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138Section 5 
Belvedere College, 
1893—1898 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 Of Joyce's stay at the preparatory school, Belvedere College, we have only
meager records—two essays, some examination grades— though the
events of these five years form the central chapters of A Portrait. The Whitsuntide
play and the religious retreat took place here. At Belvedere Joyce distinguished
himself as a student, winning prize money in national competition. Here too,
as Kevin Sullivan points out in his study of Joyce Among the Jesuits (N.
Y., 1958), he was a dutiful member of the school Sodality. As the following
recollections indicate, he had already become something of a character. 
 Belvedere College, one of the finest of Dublin mansions, had been taken
over by the Jesuits for educational purposes, as had Clongowes Wood College.
BELVEDERE HOUSE' 
 Belvidere [sic] House, Great Denmark-street, faces North Gt. George's-street.
It is one of the finest old houses of Dublin, and contains magnificent, if
somewhat florid, stucco work. It was built about 1775 and is detached, with
a frontage of 80 feet, a cut stone basement and fine flight of steps. The
grand staircase is magnificently designed and richly decorated in stucco
of French design executed by Italian workmen. The three reception rooms on
the first floor are finely decorated. One—the music room—is dedicated
to Apollo who, with his attendants and musical instruments adorns the ceiling;
another to Diana has the objects of the chase (finely modelled), and the
third to Venus and the Arts. The grand organ in its S. Domingo mahogany case,
fine mahogany book-cases and old hail chairs are worth seeing. 
1. E. MacDowel Cosgrave and Leonard E. Strangways, The Dictionary of 
Dublin (Dublin: Sealy, Bryers & Walker, 1895), p. 126.