French medieval frescoes purchased by National Gallery of Ireland go on display.
James White has held the position as Director of the National Gallery of Ireland for 15 years and in that time,
He transformed if from being a somewhat lifeless repository dimly viewed by the occasional concientious tourist or passer-by desperate to get in from the rain into a sort of people's palace of culture full of brightness and activity and people.
The National Gallery of Ireland is not just about the art it holds, it also has a restaurant and hosts frequent music recitals.
Ahead of his retirement, the final acquisition made by James White is a remarkable set of medieval frescoes. The works originally came from a church near Avignon in the south of France. The church fell into disrepair and 50 years ago the frescoes were moved to Switzerland. The paintings were acquired at a cost of £185,000.
The frescoes had been on the curved walls of the church in France and were transported to the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin by truck. They now reside in a section of the gallery that had previously housed a collection of Irish portraits which were transferred to Malahide Castle.
The former portrait gallery now shows medieval art.
This new collection is viewed as a fitting farewell to the gallery by its director. James White says that these frescoes enable us to follow medieval man's view of the concept of Christianity.
This episode of 'Folio' was broadcast on 22 May 1978. The presenter is Patrick Gallagher.
'Folio' was initially a general arts programme, first broadcast on 20 September 1977 with a performance of 'La Ventana' by the Irish Ballet Company. The first series was subtitled 'The Arts in Ireland' and 'The World of Books'. On alternate weeks, Ciarán MacGonigal presented the arts editions while Tom McGurk and Patrick Gallagher presented the literary ones. From the second series on, it became a books programme, though still taking an occasional look at theatre and other arts. It ran until 1985.
