An Idyllic Landscape

Title

Date1778

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

110.8 x 151.7 cm

SignedWAshford Pinxt 1778 [W and A conjoined] (Irish Paintings in the National Gallery of Ireland, Volume 1, Nicola Figgis & Brendan Rooney, 2001)

Credit LinePurchased, 1984 (Lane Fund)

Object numberNGI.4484

ProvenanceThe Duke of Leinster, Carton, County Kildare; purchased with the Carton estate by Lord Brocket; by family descent; purchased, through the Leger Galleries Ltd., 1984 Exhibition HistoryIrish Art in the 19th Century, Crawford Municipal School of Art, Cork, 1971

Aspects of Irish Art, Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Columbus, Ohio; Toledo Museum of Arts, Toledo, Ohio; St Louis Art Museum, St Louis, Missour, 1974

Acquisitions 1982-83, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1983

James Arthur O'Connor, The National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, November-December 1985; The Ulster Museum, Belfast, February-March 1986; Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork, March-April 1986

Label TextThis sumptuous classical landscape is inspired by the Italian views of French painter Claude Lorrain. The eye is led to a ruined abbey, which looks more Irish than Italianate, then on to a bridge with ruins nearby. Ashford arrived in Ireland in 1764 to take up a post in the Ordnance Office. He had little experience in landscape painting, yet became a sophisticated artist within a decade. This is one of three canvases painted for the 2nd Duke of Leinster for his house at Carton, Co. Kildare.