Portraits of historical Irish figures now available to view online

Portraits of some of Ireland’s most revered historical figures are among tens of thousands of artefacts opened to the world in a newly expanded digital collection.

The engravings and drawings — which include Robert Emmet, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Daniel O’Connell — are part of a revealing series first catalogued by librarian Rosalind Elmes, and named in her honour.

It pulls together 3,000 images of famous — and infamous — figures from Irish history up to the end of the 19th century.