National Gallery of Ireland

When the National Gallery of Ireland opened in 1864, its collection comprised just 112 pictures, 30 of which were on loan. Following many years of acquisitions and generous bequests, the museum’s eclectic collection now holds some 16,000 artworks, including around 2,500 oil paintings, 10,000 drawings and prints, as well as sculpture, furniture and other works of art. One of the major highlights is Caravaggio's “The Taking of Christ,” 1602, a painting that was long considered lost or destroyed prior to its rediscovery in 1990 in a Jesuit house of studies in Dublin. The picture has been on indefinite loan to the gallery from the Jesuit fathers since 1993. Another standout is one of the most comprehensive collections of Dutch and Flemish artworks in Ireland, featuring Johannes Vermeer, Gabriel Metsu, Jan Steen, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens and Rembrandt. Although the museum holds an impressive collection of 31 watercolors by J.M.W. Turner, visitors can only see them each year in January due to a stipulation by the donor Henry Vaughan in 1900 meant to safeguard the works from the ill-effects of sunlight.