Come Here To Me!

William of Orange depicted inside the Bank of Ireland, College Green.

The week ahead of us sees the twelfth of July upon us once more, with marches across the north of Ireland in honour of King William of Orange and his victory at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. Many Dubliners may be surprised to hear of the huge tapestry commemorating this event that sits in the centre of our city to this day, inside the Bank of Ireland on College Green.

A postcard showing the old Irish Parliament building and the monument to King William of Orange.

The old Irish Parliament building on College Green remains one of the finest bits of architecture in Dublin, and its place in architectural history is well and truly secured, serving as an influence for the British Museum and U.S Capitol Building among with other buildings internationally. While many know of the doomed statue of King William of Orange that sat outside of this parliament from the early eighteenth century until it was bombed by republicans in 1929, few wander inside of the building to see the old House of Lords, and a large-scale tapestry depicting William’s victory in 1690. The tapestry is joined by another which commemorates the Siege of Derry in 1689, and was originally intended to be one of a series of six tapestries.

The tapestry today.

In his groundbreaking history of Dublin, first published in 1861, the great Dublin historian J.T Gilbert wrote that:

The tapestry in the House of Lords was manufactured by Robert Baille, of Dublin, at the rate of three pounds per ell, inclusive of the expense of the designs. When set up in the House of Lords in September 1733, this tapestry was considered equal to that made at Brussels to commemorate Marlborough’s victories….

Baille, an upholsterer, was actually tasked with producing six tapestries, they being:

1: The Defence of Derry in 1689.
2: The landing of King William and his army at Carrickfergus.
3: The Battle of the Boyne.
4: The entry of King William into Dublin.
5: The Battle of Aughrim.
6: The attacking of Cork and Kinsale.

Ultimately, only the first and third of this list were commissioned for the House of Lords.

“Sectional engraving of the Irish House of Lords by Peter Mazell based on the drawing by Rowland Omer, 1767.” (Wiki)

While the correspondence quoted by Gilbert and others talks only of Baille, the work of others proved central to the task, with the tapestries being designed by Dutch landscape painter William Van der Hagen, and woven by John Van Beaver. It is noted in A Dictionary of Irish Artists (1913) that:

In 1728 Vander Hagen was employed by Robert Baillie to take “prospects” of the places to be represented in the tapestries which Baillie was commissioned to make for the House of Lords.* He appears to have been living in Dublin at that time, as the parish registers of St. Andrew’s record the baptism on the 22nd May, 1730, of “John and Thomas sons of John Vanderhagen.”

According to a 1913 letter to The Irish Times from W.F De Vismes Kane, John Van Beaver resided on Great Britain Street, and he noted that “Van Beaver was probably of a Dutch Protestant refugee family, who brought to Dublin during the reign of King William III the knowledge of their craft.” The writer claimed that by examining the leases of homes in the area Van Beaver lived, there was a clear Huguenot presence in the area, with names like Du Val and Le Sac in the immediate area.

Not alone did Van Beaver produce the tapestries within the House of Lords, he also provided a tapestry of King George II for the Weavers’ Hall constructed in the Lower Coombe in 1745. It is noted on the excellent history page of the Irish Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers that:

The Weavers’ Hall was demolished in 1965. Indeed, the only original guildhall still standing is the Tailors’ Hall in Back Lane. The tapestry of George II woven by John van Beaver, which hung in the Weavers’ Hall, is now in the Metropolitan Museum of New York.

Portrait of George II. Originally in the Old Coombe, it can today be viewed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. (Image Credit:http://www.metmuseum.org/)

After the Act of Union in 1800, the tapestries in the House of Lords were taken down from the walls, with the aim of their being sent to England. The Irish Independent claimed in a 1931 article on the tapestries that “the representatives of Francis Johnston…induced the Bank directors to retain them.” Francis Johnston was the architect tasked with converting the building for the use of the bank following the shameful act of self-abolition in 1800. Johnston remains one of the most important architects in the history of the city, as he was responsible for the General Post Office on O’Connell Street, the Chapel Royal of Dublin Castle and several other great Dublin buildings.

Anyone can walk in off the street and have a look at the tapestries for free during regular banking hours. It’s a hidden Dublin gem worth a few minutes of your time if you haven’t. The staff who look after the building are always more than willing to have a chat about the House of Lords from our experiences.