THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND'S FAMOUS VAUGHN COLLECTION OF WATERCOLOURS BY JMW TURNER WILL BE ON DISPLAY FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY. IT INCLUDES TURNER'S MOST STRIKING WORKS IN WATERCOLOUR PAINTED DURING HIS LATER EUROPEAN TOURS; THE DOGE'S PALACE IN VENICE, LAKE LUCERN, AND THE FORTRESS AT BELLINZONA IN SWITZERLAND. THIS YEAR THE EXHIBITION WILL BE COMPLEMENTED BY A DISPLAY OF 17th, 18th AND 19th CENTURY SILHOUETTES AND MINIATURES FROM THE MARY A MCNEILL BEQUEST, COMPRISING WORKS BY JOHN COMERFORD, RICHARD CROSSE AND WILLIAM GRIMALDI. THESE DELICATE LIKENESSES, PAINTED IN WATERCOLOUR ON IVORY OR ENAMEL ON COPPER, WERE POPULAR IN TURNER'S DAY AND WERE PRIZED AS KEEPSAKES AND SOMETIMES WORN AS JEWELRY. THE COLLECTION BEQUEATHED TO THE GALLERY IN 1984 BY MARY A MCNEILL, A NOTABLE BELFAST COLLECTOR AND HISTORIAN.
HENRY VAUGHN WAS BORN IN SOUTHWARK, LONDON, IN 1809. HIS FATHER, A WEALTHY HAT MANUFACTURER, DIED IN 1828 LEAVING HIS SON A GREAT FORTUNE. HENRY BECAME A CULTIVATED COLLECTOR OF ART, GRADUALLY BUILDING UP A MAGNIFICENT COLLECTION. HE PATRONIZED LIVING ARTISTS AND WAS DESCRIBED AS 'A GREAT TURNER MAN'. WHEN HE DIED UNMARRIED IN 1899 AGED 90, HIS ART COLLECTION WAS DISTRIBUTED AMONG THE MAJOR PUBLIC MUSEUMS. THE BULK OF HIS OUTSTANDING COLLECTION OF TURNER WATERCOLOURS WAS DIVIDED BETWEEN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF SCOTLAND (38 WORKS) AND THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND (31 WORKS). THE VAUGHN BEQUEST IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY CONSTITUTES 31 WATERCOLOURS, AND THE GALLERY HAS ADDED TO THE COLLECTION OVER THE YEARS. TODAY, THE COLLECTION COMPRISES A TOTAL OF 36 AMAZING WATERCOLOURS BY TURNER, WHICH REMAIN IN PRISTINE CONDITION. THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF IRELAND CONTINUES TO ADHERE TO THE CONDITIONS OF THE VAUGHN BEQUEST, AND SO EVERY JANUARY THE GALLERY PUTS ON DISPLAY THESE LUMINOUS WATERCOLOURS WHICH CONTINUE TO BE A MAJOR ATTRACTION IN THE EXHIBITION CALENDER.
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