From 23^rd September to late November, the IGS is hosting Stepping Through the Gate: Inside Ireland's Walled Gardens. Click here to learn more.

Cappoquin House, County Waterford

Andrea Jameson (Stepping through the Gate, Inside Ireland’s Walled Gardens)

Perched high above the Blackwater river and home to the Keane family since 1735, the present house at Cappoquin was built in the late 1700s on the site of an older FitzGerald castle. The building was gutted by after being attacked by anti-Treaty forces in February 1923; fortunately, then-owner Sir John Keane had been expecting such an assault on his property and had removed many of the house's contents. He immediately embarked on a restoration program, completed towards the end of the decade. The old gardens, however, were neglected and it was only after Sir John's son Richard inherited the estate n 1956 that his wife Olivia turned her attention to the grounds.

Running to some six acres, Cappoquin's gardens are in two parts, the lower being around the house which today was a wide terrace immediately in front of the façade offering views down to the local town and river; prior to the 1923 fire, this had been a carriage sweep. Since in turn inheriting from his father in 2010, Sir Charles Keane the present owner had undertaken further work here, clearing parts of the lower garden to allow for fresh planting, and more glimpses of the surrounding countryside. The land rises steadily behind the house, providing an opportunity amply exploited by Sir Charles and his gardener Mark Windross to create a further series of 'rooms', each with its own distinctive character. Their planting has particularly focused on making sure there is something to see throughout the year, and not just in late Spring/early Summer. Nevertheless, the upper garden is notable during those seasons both for its fine trees, including a fine oak and a Southern Maple raised from seed by Olivia Keane, and for the rich colours of magnolia, camellia, azalea and rhododendron.

Robert O'Byrne

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Almina - Gerald Leslie Brockhurst RA RE English , 1890-1978) 1924 | Etching | Trial Proof | Signed & with signature in reverse on the plate| Elected ARE & RE 1921 | Elected ARA 1928, RA 1937

Among the awards Brockhurst won as a student at the RA Schools was a travelling scholarship to Italy in 1913. Portraits from the Italian Renaissance and Mannerist Schools were amongst lifelong influences on his highly finished representational work, his delight in chiaroscuro and the capturing of the textural qualities of different fabrics. Echoes of Brockhurst’s idols: Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Piero della Francesca emerge in his etchings. This etching portrays the artist’s first wife, Anais, a Basque who was Brockhurst’s principal muse until he met his second wife, Dorette. This work was exhibited at the RA and RE in 1924.

The sheet of this particular impression bears three strokes penciled by the artist in the lower right hand corner though not visible when the print is framed. These formed a personal ranking system Brockhurst put in place for his etchings: one, two or three strokes would be placed on the impressions he considered to be particularly well printed. Three strokes were for the ones he thought the most exceptional.

Edward Twohig RE (Fellow)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON 'PRINT REBELS'

'Print REbels' at the City Assembly House would not have been possible with the financial support of Northern Trust (Ireland), the Heritage Council and Camilla McAleese.

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From 23^rd September to late November, the IGS is hosting Stepping Through the Gate: Inside Ireland's Walled Gardens. Click here to learn more.

Annes Grove, County Cork

Alison Rosse (Stepping through the Gate, Inside Ireland's Walled Gardens)

The Grove family came to Annes Grove in 1628, and almost 140 years later the heiress Mary Grove married Francis Annesley (later first Earl Annesley), so that the estate here derives from an elision of the couples surname's. The house was probably built around the time of the marriage, although they lived in County Down so Annes Grove was rented to the Aldworth family; when agronomist Arthur Young visited in 1776, he commented that Mrs Aldworth 'has ornamented a beautiful glen, which winds behind the house, in a manner that does honour her taste.' By the early 19th century; the property was occupied by the Grove Annesley family who continued to live here until recently. Each of them further enhanced a landscape on which Mrs Aldworth had already left her mark, most of all Richard Grove Annesley who lived here for some six decades until his death in 1966. He was responsible for transforming the land behind the house where the river Awbeg widens to create an island; both this, and the grounds on either side are of them sent from expeditions to the Himalayas and elsewhere. The old walled garden to one side of the house was likewise remodelled, with a series of 'rooms' created through the use of tall beech and yew hedges, so that the character of each space retains a clear and different identity. This area is a present benefitting from extensive restoration, since responsibility for Annes Grove has now passed to the Office of Public Works.

