Equestrian Statue of George II, Formerly on St Stephens Green, Dublin.

 

 

The Bronze Equestrian Statue of George II.

Formerly on St Stephen's Green, Dublin.

John van Nost III.

1752.

 

 

 

Dictionary of Irish Artists published in 1913 notes - 

"The Corporation of Dublin having resolved to erect a statue of “King George II,” advertised for tenders for the proposed work in 1752. Two designs were submitted by Van Nost, “whom we apprehend,” says the report of the Committee, “to be the most knowing and skillful statuary in this Kingdom”; and one was accepted and agreed to by the Council in July, 1753. Van Nost went to London and had sittings from the King, returning in August, 1754, when he commenced the work. The statue, which cost £1,000 exclusive of the pedestal, was completed in 1756, and erected in the centre of St. Stephen’s Green in 1758, and was, say the Corporation Records, “allowed by persons of skill and judgment to be a complete and curious piece of workmanship".

 

 

 

 

 

 

Model of the Equestrian Statue of George II by John van Nost III.

 

Formerly in the Collection of Dublin Civic Museum.

 

Donated by Friends of the National Collections of Ireland.

 

http://www.fnci.ie/contact-us.html

 

Currently in store at Dublin Castle. Hopefully I will be able to obtain much better photographs in due course.

 

 

 

 

 

 

From the Dublin Penny Journal, 1835.

 

 

 

 

Press photograph of 20 May 1937.

George II St Stephen's Green, destroyed by an IRA bomb.

 

 

 

 

Another press photograph.

 

Reported in The Irish Times: “Early yesterday morning the statue of King George the second in St. Stephen’s Green Dublin was blown up by an explosive surreptitiously placed in position during the night. Only the day before the newly crowned King, and the Queen were driving through north London where they were received with great enthusiasm. Shortly after eight o’clock a deafening explosion shattered the quiet of St. Stephen’s Green, wrecking many windows in the surrounding houses and causing a good deal of distress among residents and passers-by. The bronze equestrian statue of King George the second and which stood in the centre of the Green since 1758 was blown to pieces and fragments of the granite were hurled thirty yards away.”