This work is a selection of drawings, sketches and prints of statues and monuments —some classical, some more recent – personally encountered over 25 years of travel to cities that, generally, have a long and rich history.
Representing the travels of the man for whom the Casino was designed — James Caulfeild, the 1st Earl of Charlemont — it was his journey through European cities at the height of the popularity of the Grand Tour that inspired him to build this love letter to classical ideas and proportions. My own version of a Grand Tour has given me sketches, photos and notes made in situ to bring back
to my studio, to reimagine into these finished drawings, now showing in his beautiful pleasure house.
The original statuary I’m basing each drawing on is always saluted and respected for the beauty of
its creation as, in my mind, those works are first and foremost things of great skill and ambition, with workmanship to be admired. The intrinsic beauty and artistry of those works in bronze and stone is timeless, and their position, often in prominent public places, makes them visible, shared and democratic.
However, in a new context or, really, taken out of any actual context — physical, historical, social — the statues I am drawing and drawing upon become for me ‘readymades’.
I carefully render the statues in detailed pencil, then make gentle comic or satirical interventions, usually in colour, to breathe new meaning into these poses from the past, when often the reason for their striking commemoration has been long forgotten. And in this new life for these old figures, titles are key — they are the way in.
This remarkable building would not be here without the experience of the Grand Tour. It is a neatly
satisfying thought too that the Earl of Charlemont may have himself seen some of the same
statues on his travels that I have seen on mine, and used in this work.
James Hanley
March 2025
Sightseers is now extended until August 24th (Every day, 10am – 4pm) in Casino of Marino,, D03 HH70, Dublin 3
