1670s, commissioned by Colonel John Eyre for Eyrecourt (County Galway, Ireland). 1927, Eyrecourt sale (L. Taylor Auctioneers)

(White, Allom & Company). William Randolph Hearst

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

1958-present, gift to the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

De Breffny, B. & R. Ffolliott. The Houses of Ireland: Domestic Architecture from the Medieval Castle to the Edwardian Villa. London, 1975, p. 61. Gantz, I. Signpost to Eyrecourt. Bath, 1975, p. 110, (fig. 8-9 ill.) [mentions Dutch workmanship]. Harbison, P., H. Potterton and J. Sheehy. Irish Art and Architecture from Prehistory to the Present. London, 1978, p. 130, (figs. 109 & 125 ill.). Loeber, R. "Early Classicism in Ireland: Architecture before the Georgian Era," Architectural History 22 (1979): p. 57, (figs. 7a-7b ill.). Bence-Jones, M. A Guide to Irish Country Houses. London 1988, p. 122 (ill.). O'Connell. J. & R. Loeber. "Eyrecourt Castle, Co. Galway," Irish Art Review Yearbook (1988): pp. 45-46; (figs. 5-6, 8-11 ill.). Fitz-Gerald, D. "Vanishing Country Houses of Ireland," Apollo (February 1989): pp. 92-94; p. 93 (ill.). Banham, J., ed. Encyclopedia of Interior Design, vol. 1. London, 1997, p. 613 (ill.). Gallagher, B. "William Randolph Hearst and the Detroit Institute of Arts," Bulletin of the DIA 78, nos. 1/2 (2004): p. 57, (figs. 3 & 4 ill.); p. 64. The Knight of Glin and J. Peill. Irish Furniture: Woodwork and Carving in Ireland from the Earliest Times to the Act of Union. New Haven & London, 2007, pp. 28-29, 303; (fig. 20 ill.). Harris, J. Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages. New Haven, 2007. Cronin, J. "A Gentleman of a Good Family and Fortune: John Eyre of Eyrecourt 1640-1685," Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society v. 60 (2008): p. 88-115. Mulligan, Kevin V. “The Realm of the Irish Country House.” In Ireland: Crossroads of Art and Design, 1690-1840. Edited by William Laffan and Christopher Monkhouse with Leslie Fitzpatrick. Chicago, 2015, pp. 97-98 (fig. 1). Roy, James Charles. "William Randolph Hearst & the Eyrecourt Staircase." Journal of the Galway Archaeological and Historical Society 69 (2017): 165–194, pp. 166, 173, 190 (ill.).

Image copyright Detroit Institute of Arts

Irish, Staircase from Eyrecourt Castle, late 17th century, elm, oak, and pine. Detroit Institute of Arts, Gift of the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and the Hearst Foundation, Inc., 58.259.