Art and Architecture of Ireland, Volume II: Painting 1600-1900

Art and Architecture of Ireland is an authoritative and fully illustrated survey that encompasses the period from the early Middle Ages to the end of the 20th century. The five volumes explore all aspects of Irish art – from high crosses to installation art, from illuminated manuscripts to Georgian houses and Modernist churches, from tapestries and sculptures to oil paintings, photographs and video art. This monumental project provides new insights into every facet of the strength, depth and variety of Ireland’s artistic and architectural heritage.

PAINTING 1600-1900

The volume is divided into two sections. The first contains thematic essays, ranging widely from exhibiting practices to the social history of Irish art, revealing how pictures were produced, acquired and traded in Ireland. The varied texts reflect the decision to be inclusive in determining ‘Irishness’ - the volume considers painters born in Ireland who spent their careers abroad, as well as visiting artists to Ireland.

The second section is devoted to biographical entries, largely based on W.G. Strickland’s biographies of artists (Dublin and London, 1913), but updated to include extensive recent research. More than 300 entries provide information on Irish painters of the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a critical period that saw the development of easel painting, patronage, the exploration of antiquarianism and a search for the pictorial expression of national identity. The biographies offer a rich compendium of Irish experience; while some of the artists lived with worldly success and fame, others suffered disappointment and failure.

All the entries are based on original research, much of it undertaken in hitherto unexplored archives. It seems appropriate given Ireland’s economic, political and social history, that the story told by this volume is one of exodus, exchange and international endeavour.