Eire’s Lismore Fortress, in-built 1185 by King John on the location of a seventh-century monastery, may very well be mentioned to function a kunstkammer—or cupboard of curiosities—of types. It boasts one in all Eire’s most interesting collections of artwork, furnishings and craftwork and a banqueting corridor designed by the Gothic Revival architect Augustus Pugin. The formal terraced gardens have been created by the gardener and engineer Sir Joseph Paxton and stuffed with unique species reminiscent of magnolias, camelias and rhododendrons within the Victorian period, although its earliest sections date again 400 years.
The property is now owned by the Duke of Devonshire, whose household acquired it in 1753 when Girl Charlotte Boyle, the 4th Earl of Cork’s daughter, married William Cavendish, the 4th Duke of Devonshire. Round 20 years in the past, the son of the duke, William Cavendish, and his spouse Laura have been entrusted with managing the fortress. Each artwork lovers, in 2005 they transformed the west wing right into a gallery generally known as Lismore Fortress Arts, which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this yr.
Lismore Fortress in County Waterford, Eire
Picture: Anna Batchelor
To mark the event, the couple invited the well-known Irish author and ornamental arts specialist Robert O’Byrne to curate an exhibition; he got here up with the thought of an exhibition devoted to the theme of the kunstkammer, a type of museum during which uncommon and priceless objects—each pure and artifical—are exhibited collectively. Somewhat than “reflecting the human situation or observations or the state of the world at this time”, the goal of Kunstkammer (till 26 October) is to “entertain, delight and educate”, O’Byrne says. “Periodically, there’s a wave of pleasure about kunstkammers—individuals rediscover them, after which they fade away once more. Perhaps that is the beginning of a rediscovery, at the least in Eire.”
The eclectic mixture of works on present vary from a pair of vintage Chinese language teak chairs to a Seventeenth-century Italian ebonised cupboard and a taxidermy tableau from round 1900 that includes boxing purple squirrels. On the entrance to the gallery is a replica of Ferrante Imperato’s ebook, Dell’Historia Naturale, loaned by Marsh’s Library in Dublin. The amount, which paperwork the Italian apothecary and naturalist’s assortment relationship from the late sixteenth century, contains the oldest engraving of a kunstkammer. On the extra up to date finish, there are dangling sculptures by Sarah Lucas, a darkish mirrored set up by Edward Rollitt and small items by Urs Fischer put in in a touchdown cupboard often housed in Lismore Fortress.
Irish artists are effectively represented, too. Dublin-born Sasha Sykes, whose follow is knowledgeable by the place she now lives on the foothills of the Wicklow mountains, has created a brand new work, Belonging (2025), a journey chest made from clear resin, with flora gathered from Lismore gardens forged inside the resin.
“For those who’re speaking about nature and the setting, Lismore gardens are the last word kunstkammer, it’s actually a group of curious bushes and vegetation and issues from around the globe, just like the magnolias from the Himalayas within the decrease backyard,” she says. The artist notes how she picked “old style vegetation like little daisies and wild strawberries” from the higher backyard, which is round 400 years outdated and is extra formal. “I discover it fascinating how people use vegetation, how they plant them for his or her use and for their very own pleasure. It’s such a type of management,” Sykes provides.
She scoured the fortress for a journey chest to forged however couldn’t discover one—a sign, Sykes thinks, of how the property isn’t inhabited by the Cavendishes year-round. “It’s a semi-functional object with plenty of layers to it, which mirrors Lismore Fortress and the entire historical past of the place and the backyard,” the artist says.
Dorothy Cross, Crimson Relaxation (2021)
Picture: Ben Westoby/Positive Artwork Documentation. © The artist
Dorothy Cross, who was born in Cork and relies in Connemara, is exhibiting two pillows relationship from 2022 carved out of Damascus rose marble within the present. Based mostly on Cross’s personal childhood pillow, each has an ear nestling at its centre, the place a head would possibly lay. “This explicit marble is so flesh like and delightful,” Cross says.
The artist selected Damascus rose, which hails from Syria, from offcuts of marble discovered within the yard of a studio in Carrara in Italy. “It’s like a sweet retailer, with all these bits of leftover stuff, nearly just like the scars of utilization,” Cross says. The truth that the marble comes from Syria additionally speaks to “notions of displacement and geology”, she provides. “They’re actually about sleep, unconsciousness, our relationship to time and the earth and fossilisation.”
Cross thinks her earlier work significantly pertains to the thought of the kunstkammer. Within the early Nineties, she produced a collection of works utilizing cow udders, which have been proven within the exhibition Dangerous Women on the Institute of Up to date Artwork, London in 1993. “It was an awesome gaggle of girls,” Cross remembers. “In these days, the cow udder was definitely would come below that concept [of the kunstkammer].”
As for her marble sculptures, Cross is “much less simple” about calling them “curiosities”, primarily as a result of “they’re lovely”, she says. “However, like Baudelaire mentioned, magnificence is at all times unusual.”
