Internationally renowned stained-glass artist, Harry Clarke, will get his own museum if Dublin City Council has its way.
A deal is being worked out with Bord Fáilte to locate the museum on Parnell Square.
If all goes according to plan, The Harry Clarke Museum of Stained Glass could be opened to the public in 2026.
The council wants to use the former premises of the Dublin Writers' Museum, which is appropriate.
Harry Clarke was also known for his stark black and white illustrations of books by Goethe, Hans Christian Andersen and Edgar Allen Poe.
But it is for his strikingly original stained glass designs that he remains best known.
The six windows he made for Bewley’s Café on Grafton Street in Dublin have an estimated value of €1m, and were recently the subject of a legal dispute.
But many regard his greatest achievement to be the Geneva Window, commissioned by the Irish Free State, but decried for its alleged indecency.
The masterwork ultimately found a home at the Wolfsonian Museum in Miami.
Dublin-born Clarke, who died in 1931 aged 41, is regarded as one of the twentieth century's greatest stained glass artists with examples of his work found in the UK, the US, Australia, as well as many in Ireland, most of them in churches.
Dublin City Council already owns a collection of Clarke’s works including one of his most famous pieces, Eve of St Agnes.
Private owners are willing to loan windows to the new museum, while the artist’s descendants are also supportive of the project.
The council’s assistant arts officer, Margarita Cappock, said Clarke’s pioneering techniques and brilliant execution of stained glass panels had earned him a global reputation.
"His skill and unique vision is unsurpassed and his art is instantly recognisable because of its outstanding originality," said Ms Cappock.
