An art Gallery in Dublin City is home to dozens of paintings by Ulster artist, Sir John Lavery, that portray most of the senior Irish and British political politicians during Ireland's war of independence.

The portraits, on display at The Hugh Lane Gallery in the center of Dublin, include King George IV and the royal family, Winston Churchill, England's prime minister at the time David Lloyd George, Northern Ireland's first prime minister, Lord Craigavon, IRA leader Michael Collins,  Irish parliamentary nationalist leader John Redmond and the unionist leader, Sir Edward Carson.

Lavery's paintings have been on display in the Ulster Museum up until they went south of the boarder last week.

An anecdote from the time has it that after Carson complained to Lavery that his portrait wasn't as flattering as Redmond.

Barbara Dawson, the director of the Hugh Lane Gallery said: "Now, they are hanging together in Dublin. But I think Redmond meant something else."

Jessica O'Donnell, the head of collections at the gallery, said he was an artist with a sense of the importance of history.

"As an artist you have to be able to put your sitters at ease.

"But for him it wasn't primarily about chasing commissions. He had a genuine interest in representing his own time."
The exhibition is running until the end of October

Lavery's wife, Hazel- an American- is said to have had an affair with Michael Collins during this period while her husband was busy painting.

Lavery also painted his wife as the mythical Kathleen Ni Houlihan, a symbol of Ireland, and her image featured for decades on Irish bank notes.