The Irish House of Commons

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The Irish House of Commons
IrishHC1780.jpg
Artist Francis Wheatley
Year1780
Type Oil on canvas, history painting
Dimensions172.5 cm× 215.9 cm(67.9 in× 85.0 in)
Location Lotherton Hall, West Yorkshire

The Irish House of Commons is a 1780 history painting by the English artist Francis Wheatley. It depicts a session of the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament House in Dublin. Throughout the eighteenth century Ireland and Great Britain maintained separate, sister Parliaments until the Act of Union of 1801.The Whig Henry Grattan, a leader of the Patriot movement, is shown on the right of the table submitting a motion that the Parliament should have greater direct powers. [1] Female spectators are shown crowding the galleries. [2]

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Wheatley was an early member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London. Today the painting is in the collection at Lotherton Hall, overseen by the Leeds Museums and Galleries, having been acquired as a gift from Alvary Gascoigne and his wife. [3] The same year Wheatley produced his The Dublin Volunteers on College Green, now in the National Gallery of Ireland.

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