Council of State Room
The Council of State Room is part of the original house, built in 1751, and is now generally used as a reception room. Originally a dining room, it had been fitted up as a billiard room in the 1840s. Its coved plaster ceiling, part-gilded and unusual in Ireland, is attributed to Bartholomew Cramillion, who introduced this Rococo style into Irish plasterwork in the mid-18th century. It has always been in the original Clements house and depicts scenes from Aesop’s Fables: on the long sides, the Fox and the Stork, while the vignettes on the short sides show the Fox and the Crow, and the Fox and the Grapes.
The couch and the chairs are replicas of Louis XIV furniture. The painting is of the first meeting of the Council of State, the President’s advisory body, presided over by Douglas Hyde in 1940 and is by Simon Coleman RHA. The other oil paintings in this room are 18th and 19th century landscapes on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland.
