The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife

The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife
The Marriage of Strongbow and Eva
See adjacent text.
Artist Daniel Maclise
Year 1854
Type Oil
Medium Canvas
Dimensions 315 cm × 513 cm (124 in × 202 in)
Location National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin

The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife is an oil-on-canvas painting by Daniel Maclise, painted in 1854. It is owned by and on permanent display in the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin.[1][2]

Description

The painting depicts the 1170 marriage of the Norman knight Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke ("Strongbow") to the Irish princess Aoife Ní Diarmait in Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford. It is portrayed as a pivotal moment in the Norman conquest of Ireland and the death of Gaelic Ireland.

In the foreground are the bodies of dead Irish warriors. To the left is a broken-stringed Celtic harp. Richard stands on a broken high cross.[3]

History

The painting was completed by Maclise in 1854. It was initially commissioned to stand in the chamber of the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster, along with other paintings celebrating the acquisition of colonies by the British Empire.[4]

It was presented to the National Gallery in 1879 by Sir Richard Wallace, 1st Baronet.[5]

Bank of America Merrill Lynch paid for its restoration in 2010–17.[6][7]

Notes

  1. ↑ "The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife". www.askaboutireland.ie. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  2. ↑ Hegarty, Neil (24 April 2012). "Story of Ireland". Random House. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017 – via Google Books.
  3. ↑ jonathan5485 (15 April 2012). "The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife by Daniel Maclise". Archived from the original on 22 December 2013.
  4. ↑ Ulin, J. (13 November 2013). "Medieval Invasions in Modern Irish Literature". Springer. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017 – via Google Books.
  5. ↑ "The day we lost our sovereignty - Independent.ie".
  6. ↑ "The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife « antiquesandartireland.com". Archived from the original on 5 July 2017.
  7. ↑ "Conserving The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife". National Gallery of Ireland. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017.
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