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Popular Culture Review
for the new bank notes. Modeled on his wife, Lady Hazel Lavery, and
depicted in Irish national costume, the popular image of Lady Lavery
appeared on the first note series (1928) and continued to feature on Irish
national currency into the 1970s. She appears in several profiles; one
includes her arm resting on an Irish harp.
The Central Bank of Ireland, £1 note. Hazel Lavery as Cathleen ni Houlihan.
Lavery’s biographer notes, “As if in reaction to his services to the
Empire, Sir John and Lady Lavery ‘rediscovered’ a somewhat
romanticized version of their Irish roots during the 1920s; but this led to
a genuine engagement with the topical question of Home Rule, and
Lavery painted several portraits of Irish Republican figures [...]”
(McConkey). The folk costume, national instrument, and landscape all
contribute to national idealizations of Irishness, distinct features of Irish
cultural heritage that distinguished Ireland from England, whose
currency was standard before independce.
The selection of national “heroes” on currency is fairly
mainstream. South Africa’s currency includes former president Nelson
Mandela^ on the front of the RIO, R20, R50, RlOO, and R200 notes; the
backs of the notes promote the so called “Big Five” national animals.^
Similarly, in 1996 India’s Rupee banknotes began featuring Mahatma
Ghandi, India’s premier nationalist leader for independence from Britain;
the banknotes have since replaced all other legal tender currency in India.