Engraver
Samuel Alken
, English, 1756-1815
After
Thomas Sautelle Roberts
, Irish, 1760-1826
Publisher
Thomas Sautelle Roberts
, Irish, 1760-1826
Title
City of Cork from the WestDate1799
MediumAquatint and etching
Dimensions
Sheet: 49.1 x 70 cm
Plate: 38.4 x 49.4 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1986
Object numberNGI.20838.10
DescriptionThe view of Cork is from the west, near St Anne's Shandon, looking down to the city and port on the River Lee. It makes an attractive image, with its graceful foreground tree and cattle in the landscape. Roberts gives a clearer idea of its role as the second largest Irish city in the accompanying text, one of his twelve 'Views in the South of Ireland' (issued in aprts from 1795-99). In 1791, 8,100 houses were recorded, 'about' 73,380 inhabitants, 7 parish churches, 7 Catholic chapels, Quaker, Methodist, Presbyterian and Anabaptist meeting-houses and barracks for 800 men. These artistic and large-scale prints were clearly designed for close study in a domestic library and carfully delineated by the son of Waterford's chief architect, who initially trained for the profession with Thomas Ivory, designer of Dublin's Bluecoat School.