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George's Hall

George’s Hall was built as a Supper Room for the July 1911 visit of Queen Mary and King George V - King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India. During this, the last Royal visit to Dublin Castle before the May 2011 visit of Queen Elizabeth II, they officiated at a levée, the investiture of some Knights of St. Patrick and a State Banquet, and ‘basked in Dublin’s warm welcome’.

Royal visits had increased dramatically towards the end of the 19th Century, in reaction to the rise of the Home Rule and Nationalist movements and the need for George’s Hall was clearly evident when three large marquees were required in the Lower Castle Yard for the visit of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in 1904.

George’s Hall was adapted for use as the main conference hall, in conjunction with St. Patrick’s Hall, for Ireland’s first Presidency of the European Union in 1975. In recent years, this was the location of the Tribunal of Inquiry into Payments to Politicians and Related Matters.

The roof lights, which were originally flat, were modified in 1912. The Waterford Glass chandeliers date from the 1960s.

On the walls are a series of ten monochrome chiaroscuro or grisaille paintings (pronounced ‘grizai’, from the French gris meaning ’grey’), by the Flemish artist Peter de Gree, a native of Antwerp and a pupil of Geeraerts, who ‘died at his lodgings in Dame Street on 15th January 1789’. His subjects are the Roman (Greek) gods Apollo, Neptune, Venus, Diana, Bacchus, Ceres, and (smaller paintings) of the four classical elements of Earth, Water, Air and Fire. They are among the best surviving examples of his work and were purchased by the Office of Public Works in 1972.

Peter de Gree’s grisaille paintings in George’s Hall

On the North wall (i.e. to the right looking in from the entrance door from the Antici Room), they are as follows:

  1. Apollo, god of the sun, patron of poetry, music and leader of the Muses, playing his lyre, surrounded by putti (cherubs).

  2. Neptune, (Greek: Poseidon) god of the sea, with his trident.

  3. Venus, (Greek: Aphrodite) goddess of love, with her chariot and a pair of doves.

  4. Diana, (Greek: Artemis) goddess of hunting and chastity, with her quiver and hunting dog, reclining on a cloud, surrounded by putti.

  5. The element Air is represented by a putto blowing bubbles into a basin, while another watches and the third collects birds.

Those on the South Wall (i.e. to left looking from the Antici Room entrance doorway) are as follows:

  1. Water is represented by putti playing at a river, with one sitting on the bank pouring water from a pot.

  2. Bacchus, (Greek: Dionysus) god of wine, cup in hand, with putti eating grapes and holding his thyrsus – a staff tipped with a pine cone (& sometimes vines, grapes, berries or ivy leaves) for use in bacchic rites).

  1. Fire: two groups of putti are shown at a forge, one group busy at an anvil, while the other is starting a fire.

  2. Ceres, (Greek: Demeter) goddess of fertility, resting on a corn sheaf, with a cornucopia and putti holding a scythe.

  3. Earth is depicted as a putti carrying baskets filled with fruit, while his companions play under the shade of a tree.