Munster in 30 Artworks, No 28: Michael Collins (Love of Ireland), by John Lavery

Lavery had met Collins in the days before his death, and painting the dead rebel leader was quite an emotional experience 

A detail from John Lavery's Michael Collins (Love of Ireland). Picture courtesy of Dublin City Gallery: The Hugh Lane

Everyone knows what the revolutionary leader Michael Collins looks like. The floppy fringe; the resolute jaw; the slight smile about the eyes: all are familiar to anyone with an interest in the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War.

In his lifetime, however, and particularly at the height of the revolutionary struggle he directed from Dublin, Collins was a largely mysterious figure.