Robert O’Byrne

The Irish Georgian Society is most grateful to Susan Burke and her late husband Coley who were the inspiration for and provided generous funding for these exhibitions. We also wish to thank the Apollo Foundation, Northern Trust Corporation, Beth Dater, Sheila O’Malley Fuchs, Hindman Auctions, Kay and the late Fred Krehbiel, Jay & Silvia Krehbiel, Frank Saul, John & Nonie Sullivan, Robert & Gloria Turner, and The Heritage Council.

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The Omval. Rembrandt van Rijn (Dutch, 1606-1669), 1645, printed in 2011 | Etching & Drypoint | Holl 209, H 210

If one looks closely one can see a courting couple in the bushes; the boy is crowning his maiden with a garland of flowers. In Rembrandt's time the Omval was a rural area at a bend in the River Amstel where residents of Amsterdam would often fo for a pleasant day out. On the extreme right is the dark mouth of a brick culvert. Sailing boats are moored near some houses. A group is being rowed across the Amstel in a boat with a canopy. The main feature of the etching, however, is a gnarled willow. In its shadow sits the hidden couple.

In the 19th century, connoisseurs and collectors took renewed interest in Rembrandt's wonderfully observed etchings of vilage and river scenes made around Amsterdam. The Omval inspired Haden to expore drypoint technique and begin a series of Thames Views. This project on which (before they fell out) he intended to collaborate with Whistler, was the origin, together with Mreyon's Eaux-Fortes sur Paris, of Whistler's Thames Set.

Edward Twohig RE (Fellow)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON 'PRINT REBELS'

'Print REbels' at the City Assembly House would not have been possible with the financial support of Northern Trust (Ireland), the Heritage Council and Camilla McAleese.

Read more

From 23^rd September to late November, the IGS is hosting Stepping Through the Gate: Inside Ireland's Walled Gardens. Click here to learn more.

Birr Castle, County Offaly

Alison Rosse (Stepping through the Gate, Inside Ireland’s Walled Gardens)

Located on the edge of a town, but within a 150 acre demesne Birr Castle has been home to the Parsons family, later Earls of Rosse, since 1620. While earlier generations had created gardens, much of what is seen and admired today is due to the sixth Earl of Rosse and his wife. He inherited the estate at an early age, and while still young began to travel to the Far East, bringing back seeds and plants for Birr; their presence has helped to make the gardens one of the most important in Ireland, home to an abundance of rare trees and shrubs. Following their marriage in 1935, the Rosses both devoted much time to this project, but also to other areas of the demesne. Inside part of the old walled kitchen garden, they laid out a box parterre, the centerpiece of which is a pair of intertwined Rs, the Rococo design of which is echoed by a pair of large stone urns that came from Bavaria. Around the perimeter of the parterre, a horn beam allée was installed. This might have led to an enclosed, flat-roofed tunnel, but the Rosses encouraged the overhead branches to curve upwards. In addition, arched ‘windows’ were cut on the side that opened onto the parterre, thereby creating views across the space and encouraging greater circulation of light: Alison Rosse’s painting shows a view down the length of one of the hornbeam allées, each of which concludes with a classical statue within an arbour planted with roses. One of the delights of the gardens at Birr Castle is that they continue to be a work in progress, one to which the present Earl of Rosse has devoted much of the past forty years. Every year brings fresh initiatives, underlining the fact that gardens are living organisms which respond best to ongoing developments.

Robert O’Byrne

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‘Poppies and Downs by Kingston, near Lewes in East Sussex’ by Robert Tavener RE (English, 1920-2004) | October 1972 | Coloured linocut | Signed | Elected ARE 1966, RE 1973

Whether images of boats, Buckingham Palace guardsmen in their distinctive bearskin helmets, English cathedrals or rolling landscapes, Robert Tavener's original prints are varied, rhythmical and colourful. In 1997 Tavener described his prints as representing: “English Countryside and English architecture. Shape, pattern, colour, texture, design. In other words, my subject matter is a personal interpretation of the richness, variety, beauty, and the underlying relationship with the past, of our landscape and buildings”.

Much of Tavener’s work celebrates the sinuous lines of the South Downs and Sussex countryside depicted in lithographs, linocuts, woodcuts and screenprints. Tavener was Head of Printmaking at Eastbourne College of Art from 1953, later becoming Vice-Principal until his retirement in 1980. Tavener lived, for 50 years, in the same home in Eastbourne at the foot of the South Downs, within a landscape that inspired many of his distinctive prints.

Edward Twohig RE (Fellow)

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO ON 'PRINT REBELS'

'Print REbels' at the City Assembly House would not have been possible with the financial support of Northern Trust (Ireland), the Heritage Council and Camilla McAleese.

Read more