James Malton
, English, 1761-1803
Title
St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, South-East View from the ChurchyardDate1793
MediumInk and watercolour on paper
Dimensions
52 x 76 cm
Signedcentre right: JAMES MALTON 1793 [?]
Credit LinePurchased, 1974
Object numberNGI.7714
DescriptionAt this date, St Patrick's Cathedral, already famously associated with Dean Jonathan Swift, was still essentially the structure built from 1225-54, with tower and spire of c.1400. Malton published a 1793 aquatint based on this watercolour, and, in the bound edition (1799) observed 'the annexed View is the most perfect the building admits'. It has the appearance of a peaceful Cathedral close, where a visiting cleric studies the choir and a man reclines on a tombstone (signed with Malton's name). Out of sight by the Cathedral entrance there were butchers' lean-to shops and a street market, which he also painted. The Lady Chapel (to the right) was rebuilt 1844-52 and, and by 1860, when Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness carried out a major restoration, walls were out of line, vaulting had collapsed and the exterior buttressing was in ruins.