Hops and diamonds, guns and tapestries, stucco and kidnap, Boer and Zulu and Irish and English: so many and so much have made Russborough House what it is. The story of Russborough is one of fortunes made and fortunes stolen, of villainies and vilenesses and things of beauty all co-existing. Russborough is not just a small parable of Irish history, but a part of world history too.
It was born out of the brewing industry, the source of so much 18th-century Irish wealth. Did not Speaker Conolly dabble in beer? He was not so successful, though, as the families Beamish, Guinness or Smithwick (for whatever reason, only the last was Catholic), nor indeed as the Leeson family, after whom the street is named, but who, like Conolly, gave the Lafranchini brothers cause to be thankful.
They created the truly magnificent ceilings in Joseph Leeson's home, Russborough, just as Tom Conolly over at Castletown, grand-nephew of the Speaker, had them doing the plasterwork on the walls of the stairwell there. No doubt those poor Italians shuddered long and often during the long, dark Kildare mid-winter afternoons, and dreamt of commissions in Naples.
Tours of Europe
Their employer, Joseph Leeson, began the collection of paintings and artwork for which Russborough is now famous during his tours of Europe in the mid-18th century: how hungrily did the Lafranchini brothers gaze at his departing back as he headed south and they puddled icy mortar with bone-cold hands? No matter: it is done, and Russborough is and we are the better for it.
Joseph Leeson became the Earl of Milltown, and the sixth and last earl of that name died in 1890, his widow presenting the art collection to the National Gallery; and perhaps because Russborough, far from being associated with confiscation, is associated with bequests to the nation, it did not fall victim to the patriotic incendiarists of 1920-23. As we know, however, a later generation of "patriots" were not to leave Russborough alone; yet that too is part of the fascinating Russborough story.
A Captain Denis Daly owned Russborough for 20 years up until 1952, when diamonds, Zulus, Boers and one of the most wicked wars of the past century all make their appearance, for it was then that Sir Alfred Beit bought the house as a home for his art collection. The spectacular Beit fortune grew out of the Boer War and the Kimberley diamond mines, which supplied both costly carbon and ample proof of the boundless greed of man.
It is not something which Russborough should shy away from, for the Beit foundation made Russborough what is it: one of the great art collections in Ireland in perhaps the most perfectly constructed house. Great fortunes are seldom made by gazing at moonlight. I dare say the first Joseph Leeson gained his fortune by some pretty bare-knuckle work - certainly there is no gainsaying the truth that it has been Leeson-Beit fortunes based on hop and carbon which have enabled the house to survive.
Extraordinary crimes
Its survival, and the great art it contains, has prompted two of the most extraordinary Irish crimes this century: and though I thought the commentary during my recent guided tour was quite excellent, might there not be a case for an outline of the events behind the two robberies? The first involved the fair Miss Dugdale who, I believe, still favours us with her presence, on some mission associated with the IRA. The second, in its way more audacious, and inspired by no less than the Kimberley-greed which had made the Beit fortune, was of course by the late lamented "General", Martin Cahill.
Visitors to Ireland could not know the history of these two robberies or, of course, the outcome: that the IRA, associates of whom had been responsible for Robbery Mark I, ended up murdering Mr Cahill, who was responsible for Robbery Mark II. Yes, I can understand why there is a certain reluctance to dwell on this aspect of Russborough; but tourists like thrilling stories, and Russborough's tale, in this regard as many others, is quite extraordinary.
Marine scenes
And no, I am not suggesting that Russborough should be an all-in-one theme park for Irish history, with an alcove here portraying 1798, and another there with a fresco of 1916, but merely that there is more to it than its art collection - though that in itself is quite wonderful. And what I found most surprisingly wonderful, largely because I had never heard of them but also because of the story attached to them, are the four marine scenes by Vernet.
They are utterly magnificent, and understandably, for the four plaster ovals in the drawing room were purposely constructed for them when the house was built. The paintings were sold to the US early in this century, to be discovered decades later only by the greatest good chance by Sir Alfred Beit and restored to their natural home, Russborough. They fit the room intended for them as perfectly as it must have seemed naked without them.
To be sure, Gainsborough, Rubens, Sargent, Murillo, Gobelins, van Ruysdael, Guardi might await you in Russborough (although the exchange system with the National Gallery makes it all a little unpredictable); but what will certainly await you is a wondrous house in a jewel of a setting, with a splendid teashop and excellent craftshops. Oh yes, and a neat little parable about human nature too.