Hibernia and Irish Ceiling Decoration at Dublin Castle: Personifying Protestant Politics, c.1750-c.1802

This article considers two major examples of eighteenth-century decoration at Dublin Castle that feature prominent depictions of Hibernia, the female personification of Ireland: Barthelomew Cramillion’s stuccowork Minerva Introducing the Arts to Hibernia (c.1750s) and Vincent Waldré’s painted ceiling in St Patrick’s Hall (c.1787-1802), the central panel of which portrays King George III flanked by Britannia and Hibernia. In so doing, it reveals the distinct capacity of imagery of Hibernia to manifest visually inter-related political, economic, and cultural concerns in Ireland during the latter half of the eighteenth century, particularly as they related to patriotic, Protestant notions of ‘improvement’ and antiquarianism. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Sktodowska-Curie grant agreement no. 101149397.