Napoleon on the HMS Bellerophon, and in 1970s Co. Longford

"This antique print (c1900) of the painting “The surrender of Napoleon to Great Britain” once hung in my grandfather’s hallway in Ratharney, Co Longford. As a little boy visiting in the 1970s, I used to gaze up in fascination at it, not only at Napoleon, but also the chastened officers and the disrespectful British sailor’s behind. Bought as respectable decoration for an ordinary Irish midlands house in the early 20th century, it is now in my library in my house in Dublin. It testifies to how ordinary objects gain and carry new meanings and memories through time, irrespective of what they seemingly represent. "