A little history on my grandfather's (great great great..) uncle's and cousin's......
Michael Gernon by 1822-1832, M. Gernon & Sons 1832-1836, James Gernon 1837-1851 or later. Dublin by 1818, 38 Dawson St, Dublin 1827, 17 College Green by 1830, 34 Molesworth St 1830-1840 or later, 35 Molesworth St by 1845-1851 or later,Royal Irish Institution House, College St 1835. Picture cleaners and restorers, picture valuers and auctioneers. John Gernon, 1 Grafton St 1837, 9 D’Olier St 1839-1840, 15 D’Olier St 1841, 8 D’Olier St 1845, 18 Lower Baggot St by 1851-1854.
This leading Dublin business, with a widespread and distinguished clientele, was founded by Michael Gernon (d.1832) and continued by his sons James and John. It undertook picture restoration and offered related services in valuing and auctioning pictures. ‘Gernon’ features as a buyer at several Dublin picture sales between 1818 and 1827 and in London in 1834 (Getty provenance index). Before that, whether connected or not, ‘M. Gernon’ was trading as a wholesale linen draper in Dublin in 1811.
In 1822 Michael Gernon was employed by Charles Cobbe to undertake restoration work on pictures and frames at Newbridge House, Co. Dublin. Michael Gernon was listed in Dublin directories as a picture cleaner and valuator in 1827 and 1830. His death was announced in 1832 (Freeman’s Journal 10 November 1832). A sale of his collection was held by his son, John, in January 1834 (Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’s painters: 1600-1940, 2002, p.61).
Gernon’s sons James and John advertised as his successors, trading in Dublin as M. Gernon & Sons at 34 Molesworth St and Royal Irish Institution House, College St, under the patronage of the Lord Lieutenant and the Royal Dublin Society, stating that they had the honour of doing business with numerous patrons in Ireland, 66 of whom they list including the Marquesses of Anglesey, Ely and Headfort, the Earls of Enniskillen, Leitrim and Portarlington, the Viscounts Harbertson and Lifford, Lords Dunsany, Rossmore, Massy, Fitzgerald & Vesey, Talbot de Malahide, Muskerry and Farnham, Lady Morgan, baronets Sir C.H. Coote, General Sir G. Cockburn, Sir Wm de Barthe, Sir Josias Rowley, Sir Compton Domvile, Sir Wm M. Somerville, Sir James Strong and Sir Percy F. Nugent, Members of Parliament Col. Percival, Col. Verner, E.J. Cooper and Thomas Wallace, as well as many others. They also advertised that they proposed to keep open a permanent gallery for exhibiting pictures, stating that they cleaned, lined and restored paintings and arranged collections. Intriguingly they featured ‘Two large Caravans, on Springs, for the safe conveyance of Pictures, &c. to any part of Ireland’ (The Dublin Almanac… for… 1835, Pettigrew and Oulton, Dublin, advertising supplement).
M. Gernon & Sons undertook work for one of Charles Cobbe’s neighbours in the 1830s, restoring Thomas Gainsborough’s Mrs Letitia Balfour (now Cobbe Collection), which is stamped, ‘M. Gernon & Sons/ Picture Cleaners &c &c/ 34 Molesworth St/ Dublin’ on both stretcher and frame.
When the partnership broke up in 1836 or 1837, James Gernon continued trading from Molesworth St, while his brother, John Gernon (c.1814-1854), moved elsewhere, advertising as an auctioneer, valuator and picture restorer from 1 Grafton St in 1837, and as an auctioneer from 9 D’Olier St in 1839 and 15 D’Olier St in 1841 (Freeman’s Journal 18 January 1837, 24 May 1839). He was made bankrupt in 1846 as a dealer in pictures (Freeman’s Journal 23 December 1846, 23 January 1847). In 1852 John Gernon, artist, was listed at 18 Lower Baggot St. He died at the age of 40 in 1854 (Freeman’s Journal 6 February 1854).
One of the Gernon family acted as an intermediary for the purchase of a set of mythological paintings by Gaetano Gandolfi for Dublin Castle in 1839 (Michael Wynne, 'Six Gaetano Gandolfis in Dublin Castle', Burlington Magazine, vol.141, 1999, p.352). James Gernon tendered his services to clean the paintings in the Mansion House in 1842 (Freeman’s Journal 7 December 1842).
