Thomas Roberts
, Irish, 1748-1777
Title
Lucan House and Demesne with Figures Quarrying Stone, County DublinDatec.1773-1775
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions
60.6 x 99.8 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1983 (Shaw Fund)
Object numberNGI.4463
DescriptionIn this view the artist depicts old Lucan House and the tiny village of Lucan from the banks of the River Liffey on the road to Dublin. A castle had been built there in the late 12th century but by 1772 the owner, Agmondisham Vesey, was designing a new house, very different from that seen in the picture. It was to be a villa of Palladian design, and is still standing. To create some human interest in the picture Robers includes in the bottom corner a group of men quarrying stone. They also serve to give a sense of scale to the landscape. Roberts has depicted them with deft, quick brush strokes, which lend an air of life and energy to the composition. His handling of light imbues the scene with and Italianate feel, while the overall mood of tranquillity and serenity is in keeping with idealised classical landscape paintings of the period.Roberts was an accomplished figure painter, but it was for his topographical views that he became justifiably renowned. His depiction of house and their estates is highly realistic.
(National Gallery of Ireland: Essential Guide, 2008)
ProvenanceCommissioned by Agmondisham Vesey of Lucan House; by descent to Captain R. St John Colthurst; Bennet and son, Dublin, 29 September 1925, Lucan House sale, lot 115; purchased by Private Collector; purchased, Private Collection, 1983 Exhibition HistoryProbably the picture exhibited at the Society of Artists in Ireland, 1772
Acquisitions 1982-1983, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 1984
James Arthur O'Connor, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, November - December 1985; The Ulster Museum, Belfast, February - March 1986; Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork, March - April 1986
Thomas Roberts, 1748-1777, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 28 March - 28 June 2009
Label TextRoberts’s views of the demesne at Lucan exemplify on a modest scale some of his technical strengths, in particular his virtuoso treatment of sky, foliage and water, and his figure drawing. They also allowed him to indulge his interest in waterways and the bridges that spanned them. The bridge visible in the view of the house, built around 1771, was destroyed by floods just a few years later. Roberts also possessed unusual skill in the depiction of human figures in action. Here, quarrymen strain as they lever a block from a rock face.