The State Ballroom, in St. Patrick's Hall, Dublin Castle

We know so little abbout the artist F. J. Davis, who is identified only by initials, that we are unsure even of gender. Davis' painting portrays the State Ballroom of Dublin Castle after it was renovated in the eighteenth-century reconstruction of the building and renamed St. Patrick's Hall. As the seat of imperial rule, the castle was, depending on one's perspective, the respected center of social and government life or a symbol of domination. The lord lieutenant, the king's representative, spent winters in the State Apartments, where he staged lavish social events. The lord lieutenant presiding when Davis recorded this scene, held weekly balls to present young ladies to society. Such extravagant social occasions continued uninterrupted throughout the years of the Great Famine, 1845-1850, when over 1.5 million Irish died of starvation or disease. As the painting shows, among the Ascendancy, the dancing continued, nonetheless.