Organ Room, Carton, Maynooth, Co Kildare, 1891

Music was a vital entertainment and art form in many Irish big houses. At Carton, an organ was installed in 1857 in the two story eighteenth century saloon under the Francini brothers’ plasterwork ceiling representing “the Courtship of the Gods.” The organ’s Baroque-style case was designed by Lord Gerald Fitzgerald, second son of Augustus, 3rd Duke of Leinster.