10.12.2024, 18:30 P.M.
19th century Bird’s Eye Views of Dublin: where Art and Mapping meet by Arran Henderson, Dublin Decoded tour guide.
This is the tenth and final talk in the Irish Georgian Society and Dublin City Council's talk series, Depicting Dublin: understanding Dublin’s architecture, urban morphology and social history through maps, prints, drawings and photographs.
ABSTRACT: The 19th century saw at least two, highly ambitious attempts to depict the entire city of Dublin from a largely imaginary, but highly elevated “bird’s eye” perspective. Each of these two artworks was initially published, in supplement form, by a London newspaper, each has since become a prized collector’s item. Over 130 years later, what can these images by Henry William Brewer and John Smyth now tell us about the Victorian city of Dublin, its geography, monuments and grand public buildings? And what can they tell us about the ideas, thinking and the nature of artistic production behind such images?
BIOGRAPHY: Arran Henderson is a graduate of Art History at Oxford Brooks, with time also spent studying at the University of Rhode Island, the Dublin Institute of Technology (now TUD) and Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design Dublin, and Central Saint Martin’s College of Art London (with further art history studies at Trinity College Dublin). He has written on various aspects of art history and material culture for a wide range of publications including The Irish Art Review. Arran these days runs the walking tour firm Dublin Decoded, which specialises in art and architectural tours, for the IGS and other public and private bodies.
IMAGE: Birds Eye view of Dublin (detail) by John Smyth, 1846, published in the London Illustrated News. This detail shows the former Portobello Pleasure Gardens
Talks take place at 6.30pm in the Irish Georgian Society's City Assembly House, 58 South William Street, Dublin 2. Talk subscribers can also choose to watch the talks live online. A zoom link to watch the talk live will be issued the day before each talk. Additionally, all talk subscribers will be issued with a recording of the talk the day after, which they can watch for a further two-week period.
Attendance at the talk is recognised by the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland as formal CPD (1 point per hour long talk). The IGS will issue CPD certs at the end of the talk series.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS: This talk is part of the Irish Georgian Society's Conservtion Education Programme which is supported by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The Society also wishes to thank Dublin City Council's Heritage Office for partnering on this talk series, and The Heritage Council for their support of the Irish Georgian Society.
If you are interested in other talks relating to architecture, check out the Ireland Architecture Diary.
