It was created in the long shadow of the Irish War of Independence (1919-21) when, during the truce of 11 July 1921, members of the No. 2 (North) Cork Brigade visited the artist’s Dublin studio. Keating would later remark: ‘They trooped in, dressed and armed very much as they must have been on many an ambush.’

This exhibition will place Men of the South in context and seek to draw out stories of the individuals depicted, the wider theatre of war, and the circumstances surrounding the making of a masterpiece. This centenary exhibition invites visitors to reflect upon the power of art to shape or reshape our histories, with an eye to posterity and bearing witness to lives and events ‘as they must have been’.