DUBLIN.- The National Gallery in Dublin presents the exhibit The RDS Taylor Prize. Since its inception in the eighteenth century, the Royal Dublin Society (RDS) played an important role in educating young artists. As part of their commitment to the arts, a scholarship was established with the aid of a donation by Captain A Taylor. Today, the Taylor Prize continues to be one of the most important awards available to artists, and this show is the Gallery's contribution to the 275th anniversary celebrations of the RDS. As well as exhibiting examples of prize-winning works from the Gallery's own collection (by artists such as Patrick Tuohy and Leo Whelan), the show will include pieces by Walter Osborne and Seán Keating, as well as by established contemporary artists.

On 14 June 1731, 14 men met in Trinity College to form the Dublin Society (the “Royal” prefix was only added in 1821) to promote “husbandry, manufactures and other useful arts and sciences”.

For the next 200 years the society was to lead a rather nomadic existence until the penultimate move to Leinster House in 1814. When the Dublin Science and Art Museums Act of 1877 transferred control of the Library, Museum, Botanical Gardens and School of Art from the Society to the Government the compensation money was used to lease 15 acres in Ballsbridge. From 1881 the Spring and Horse Shows were held there.

The Agricultural Hall was removed from Kildare Street and re-erected in Ballsbridge to become the South Hall. Further building and land acquisition took place which reached a peak following the arrival of all the RDS departments after the Free State Government commandeered Leinster House in 1923.

The 1950s saw much needed expansion across the Simmonscourt Road which culminated in 1972 with the purchase of the Masonic Girls' Orphanage (now part of Bewley's Hotel) and its adjoining land. The gigantic 3½ acre (1.4 hectare) Simmonscourt Pavilion dates from 1974. This structure is surmounted by a weathervane representing the legendary Arkle ridden by Pat Taffe. The Showgrounds are still the home to the fashionable International Horse Show every August.