For almost the past half-century Russborough House in Co Wicklow has been home to Lady Beit and her late husband, Sir Alfred, who died seven years ago.
After purchasing the property in 1952, the Beits filled it with their collection of furniture, objets d'art and paintings. A number of the last of these have been stolen from the house twice previously. Despite these assaults, the couple continued to live in Russborough where in 1976 they established the Alfred Beit Foundation under which Russborough and its contents became part of Ireland's national heritage. In 1987 they also gave 17 of their finest pictures to the National Gallery of Ireland. Many of these works had been taken from the building during earlier robberies, the first in 1974. On that occasion an IRA gang, including the British heiress Dr Rose Dugdale, stole 19 paintings estimated at the time to be worth £8 million. During the raid, both Sir Alfred and Lady Beit were bound and gagged. All the pictures were later found in a cottage in Glandore, Co Cork, and returned to Russborough, while those responsible for the robbery were caught and jailed.
Twelve years later, in May 1986, a 13-member gang of Dublin criminals headed by Martin Cahill, known as the General, stole 18 works from Russborough, including a number which had been taken in the first incident.
It was believed that Cahill had been advised what to take since only the most valuable pictures were removed, including Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter, the Portrait of Dona Antonia Zarate by Goya and Gabriel Metsu's Young Man Writing a Letter. Another was the Gainsborough Portrait of Madame Bacelli which has now been stolen for a third time.
At the time of the 1986 theft the total value of the paintings was estimated at £30 million at least. However, because the collection was so well known, the thieves found it difficult to offload, even on the international market.
A number of the pictures were discovered close to Russborough soon after the burglary, and in following years more resurfaced and were brought back to Ireland: the companion to Metsu's Young Man Writing a Letter was found in Istanbul in 1990; the Gainsborough portrait of Madame Bacelli turned up near Euston Station in London two years later; and in September 1993 four of the most valuable items were recovered in Belgium.
The following year, Martin Cahill was shot dead in Dublin. Three of the 18 pictures he took from Russborough in 1986 remain untraced: a pair of Venetian scenes by Guardi and a head of a man by Rubens. It would have been understandable if, following the two burglaries, the Beits had chosen to leave this State, particularly since they had no association with Ireland before moving here in the early 1950s.
Born in England in 1903, Sir Alfred was the son of Otto Beit who, with his older brother, had amassed a fortune from diamond- and gold-mining in South Africa. Sir Otto Beit, who died in 1930, assembled an important art collection which was inherited and enhanced by his heir.
First elected a British MP in 1931, Sir Alfred would be appointed parliamentary private secretary to the Colonial Secretary in 1944. Five years earlier, he had married Clementine Freeman-Mitford.
In the years after the second World War, the Beits resolved to leave London and might have settled in South Africa had they not so disliked that country's politics of apartheid. Instead, in 1952 Sir Alfred saw Russborough House advertised for sale in Country Life magazine and bought the estate by telegram.
Russborough's fate during the first half of the 20th century had looked extremely uncertain. One of Ireland's most magnificent Palladian houses, it was built on a site outside Blessington to the designs of Richard Castle for the Dublin brewer Joseph Leeson, afterwards first Earl of Milltown.
When nearing completion in 1748, Russborough was already being described as "a noble new house forming into perfection". More recently, the historian Mark Bence-Jones has written that it is "arguably the most beautiful house in Ireland."
Extending to 700 feet, it has the longest facade of any house in the country, while the interior contains superb rococo stucco work executed by the Francini brothers, as well as an abundance of original mahogany door-cases.
The drawing room decoration includes a series of oval marine scenes painted by Vernet which had been sold out of the house at the start of the last century but were traced to the United States, bought by the Beits and reinstated in Russborough.
The first earl of Milltown and his son were both notable collectors of art, travelling to Italy to purchase items for their Wicklow home. However, the sixth and last earl had no direct heir and so in 1902 his widow donated most of the house's contents to the National Gallery of Ireland where they continue to form an important part of that institution's collection.
Russborough was subsequently inherited by a nephew of the earl who in turn sold it to Capt Denis Daly; it was from the latter that the Beits bought the house, by then in need of thorough refurbishment. Once settled in Ireland, the Beits immersed themselves in the country's cultural life. For a number of years Sir Alfred was president of the Wexford Festival Opera, and both he and his wife were members of the board of governors and guardians of the National Gallery of Ireland.
Since the couple had no children, a quarter of a century ago they decided to leave Russborough to the State, setting up a foundation to ensure the survival of the house and its contents. They moved into a wing of the building, the main rooms of which are open to the public. Even before most of the paintings from the 1986 raid had been recovered, the Beits announced their intention to donate these to the National Gallery of Ireland, along with works by Frans Hals, Van Ruisdael and Velazquez.
There they remain, although a series of Murillo canvases depicting the parable of the Prodigal Son are returned to Russborough each summer. They are in the house at present, along with a number of other pictures which have been temporarily lent to the house by the gallery. None of these works was taken in yesterday's raid. In the years since her husband's death, Lady Beit has continued to live at Russborough, dividing her time between the house and a second home in London.