Francis Place
, English, 1647-1728
Title
Kilkenny Castle and City from Wind Gap HillDatec.1699
MediumBlack and brown ink, graphite and wash on paper
Dimensions
27.7 × 64 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1972 (Shaw Fund)
Object numberNGI.7523
DescriptionFrancis Place’s views are important as they are among the earliest accurate recordings of the Irish landscape. Born in County Durham in the north of England, Place was friendly with and was influenced by the work of the Bohemian etcher Wenceslaus Hollar. He lived in York for most of his life. Place pursued a variety of interests: collecting curiosities, making topographical drawings and printmaking. He travelled to Ireland in the summer of 1698, landing in Drogheda on the east coast and continuing down the eastern part of the country. He visited Dublin, Castledermot and Kilkenny before sailing home from Waterford sometime in 1699. This meticulous depiction of the city of Kilkenny was taken from Wind Gap Hill, near the present-day Dublin Road. The key landmarks of the city are detailed, including the castle overlooking the river, St Mary’s Church to the right of the castle and the tower of Maudlin Castle in the right foreground, standing tall over the tiny cottages on Maudlin Street. The drawing includes buildings which have since disappeared, notably the circular banqueting hall to the right of the great round medieval towers of the castle. This building, one of the first classical structures to be constructed in Ireland, was demolished by 1812. March 2016
ProvenanceBy descent from the Artist, Patrick Allan-Fraser through his wife Elizabeth Fraser, the heiress of Hospitalfield, Arbroath; Sotheby's, London, 10 June 1931, Patrick Allan-Fraser Sale, lot 135; John Maher, Dublin; Michael J. Flynn, Dublin; Gerard Kenyon, Dublin; Rose Black, Dublin; Cynthia O'Connor, Dublin; purchased, Leger Galleries, London, 1972 Exhibition HistoryBritish Art, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1934
English Watercolours, Leger Galleries, London, 1972
Irish Watercolours, 1675-1925, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, 1976
Master European Drawings From the Collection of the National Gallery of Ireland, Ackland Art Museum, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill; Colorado Springs Fine Arts Centre, Colorado; Art Gallery, University of Maryland, College Park; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; Pierpont Morgan Library, New York; Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana; The Minneapolis Museum of Art, Minnesota; The Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California; National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1983
Swift and his Contemporaries, National Library of Ireland, Dublin, 29 July - 23 December 1999