Marking the 2016 Easter Rising commemorations, Sir John Lavery’s monumental painting, High Treason: The Appeal of Roger Casement, The Court of Criminal Appeal, 17 and 18 July 1916 moves from Kings Inns where it has been on loan from the UK Government Art Collection since 1951 to be the centrepiece of this historic exhibition in 2016. This painting depicts the last day of Roger Casement’s appeal against the sentence of death for treason before five judges of the Court of Criminal Appeal in London.

Roger Casement, the highly regarded humanitarian, knighted for his steadfast and unwavering dedication to highlighting the atrocities in the Putumayo region of South America, and prior to that in the Congo in Africa, is shown in the very place where he would deliver his celebrated Speech from the Dock, a speech which is now regarded as one of the greatest orations of all time. Portraits of a number of the legal personalities involved in the Trial and Appeal including judges Lord Chief Justice Sir Rufus Isaacs who presided over the Trial and Sir Charles John Darling who presided over the Appeal as well as the prosecuting council Attorney General Sir Frederick Smith later Lord Birkenhead will be borrowed from the National Portrait Gallery, London.

Among other works drawn from the Hugh Lane’s own collection is Lavery’s portrait of George Gavan Duffy, who with Sergeant Sullivan represented Roger Casement, and Rodin’s bust of George Bernard Shaw. Shaw supported Casement and advised him ‘to be eloquent about his right to take up arms for the independence of his country.’ The portrait by William Rothenstein of Casement’s great friend Alice Stopford Green will also be exhibited. With Casement, Stopford Green was an anti-Imperialist activist who advocated reform at home and abroad in favour of the dispossessed and the exploited. A detailed preparatory study of the Appeal which Lavery presented to this Gallery in 1935 will also be included.

An illustrated catalogue High Treason: Roger Casement will accompany the exhibition with contributions by Mr Justice Donal O’Donnell, Sinéad McCoole, Angus Mitchell, Chris Clarke, Charles Esche, Tacita Dean and Elizabeth Magill.

For further information please contact: Jessica O’Donnell, Collections Curator, jodonnell.hughlane@dublincity.ie, 01 222 5560

High Treason: Roger Casement is kindly supported by the Bank of Ireland.

Talks and Lectures Programme

Casement Evening Lecture Series, Thursdays 6.30pm

Thursday 10 March
Courting Favour & The Court of Criminal Appeal
with Sinead McCoole
Historian, curator and author Sinéad McCoole will explore the life of the Irish born artist Sir John Lavery and his evolution from orphan to wealthy society painter. She will explore the reasons he painted High Treason, which was neither a formal commission nor a piece of iconography commemorating an Irish martyr.

Thursday 14 April
‘One Bold Deed of Open Treason’: The Appalling Vista of Roger Casement’s Trial 
with Angus Mitchell
The troubled history of Sir John Lavery’s great history painting in various ways mirrors the contorted agonies of its subject matter. By digging beneath the surface of the painting, Angus Mitchell will excavate some of the key fault lines in this courtroom drama.

With further evening talks from May as follows: 

Thursday 19 May: Casement, Sebald and the Notion of Artist as Witness with Declan Long
Thursday 2 June: Casement and the Lawyers: Hanged by a Comma, Throttled by a Semicolon?, with Donal O’Donnell
Thursday 16 June: Researching Roger Casement; his Portrayal and Role in Political and Cultural Controversies, with Jeffrey Dudgeon 
Thursday 1 September: In conversation: Chris Clarke with Alan Phelan

Lunchtime Talk:

1pm, Thursday 12 May
Elizabeth Magill in conversation with Jesse Jones

Sunday Lecture: 

Sunday 12 June, 2pm

Patriot, Patron and Painter – Casement, Darling and Lavery in the Court of Appeal , with Kenneth McConkey

Coffee Conversations, Wednesdays 11am

6 April, Our Kind with Alan Phelan
13 April, High Treason: Roger Casement, an introduction to the exhibition with Jessica O’Donnell
27 April, How the Race for Rubber shaped the fortunes of Roger Casement with Barbara Dawson
25 May, Patrick Pearse’s perspective on the role of art and visual culture in education with Brian Crowley

Fee €5, includes tea/coffee. Please pay at reception on the day.

Further Coffee Conversations, talks and lectures will take place in the summer and autumn, for further information, please visit our website www.hughlane.ie/lectures.