The Representations of Poverty and Nomadism in Irish and British Art, 1760 – 1875
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The representations of poverty and nomadism in Irish and British art, 1760 – 1875 by Julie Brazil Dissertation completed under the supervision of Dr. Ciara Breathnach in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Ph.D. of the University of Limerick Submitted to the University of Limerick, June, 2012 1 Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………… i Declaration……………………………………………………………………... ii Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………. iii List of figures………………………………………………………………….. iv List of Abbreviations…………………………………………………………... x Introduction……………………………………………………………………. 1 Chapter 1 Enlightened poverty: representations of benevolence and philanthropy in art……………………………………………………………… 18 Chapter 2 ‘Very near to God’: the Irish beggar in art…………………………. 44 Chapter 3 Callers to the door: constructions of the pedlar and fortune-teller within the sedentary domestic space………………………………………….. 69 Chapter 4 Circulation of the prints of paintings and the popularization of the itinerant musician……………………………………………………………… 91 Chapter 5 ‘Train up a child’: representations of marginal children…………… 108 Chapter 6 The Irish family in poverty: settled, migrant and vagrant………….. 131 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………... 159 Figure Plates…………………………………………………………………… 168 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………… 223 2 Abstract This dissertation examines the representation of Irish poverty and nomadism in Irish and British art during the period 1760 to 1875. It assesses how a diverse range of Irish and British artists’ visually interpreted Irish poverty and nomadism in paintings, drawings, illustrations and prints. This research analyses how the visual construction of the Irish poor and nomadic evolved in an attempt to sanitise, prettify, condone or absolve the poor. In a thematic manner, images are questioned within frameworks including benevolence and philanthropy, the urban and rural landscape, the domestic space and migration. The marginalised of society are the focus of this study including tinkers, Gypsies, landless labourers, the professional and ordinary beggar, itinerant musicians, pedlars and fortune-tellers. Artists acknowledged different strata within the poor, in particular where these nomads were categorised at a lower social level to the sedentary poor in both Irish and British society. The running theme throughout this thesis is artists’ perceptions of Irish poverty and nomadism, which were often based on personal agendas such as religion, family background or moral values. The co-dependency between Ireland and London, in the area of opportunities, markets and audience provides a comparative analysis of artworks. This study also reveals that images of Irish poverty and nomadism mirrored cultural and social changes in the period under review. i Declaration I declare that this thesis is entirely my own work and has not been submitted to any other university for award. Julie Brazil Signature: ____________________ ii Acknowledgements I am grateful, for the generous help, of staff of the library in Trinity College, Dublin, Special Collections and the Glucksman Library (University of Limerick), National Art Library (Victoria and Albert Museum), John Rylands University Library (Manchester), Prints and Drawings Collections and Reading Room in the National Library of Ireland. Special thanks go to Dr. Eimear O’ Connor and staff in the Irish Art Research Centre, Trinity College, Dublin who provided me with invaluable material on Irish artists, and also to Heather Birchall in the Whitworth Art Gallery (The University of Manchester) for her time, patience and generosity in providing photographs of material. A particular expression of gratitude goes to Dr. Brendan Rooney in the National Gallery of Ireland for his insightful chats and kind time afforded to me, and to Anne Hodge and Niamh McNally in the Department of Prints and Drawings (National Gallery of Ireland) whose support and interest in my research has been uplifting. Finally to Dr. Claudia Kinmonth who provided me with images and answered numerous enquiries. I would like to sincerely thank my supervisor Dr. Ciara Breathnach for her constant support, encouragement, knowledge and dedication to my work and for the kindness and boundless generosity shown to me by Dr. Catherine Lawless. My greatest debts go to my family and friends for their love, support and patience over the years. To Gerry and Kathleen, I dedicate this work to you both, for providing a home and having unwavering belief, thank you. iii List of Figures 1.1 Bartolome-Esteban Murillo, Saint Thomas of Villanueve Giving Alms to the Poor (1678), The Norton Simon Foundation. 1.2 James Godby, engraving of painting by Maria Spilsbury Taylor, The Drinking Well in Hyde Park (1802), British Museum. 1.3 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, The Schoolmistress (Sunday Evening; A Young Lady Teaching Village Children How to Sing) (1804), Tate Britain. 1.4 George Morland, The Squire’s Door (c. 1790), Yale Center for British Art. 1.5 Francis Wheatley, Love and Charity (c.1790s), Wolverhampton Gallery. 1.6 Francis Wheatley, Mother and Child (n.d), private collection. 1.7 George Morland, The Benevolent Sportsman (1792), Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. 1.8 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Portrait of Sarah Tighe (Portraits of a Lady of Distinction and Two of Her Grandsons) (1814), private collection. 