Below Esna Larach Waterfall, County Antrim

Henry Newton , British, fl.1847, d. c.1854

Title

MediumWatercolour with varnish on paper

Dimensions

90.5 x 69.8 cm

Credit LineBequeathed, Capt. G.A. Taylor, 1855

Object numberNGI.2481

DescriptionHenry Newton, an English artist who settled in Dublin around 1840, specialised in romantic views of well-known Irish beauty spots. Newton depicts the stunning waterfall in Glenarrif, one of the famous nine glens of Antrim. Viewed from below, great curtains of foliage frame the waterfall, whose waters surge downwards, slicing a zig-zag path through the jagged rocks. The flat rocks in the foreground provide shelter for a heron and rest for the viewer's eye. Newton combines accurate observation of nature, in his rendering of the realistic surface texture of the rock-face, with a more imaginative rendering of the effects of light and atmosphere. His views of Esna Larach were exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1850 and 1856.
Exhibition HistoryIrish Watercolours and Drawings, McMullen Museum of Art Boston College, Boston, 4 October 1993 – 5 December 1993