19.06.2018, 13:00 P.M.

Ireland’s demesnes, or gentleman's parks, were the precursors of the Irish tourist routes. Landscape paintings, once corralled within demesne walls, adjusted their focus to the wider landscape where their facility for framing picturesque views helped to position Ireland for the tourist. The progression is particularly evident in the career and work of Jonathan Fisher, an able landscape painter and early advocate of engraved views and the much wider public they could seduce. James Arthur O'Connor's views and prospects of the Sligo estates in the early nineteenth century changed perceptions of the west of Ireland. This lecture will use the exhibition's paintings to illuminate the art history of Irish tourism.

Professor Finola O’Kane Crimmins is a landscape historian, architect and conservation specialist at University College Dublin's School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy. In 2017 she was elected a member of the Royal Irish Academy.

Image: 'A View of the Lake of Killarney, from Lord Kenmare's Park', Johnathan Fisher (1735-1809). Private Collection.