Revolution! 1916 – Public Art Trail. Artistic responses to the 1916 Rising
For our Future
This painting gives us a good view of the destruction that central Dublin witnessed. The background scene illustrates the heavily damaged buildings on the corner of Sackville street and Eden Quay. Much of the destruction to these buildings was caused by fires that broke out in the first days of the Rising. Upper Sackville Street was destroyed by these fires and lower Sackville Street and Eden Quay were destroyed by artillery fire. More than 32 buildings and 62 businesses were destroyed in central Dublin. Set against this background of destruction are images of the children of the Rising and civilians scavenging for fuel burning wood. The general poverty of the people of Dublin is displayed by both the collecting of wood and the lack of footwear on the children’s feet. 264 civilians died in the Rising more deaths than military fatalities. In the top right corner of the painting we can see in detail the civilians of Dublin going about their daily business amid British army checkpoints and a rubble strewn urban landscape.
The first child killed in the Rising was the 2 year old infant Sean Foster, whose father was from Ballymore Eustace in Co. Kildare. Some 40 children under the age of 18 lost their lives in the Easter Rising.
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