Monthly Archives: August 2015

A Swagger of Garlands

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The central panel of the Portland stone chimney piece in the entrance hall at Kilshannig, County Cork. On either side of a mask flow garlands of flowers and fruit carved with such precision and depth that they look as though ready to drop to the floor (were they not secured by hooks at either end of the panel). Evidently whoever was responsible for this exquisitely assured work liaised with stuccadore Filippo Lafranchini, since the chimney piece decoration echoes the latter’s ceilings throughout the house’s main rooms. (For more on Kilshannig’s plasterwork, see Exuberance, May 18th 2015).

A Memorial to Lost Love

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Details of the sedilia at the west end of Kylemore church, County Galway. Designed by James Franklin Fuller, the building was intended as a memorial to Margaret, wife of industrialist and financier Mitchell Henry, who had died in 1875. During the previous decade Henry had already built the nearby Kylemore Castle,  likewise to a design by Fuller. The church’s interior was seemingly inspired by that of Bristol Cathedral, which is in the 14th century English Decorated Gothic style. Pale sandstone from Caen was used for much of the work, hence the elaborate carving of the sedilia which is located beneath the west window.

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