The men behind Home Rule to hang in Leinster House

The constitutional political tradition will be formally commemorated for the first time in Leinster House next month with the hanging of a series of paintings marking the progress of the Home Rule movement.

Portraits of Isaac Butt, John Redmond and John Dillon will join the picture of Charles Stewart Parnell that already hangs in Leinster House.

A copy of a painting from the House of Commons entitled The Men Who Made Home Rule will also be in the display.

The hanging of the paintings was recommended by a working group on art tasked with examining the art collection on display in Leinster House to identify gaps in the range of portraits.

The working group, whose members include former Seanad leader Maurice Manning and former Fianna Fáil TD Martin Mansergh, concluded that representation of the role of the Irish Party in the development of Irish parliamentary democracy would be appropriate to coincide with the decade of centenaries.

The working group sought suitable portraits of Dillon, Butt and Redmond to add to the one of Parnell.

After consultation with the Office of Public Works it was agreed that a number of works will be hung in areas on the public-tour route.

The paintings to be hung are a portrait of Isaac Butt (the National Gallery of Ireland permitted a reproduction to be made of a charcoal portrait by John Yeats); a portrait of John Redmond (the Hugh Lane Gallery allowed a reproduction to be made of an oil portrait of John Redmond by Sir John Lavery); a portrait of John Dillon (the Dillon family has lent the portrait long-term. It is undergoing restoration); and Irish House of Commons, 1914, The Men who made Home Rule by William Drummond Young, which depicts them at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster (a reproduction).

The Men who made Home Rule was painted in 1914 as the Home Rule Act became law. The artist set out to capture a sense of the historic importance of the passage of the act with a composite painting of politicians from different eras who had campaigned to bring it about.

The figures are shown in the pre-Act of Union Irish House of Commons, a chamber destroyed in 1808 and converted to Bank of Ireland offices.

This setting symbolises the return of Ireland’s status as a self-governing country.

A tribute to the key individuals who brought about Home Rule, the painting combines posthumous portraits with depictions of contemporary Irish nationalists.

In the centre of the painting stands Charles Stuart Parnell who persuaded the British prime minister William Ewart Gladstone to introduce the first Home Rule Bill in 1886.

The Leinster House authorities say every effort will be made to keep related pieces together in chronological order.

Some of the paintings are high-quality reproductions of the original artworks as conditions in certain areas in Leinster House are unsuitable for display of historic artworks which need to be kept in controlled, museum environments.

A spokeswoman for Leinster House said it was hoped that the necessary arrangements can be made to have the portraits in place, with suitable signage, before the Dáil returns on September 22nd. Details are still being worked out.