National Gallery of Ireland

The National Gallery of Ireland (Irish: na hÉireann Gailearaí Náisiúnta ) in Dublin, Merrion Square West, is home to a national collection of Irish and European art. It was opened in 1864, ten years after its foundation, to the public. It contains a comprehensive and representative collection of Irish painting and well-known painting by the Italian Baroque and the dutch master. Admission is free.

Its first director was George Mulvany ( 1809-1869 ). From 1988 to 2012 Raymond Keaveney served as director. As a new director was appointed in 2012 Sean Rainbird, who has previously directed from 2006 to 2012, the State Gallery of Stuttgart.

The collection includes masterpieces by Fra Angelico ( The Saints Cosmas and Damian, and their brothers survive by fire, about 1439-1442 ), Titian ( Ecce Homo, 1558-1560 ), Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio ( Capture of Christ, 1602 ), Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez ( kitchen maid at the meal at Emmaus, about 1617-1618 ), Rembrandt van Rijn ( rest on the flight into Egypt, 1647), Jan Vermeer ( letter writer and servant, about 1670 ), Thomas Gainsborough ( Cottage Girl with dog and Pitcher, 1785 ). Francisco de Goya ( Portrait of Antonia Zárate, ca 1805-1806 ) and Claude Monet ( Argenteuil Basin with a Single Sailboat, 1874).