period of extensive conservation. It now hangs at the head of the Shaw Room, its vast scale commanding the attention of all assembled. Seeing the work in paint was quite a spectacle after having only ever experienced it through lecture slides and images in books. Maclise’s dramatic juxtaposition of enigmatic shadows and theatrically posed figures creates a palpable sense of action and urgency. Despite its vast scale, the smallest details are attended to. Flower petals, the hems of silken flags and even the fittings of metal maces are all rendered with impressive attention to detail. The immersive illusionism of the painting creates a real physical presence. However, a century and a half of handling and transportation has taken its toll on the work, resulting in serious structural issues, as well as increased fragility and wearing of detail. In 2010, the work was deinstalled from the Gallery in order to begin a lengthy programme of conservation, research and repair.
The conservation process was funded by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art Conservation Project, and is one of ten global projects to receive funding from the company. Simone Mancini, Head of Conservation at the National Gallery of Ireland, commented that the project has been “one of the most complex [and] challenging” ventures carried out by the Conservation Department in recent years. The conservation itself, according to Mancini, took three years of work. The main problem presented by the work was its large size (315 x 513 cm). When restoring a work of this scale, even moving the piece presents a challenge. The conservation team created an animal glue, similar in material to that used by Maclise, in order to reinforce the work and allow for it to be rolled and transported. The painstaking process of moving the painting from the Gallery to the Studio took several weeks.
The ‘Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife’ is now considered an ‘icon’ of Irish painting. Sean Rainbird, Director of the Gallery, remarked that the painting is “part of the texture of the Gallery”. However, this is a recent development. It was only following the work’s inclusion in the 1966 exhibition, Cuimhneachán 1916, that the painting developed its ‘iconic’ and ‘historic’ reputation. A painting which originally existed as a somewhat anonymous study for a fresco was eventually marketed and exhibited as a defining example of Irish narrative painting. This is, perhaps, an overstatement. Indeed, it was only in 1980 that the female protagonist of the painting was renamed ‘Aoife’ as opposed to ‘Eva’. Much like the Broighter Hoard and the Book of Kells, the development of the nationalistic aspects of the story surrounding the painting has undoubtedly bolstered its fame both in Ireland and abroad.
Peeling back the celebrity story and media fanfare surrounding ‘The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife’, viewers are left with an impressive painting, packed with expression, detail and action. Thanks to conservation efforts, it will soon be accessible to the public once again, coinciding with the reopening of the refurbished wing of the Gallery on June 15th.
For those interested in learning more about the conservation process, a documentary about the project will be shown on RTE a few weeks after the reopening of the wing, along with the publication of a book, available for purchase at the National Gallery.
