Milltown papers

Context

Creator(s): National Gallery of Ireland

• Administrative History ↴

  The Milltown collection originated from Russborough house, Blessington, county Wicklow. Designed by Richard Castle, Russborough, was built for Richard Leeson (1711-1783), the first Earl of Milltown, in 1763. The Leeson family fortune had been made by the first Earl’s father who owned a brewery behind his house on St Stephen’s Green and engaged in property speculation. Joseph Leeson travelled on grand tours of Europe in 1744 and again in1750, amassing on his travels a large art collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture, and antiques which would furnish Russborough. This collection was further added to by the second and fourth earls.

• Archival History ↴

  Institutional Archives. In October 1897 Geraldine Evelyn Countess Milltown, widow of the sixth Earl, wrote to Sir Walter Armstrong, then director of the National Gallery of Ireland (hereafter NGI), to offer the Milltown collection to NGI in memory of her late husband. The offer was accepted and an extension, completed in 1903, was built to house the collection. Due to a disagreement between Countess Milltown and Armstrong (regarding his re-attribution to Pater of works from the collection which she believed to be by Watteau), a long delay ensued before the collection was delivered to NGI in March 1906. Further confusion and ill feeling was created by the number of varying schedules/inventories which were created from the initial offer, approved by Sir Walter Armstrong, to the delivery to NGI of a much large volume of paintings and artefacts in 1906. Countess Milltown was not satisfied with the arrangements made by the board of NGI to house the collection and corresponded with them, through her solicitors, detailing her complaints and demands for changes. Lady Milltown’s feeling was that NGI had not honoured the terms of the agreement as set out in the second schedule of the deed of gift. In 1912 the addition of a quantity of silver, to the initial gift, was negotiated by the parties. The correspondence between Countess Milltown and NGI continued until late 1913 and the matter remained unresolved on Countess Milltown’s death in February 1914. In 1914 the board of NGI approved a loan of paintings, furniture, and other works from the Milltown Collection to Lord Turton, nephew of the seventh Earl, and then resident of Russborough house. The loan of items from the Milltown collection to Lord Turton in 1914 with an addition in 1919 caused much confusion in later years. The Turton loan continued until 1929 when Lord Turton’s widow contacted NGI about the condition of some of the paintings. It became evident that no exact inventory of the loan existed. In December 1929 Thomas Bodkin, the director of NGI, wrote to Lady Turton: ‘I have been trying….to reconcile the scattered and somewhat formless inventories which we possess of the pictures, furniture, and other articles which the board of the National Gallery lent to your husband.’ Efforts to establish a definite inventory and to assist Lady Turton in returning some of the loan continued until 1931 when Russborough house was sold to Captain Daly. The balance of the Turton loan was finally returned by Captain Daly in 1934 with the exception of paintings by George Barrett which it was agreed would remain on loan at Russborough. In addition to this loan a quantity of the library books were transferred to the Oireachtas library in 1923 and the National Library of Ireland in 1932.

• Immediate Source Acquisition ↴

  Official Transfer