John Lavery: National Gallery exhibition a reminder of the talents of great artist
John Lavery, and his piece, Lady Lavery in an Evening Cloak.
The National Gallery of Ireland’s plans for Lavery: On Location were already in train when Dr Caroline Campbell was appointed director in November 2022, becoming the first woman to hold the position in the institution’s 158-year history. But the timing could hardly have been more appropriate; Campbell is a native of Belfast, and John Lavery is the most successful artist to have ever come out of the city.
The National Gallery holds many of Lavery’s most important paintings, including the portrait of his wife Hazel that graced the Irish pound note for nearly fifty years, but Lavery: On Location is the first major exhibition of his work in three decades. Produced in collaboration with the National Museums of Northern Ireland and the National Galleries of Scotland, it features seventy of his pictures, mostly painted on his travels in Ireland, Scotland, England, France, North Africa and the US. Many were made for his family and friends, and have never been shown before.