1.9 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Willybank, Rossana (c.1814), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 1.10 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Murragh Cottage (c.1814-15), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 1.11 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Lacemaking (c.1814-15), pencil on paper, Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 1.12 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Interior of a cottage (c.1814-15), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 1.13 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, John Wesley Preaching in the Open Air at Willybank, on the Estate of William Tighe (1815), Museum of Methodism, London. 1.14 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, John Synge’s Pestalozzi School at Roundwood (c.1814-19), private collection. 1.15 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Dispensary Lane School (c.1814-16), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 1.16 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Pattern at Glendalough (c.1816), The National Folklore Collection, UCD. iv 1.17 Detail from (figure 1.16) (woman giving alms to a child beggar). 1.18 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Patron's Day at the Seven Churches Glendalough (c.1816), private collection. 1.19 Detail from (figure 1.18) (child giving alms to a male beggar). 1.20 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, Silvester Mackdoniel (c.1814), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 2.1 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, A Cripple Beggar (1760), private collection. 2.2 Pieter Bruegel the elder, The Beggars (1568), Musée du Louvre. 2.3 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Hae Ball, King of the Beggars (1760), private collection. 2.4 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, A Blind Beggar Remarkable for a Large Wen on his Nose (1760), private collection. 2.5 Lady Anne Caulfield Charlemont, Blind Beggar and Dog (c.1800), Prints and Drawings Collections, NLI. 2.6 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, A Beggar Woman (1760), private collection. 2.7 Thomas Roberts, A Frost Piece (c. 1769), private collection. 2.8 A Frost Piece, detail 2.9 Francis Wheatley, The Palmerstown Fair (c.1782), The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, California. 2.10 Francis Wheatley, Itinerant Peasants (1786), The Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, California. 2.11 George Grattan, Blind Beggar Woman with Child (1807), Royal Dublin Society. 2.12 Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin, Pass-Room Bridewell, reproduced from Rudolph Ackermann, The Microcosm of London (4 vols, London, 1808- 11), i, 92. 2.13 Daniel Maclise, The Installation of Captain Rock (1834), private collection. 2.14 Detail from (figure 2.13) (Boccough waving his crutches). 3.1 Paul Sandby, Rare Mackerel, Three a Groat or Four for Sixpence (c.1759), Nottingham Castle. v 3.2 Francis Wheatley (1747-1801), New Mackrel, New Mackrel (1796), the Lily Library, Indiana University. 3.3 John Rogers Herbert, Peggy the Fisher Woman, illustrated in Mrs S.C. Hall, Sketches of Irish Character: by Mrs S.C. Hall (3rd ed., London, 1842), p. 1. 3.4 John Gilbert, Mad Mabel, illustrated in Mrs. S.C. Hall, Sketches of Irish Character: by Mrs. S.C. Hall (3rd ed, London, 1842), p. 281. 3.5 William Jones, The Fortune Teller (n.d), private collection. 3.6 Unknown, The Corrupt Fortune Teller, and Artful Seducer; with the Little Cherub sitting up aloft, illustration, reproduced from W. Locke, The cherub: or guardian of female innocence (London, 1792), frontispiece. 3.7 Anthony Cardon, Group portrait of three ladies and a child; the lady on the right dressed as a Gypsy with the child (the young Earl on her back) (1801), British Museum. 3.8 Thomas Heaphy, Credulity (1808), British Museum. 3.9 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, The Stolen Child Discovered amid the Crew of Gypsies (1805), private collection. 3.10 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, ‘Gypsy Woman’ (c.1814-19), Department of Prints and Drawings, NGI. 3.11 William Mulready, The Travelling Druggist (1825), Harwood Gallery. 3.12 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, A Tinker (1760), private collection. 3.13 Erskine Nicol, Gipsies on the Road (c.1860s), published in Mrs S.C. Hall, Tales of Irish life and character (Edinburgh, 1909). 3.14 Nicholas Joseph Crowley, Fortune Telling by Cup Tossing (c.1843), private collection. 4.1 David Wilkie, The Blind Fiddler (1806), Tate Britain. 4.2 Detail from (figure 4.1) 4.3 John Burnet, After David Wilkie, The Blind Fiddler (1811), British Museum. 4.4 Hugh Douglas Hamilton, Blind Daniel the Piper (1760), private collection. 4.5 George Grattan, The Blind Piper (1801), private collection. 4.6 Joseph Peacock, The Patron or Festival of St. Kevin at the Seven Churches of Glendalough (c. 1813), Ulster Museum. vi 4.7 Detail from (figure 4.6) (itinerant fiddler and balladeer). 4.8 Maria Spilsbury Taylor, The Wedding Dance at Rossana, County Wicklow (1814), private collection. 4.9 Detail from (figure 4.8) (itinerant piper). 4.10 Frederick Goodall, The Irish Piper (1847), Victoria and Albert Museum. 4.11 After Sir Frederick William Burton, The Blind Girl at the Holy Well (1841), engraved by Henry Thomas Ryall, The British Museum. 4.12 Joseph Patrick Haverty, The Blind Piper (c.1840s), NGI.