Michael Gernon by 1822-1832, M. Gernon & Sons 1832-1836, James Gernon 1837-1851 or later. Dublin by 1818, 38 Dawson St, Dublin 1827, 17 College Green by 1830, 34 Molesworth St 1830-1840 or later, 35 Molesworth St by 1845-1851 or later,Royal Irish Institution House, College St 1835. Picture cleaners and restorers, picture valuers and auctioneers. John Gernon, 1 Grafton St 1837, 9 D’Olier St 1839-1840, 15 D’Olier St 1841, 8 D’Olier St 1845, 18 Lower Baggot St by 1851-1854.
This leading Dublin business, with a widespread and distinguished clientele, was founded by Michael Gernon (d.1832) and continued by his sons James and John. It undertook picture restoration and offered related services in valuing and auctioning pictures. ‘Gernon’ features as a buyer at several Dublin picture sales between 1818 and 1827 and in London in 1834 (Getty provenance index). Before that, whether connected or not, ‘M. Gernon’ was trading as a wholesale linen draper in Dublin in 1811.
In 1822 Michael Gernon was employed by Charles Cobbe to undertake restoration work on pictures and frames at Newbridge House, Co. Dublin. Michael Gernon was listed in Dublin directories as a picture cleaner and valuator in 1827 and 1830. His death was announced in 1832 (Freeman’s Journal 10 November 1832). A sale of his collection was held by his son, John, in January 1834 (Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin, Ireland’s painters: 1600-1940, 2002, p.61).
Gernon’s sons James and John advertised as his successors, trading in Dublin as M. Gernon & Sons at 34 Molesworth St and Royal Irish Institution House, College St, under the patronage of the Lord Lieutenant and the Royal Dublin Society, stating that they had the honour of doing business with numerous patrons in Ireland, 66 of whom they list including the Marquesses of Anglesey, Ely and Headfort, the Earls of Enniskillen, Leitrim and Portarlington, the Viscounts Harbertson and Lifford, Lords Dunsany, Rossmore, Massy, Fitzgerald & Vesey, Talbot de Malahide, Muskerry and Farnham, Lady Morgan, baronets Sir C.H. Coote, General Sir G. Cockburn, Sir Wm de Barthe, Sir Josias Rowley, Sir Compton Domvile, Sir Wm M. Somerville, Sir James Strong and Sir Percy F. Nugent, Members of Parliament Col. Percival, Col. Verner, E.J. Cooper and Thomas Wallace, as well as many others. They also advertised that they proposed to keep open a permanent gallery for exhibiting pictures, stating that they cleaned, lined and restored paintings and arranged collections. Intriguingly they featured ‘Two large Caravans, on Springs, for the safe conveyance of Pictures, &c. to any part of Ireland’ (The Dublin Almanac… for… 1835, Pettigrew and Oulton, Dublin, advertising supplement).
M. Gernon & Sons undertook work for one of Charles Cobbe’s neighbours in the 1830s, restoring Thomas Gainsborough’s Mrs Letitia Balfour (now Cobbe Collection), which is stamped, ‘M. Gernon & Sons/ Picture Cleaners &c &c/ 34 Molesworth St/ Dublin’ on both stretcher and frame.
When the partnership broke up in 1836 or 1837, James Gernon continued trading from Molesworth St, while his brother, John Gernon (c.1814-1854), moved elsewhere, advertising as an auctioneer, valuator and picture restorer from 1 Grafton St in 1837, and as an auctioneer from 9 D’Olier St in 1839 and 15 D’Olier St in 1841 (Freeman’s Journal 18 January 1837, 24 May 1839). He was made bankrupt in 1846 as a dealer in pictures (Freeman’s Journal 23 December 1846, 23 January 1847). In 1852 John Gernon, artist, was listed at 18 Lower Baggot St. He died at the age of 40 in 1854 (Freeman’s Journal 6 February 1854).
One of the Gernon family acted as an intermediary for the purchase of a set of mythological paintings by Gaetano Gandolfi for Dublin Castle in 1839 (Michael Wynne, 'Six Gaetano Gandolfis in Dublin Castle', Burlington Magazine, vol.141, 1999, p.352). James Gernon tendered his services to clean the paintings in the Mansion House in 1842 (Freeman’s Journal 7 December 1842).
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