Image credit: Guercino (1591-1666) Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, c.1620 Oil on canvas Photo © National Gallery of Ireland.  Sir Denis Mahon Bequest,  National Gallery of Ireland.

This Thursday afternoon at 2.30pm, Thursday 08 March, we are looking forward to our one-off visit inside the beautiful Denis Mahon Archive, located in a Georgian house at number 90 Merrion Square, then followed by a very special visit to within the NGI afterwards.  There are a handful of ticets left if you wish to join this event, and all are welcome to join us.  For tickets please see all the details below please.

The visit to the Mahon archive at number 90 Merrion occupies the first half of our our, from 2.30PM to 3.15 PM approx and includes a special once-off talk from curator and archivist Leah Benson,.  Immediately after that visit we will venture into the main galleries of the NGI, for an additional tour & talk for another 45- 60 mins, (from 3.20 -4.30pm approx) from a second art historian of the NGI,  to view and learn about the paintings of Sir Denis Mahon’s Bequest and the Art of the Italian Baroque.  Taken all together, my idea is to see how a collector like Sir Denis conducted his art historical detective work, then later to view his paintings “in the flesh”, in order to see the fruits of that scholarship.

This is a unique tour we’ve assembled and offer on a once-only basis.  It should provide I hope, a fascinating glimpse into the whole world of art historical research. Places are of course limited on this tour, and tickets should be purchased in advance please. €19.50, includes booking fee plus the overall package of archive visit + talk + gallery tour with talk 2. I think that is amazing value and I’ve no doubt both parts of our visit are going to be fascinating.  Before joining us please read all the practicalityies and T&cs carefully.

Meet time: 2.25 PM latest please.

Meet point: Meet me please just outside the front of 90, Merrion Square (West) – a Georgian House with dark green door – located 4/5 doors East of the National Gallery entrance (Please see the map, at foot of the ticket page)   Please do not go to the main gallery entrance, nor the Clare Street entrance. Please meet outside number 90, or you may miss the tour!

Tickets: should be purchased well in advance.  There is a link below.  It is not necessary to print your ticket. We shall have a list of guests from our online ticket seller service.   Refund policy: Please note we can not re-sell your tickets or put them back online once purchased, so they (tickets)  are unfortunately non-refundable. You may transfer your ticket to another guest, so tickets are transferable in that sense, but not refundable. Accordingly, please check your availability prior to purchase?   Thank you.

We look forward to welcoming some of you to the Mahon archive on the afternoon of 08 March, then to the main galleries of the NGI directly afterwards.  The link to tickets is just below.  We are quite excited about this tour!   We hope some of you will join us.  If you can’t join us this Thursday,  please see our new website for forthcoming public tours, and/or consider joining our handy newsletter, for monthly tour notifications.

Image credit: Guercino (1591-1666) Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph, c.1620 Oil on canvas Photo © National Gallery of Ireland.  Sir Denis Mahon Bequest,  National Gallery of Ireland.