William Evans of Eton
, British, 1798-1877
Title
Buttermilk Lane, GalwayDate1838
MediumWatercolour and graphite with white highlights on paper
Dimensions
58.8 x 43 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 2008
Object numberNGI.2008.36.25
DescriptionThis late 15th century lane remarkably survives, in a city preserving much of its medieval pla n and buildings. William Thackeray (The Irish Sketch Book 1842) described St Nicholas' church, beyond the High street archway, as 'somehting between a church and a castle' and found Galway 'poor, bustling, rough and ready', noting the red petticoats of the women and how it swarmed with idlers who congregated around every type of street vendor. Evans is more objective, recording the women and their produce, washing typically hung out on poles like flags, a bricked-up window and general liveliness, now returned to the city with the expansion of its university, NUI, Galway. We could be in one of thsose picturesque Northern French cities then being depicted by artists.Inscriptionlower left: Galway/ Augst 1838
ProvenanceThomas Gambier Parry and by descent; purchased, Private Collection, April 2008