Margaret Becker

My print illustrates the recorded event which took place every day during the assault by the volunteers on the British who were occupying the Shelbourne Hotel. At a given hour all warfare ceased in order that the ducks might be fed.

'Animal Magic', Etching

Works in Stained Glass and Printmaking. Founded the Leinster Print Studio 1998. Works to commission for stained glass both ecclesiastical and domestic from her studio in Clane Co.Kildare.

www.leinsterprintstudio.com

My print illustrates a recorded event which took place every day

during the assault by the Volunteers in St. Stephen’s Green on the British who were occupying the Shelbourne Hotel. At a given hour all warfare ceased in order that the ducks might be fed.

When the fighting took place between the Volunteers and the British army, the Volunteers were in St. Stephen’s Green and the British soldiers were in command of the Shelbourne Hotel. The British army snipers were positioned on the roof tops and in the windows of the hotel while the Volunteers dug trenches in the Green and engaged the enemy from this position.

Meanwhile, the Keeper of St. Stephen’s Green continued to feed the ducks who made their home on the pond in the green. They were fed every day at a given hour. The marvellous keeper who performed this duty ignored all the warfare and dutifully fed the ducks at the appointed hour every day during the battle. It is said that both sides honoured this occasion by stopping the shooting while the ducks were being fed. Hopefully they thrived as alas many of the combatants didn’t.

Such is war, the sensibility of animals or the power of nature!