The Stapleton Collection: Designs For The Irish Neoclassical Interior

Tralee, Ireland: Churchhill House Press, 2007. Hardcover. New/Sealed. light blue cloth boards. 349 pgs w/ illustrations. pictorial dustjacket. Michael Stapleton (1747-1801) was the most skilled stuccodor working in the neoclassical or ‘Adam' style that dominated Dublin interior decoration in the final decades of the eighteenth century. Although the astonishing quality and variety of Dublin's eighteenth-century decorative plasterwork has long been celebrated, this is the first full length exploration of Stapleton's work. It publishes for the first time the remarkable collection of drawings from his workshop which are held at the National Library of Ireland. Conor Lucey's study of Stapleton's career presents new research drawn from a broad range of sources and examines the collection of designs within the broader context of neoclassical stuccowork in Dublin, considering it as evidence for the late eighteenth-century plastering trade in general. Working outside of the established guilds, by virtue of his Catholic faith, Stapleton created one of the most successful decorating and house-building practices in Dublin of the period and designs for many of the city's most notable late eighteenth-century interiors are included here, including studies for Trinity College, Belvedere House and Powerscourt House. Over the years Stapleton's name has been erroneously attached to many Irish interiors with which he had no involvement. This important publication attempts to define more closely the nature of his decorative neoclassicism, and establish his oeuvre more accurately. More generally, its offers a fascinating account of the many forces at play in how the Irish Georgian interior was created.---.