Irish Art from 1800 - 1850

Paper Summary:

This paper describes the social, political and economic conditions in Ireland, between 1800 and 1850, that influenced Irish art of that era. The paper explains that Irish art at that time was significantly influenced by Ireland's push for independence and the great potato famine and that these two events helped move Irish art away from an emphasis on classical motifs and towards an emphasis Celtic motifs.

From the Paper:

"Maria Edgeworth, a novelist, also could be assumed to have had a hand in altering the pictorial content of Irish art from the neoclassical, if somewhat infused with Celtic motifs, to the shamelessly Romantic. Edgeworth, born in 1798, was born in England but came as a very young child to Ireland. She died in 1848; her working period, therefore, coincided perfectly with the change from the Ascendancy and classicism to a more Romantic view of the world. "Her novels Castle Rackrent and Ennui (1809) feature plots in which peasants reclaim Irish land." In the paintings favored by the Ascendancy, the subject matter was more likely to be the Ascendancy, or its horses, dogs and fine houses, all done in a neoclassical style with the addition of some Celtic symbolism, particularly as it was the Ascendancy that had worked to popularize four motifs; the shamrock, the Irish wolfhound, the harp, and Brian Boru's Tara brooch."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cork Art History, Crawford Gallery, undated. Accessed 17 November 2005 at http://www.crawfordartgallery.com/1826-1850.html
• Edmonds, Richard. Antiques and collecting: When the Irish devotees illuminated Christian works; Richard Edmonds discovers the history and romance of Irish painting. The Birmingham Post (England), (2002, December 28). Database online. Accessed 17 November 2005 at www.highbeam.com.
• Foster, Sarah. Buying Irish: consumer nationalism in 18th-century Dublin. History Today, 1997 (June 1). Database online. Accessed 17 November 2005 at www.highbeam.com.
• Ledes, Allison Eckhardt. An Irish collection travels. The Magazine Antiques (1997, June 1). Database online. Accessed 17 November 2005 at www.highbeam.com.
• Maria Edgeworth Main Biography. Accessed 17 November 2005 at http://www.bookrags.com/biography-maria-edgeworth

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