Who?

The subject of this posting is the small and somewhat obscure collection of what appears to be self portraits immediately outside the Supreme Court in the Four Courts, Inns Quay, Dublin 7. (It is not intended, by this precision, to imply there is another, or other, Four Courts in another postal district). It is, hopefully, concise; (see Eoin O’Dell HERE for a description of what an extended posting can look like).

The portraits are of former Chief Justices of Ireland of what, in Ireland, would be modern times. The portraits of the Chief Justices of Ireland of pre-modern times are to be found in the Kings Inns, Henrietta St. Dublin 7.

Those portraits are very large oil paintings of the then conventional type and probably (I have not investigated the issue) include a portrait of Tom Lefroy, the man Jane Austen would probably have married if she had been asked.

He undoubtedly features in some of her novels and in turning away from social obscurity (in the person of Ms. Austen) found social eminence on the walls of the dining hall of the Kings Inns with, in the long run, concomitant obscurity.

The modern portraits are modest affairs by his standard. They are not of oils; it would be surprising to find a capacity to paint in oils, particularly a self portrait, in a Chief Justice.

They suffer from poor hanging; the location is not favourable to the viewings of the works, being dark and at a junction in the corridors carrying relatively heavy pedestrian traffic.

Even Chief Justices should remember the experience of The Little Red Hen; you have to do it yourself, and therefore you have to do it ALL yourself.