Harry Clarke museum

Let there be light

Sir, – I was delighted to read of the proposal to open a Harry Clarke museum in Dublin (“Harry Clarke stained-glass museum proposed for Dublin’s Parnell Square”, News, July 19th). I do hope that it will include the 18 stained-glass windows taken from Belcamp College chapel and currently in storage with Fingal County Council. They are true masterpieces and a perfect illustration of the development of his style circa 1926. The late Nicola Gordon Bowe mentions them in her book Harry Clarke: The Life and Work. In a conversation before her death, she said she hoped a suitable home would be found where we could all enjoy them. – Yours, etc,

JOY POWELL,

Tallaght,

Dublin 24.

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Sir, – The establishment of a Harry Clarke gallery by Dublin City Council is welcome. However, Mass-goers will need to wear an extra layer or two as they congregate in windowless churches where so much of his work is installed.

Perhaps we may see the “Geneva Window” (on loan from the Wolfsonian Museum in Florida). The work was commissioned by the Irish government as a gift to the newly established International Labour Court in Geneva but was rejected by the government as unsuitable because it contained a naked figure. Having spent some time at Government Buildings, the window was bought back by Clarke’s widow and eventually made its way to Florida. Perhaps it’s time to attempt to buy it back. – Yours, etc,

MARION WALSH,

Dublin 4.