Cork Art History (1876-1900)

A Chronological History of Art and Architecture in 19th. Century Cork, incorporating a history of The Crawford Art Gallery and The Crawford School of Art.

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1876

A description of what it was like to attend the Cork School of Art in 1876 was given by Henry Jone Thaddeus, twenty years after, while sitting on the terrace of the Casino at Monte Carlo. Thaddeus, by that time a highly successful portrait painter, recalled his student days in Cork for a correspondent of the New York Herald:

"It was a funny experience," said Mr. Thaddeus, referring to his early artistic training. "There was divil a thing in the place except a lot of plaster casts that had been sent to George IV by the then Pope. This collection was all we had to draw upon and to draw. And dirty! . . . The very size of the muscles was increased and the shapes of the faces altered by the thick layers of dust.
" Such a crazy place as that old building was. There was a staircase in it that trembled for its life every time you put a foot on it. It was a standing danger for a long time until some genius hit upon a way of putting everything right without any expense. He just stuck up a notice that was there for years, reading--'Do not run down the stairs as they might give way.'
After several years of this training--which, notwithstanding limitations, had its good points, as, by dint of drawing and redrawing the George IV collection of casts, Mr. Thaddeus acquired a facility and surety of draughtmanship that has stuck to him to this day--he went to Paris and studied with Julien . . ."I'd like to know who didn't," he added drily. [Cork Examiner, 7th April 1896, p. 6, col. 3]

However, even while Thaddeus was still a student, moves were afoot to improve conditions in the Cork School of Art. On March 24th 1876, a committee was appointed at a public meeting held in the Royal Cork Institution, to seek to establish Schools of Science, Art and Music in Cork. Also in March, a petition, signed by the managers of the Royal Cork Institution, was forwarded by the Earl of Bandon to the Committee of Council on Education, at the Department of Science and Art in London.
An article in the Irish Builder in 1876 lamented the lack of any fine art museum in Cork, and had reported on efforts by prominent citizens of that city to establish such a museum and school of art and science in the Old Custom House premises. The president of Queens College had chaired the meeting held in Cork to promote the idea. His speech was reported in the Irish Builder:

These buildings belonged to the proprietors of the Royal Cork Institution, as a corporate body, who . . . got them from the Treasury on relieving it from the ground rent. The proprietors were almost entirely gentlemen in the city, and having connection with it. Were they prepared to hand over their right to that institution - to, in fact, give all they possessed to support the new one? . . . If anything was to be got from Parliament he believed it was when the people of Cork would have done that much for themselves . . . For six or seven years he had been secretary to the Royal Irish Academy, and during that time they got upwards of £2,500 from the Treasury, exclusive of the annual grants, because they always put their hands first into their own pockets. In that way the Academy had been enabled to purchase a collection of Irish coins which belonged to this city and ought to have remained in it. - Mr. Sainthill's collection; and in the same way they had got the bell shrine of St. Patrick. If the proprietors of the Royal Cork Institution were prepared to hand over their possessions to such a new body of trustees or commissioners as might be appointed, they would then have the beginning of an institution in which they might have a proper school of art, where he hoped some permanent contributions would always be exhibited, with a museum, technological and otherwise, attached, an art museum, and the nucleus of a public library. [Footnote: Anon, "Science and Art Prospects in Cork" The Irish Builder Vol. XVIII, No. 391, 1st April 1876, p.85]

Early in the new year, a fund-raising draw in aid of the Cork Asylum for the Blind took place in the presence of the Lord Mayor and other civic dignitaries. The prize was a portrait of the Rev. Theobald Matthew by James Butler Brenan, which the artist had donated free of charge. Brenan had painted the portrait from an 'original likeness' in the collection of Mr. John Clery, J. P., at the request of the committee of the asylum. The draw took place in the asylum itself, with the band of the institution playing in the quadrangle at intervals during the proceedings:

A large number of the inmates of the institution were seated in the room, engaged in knitting and similiar employments, under the care of the officers, and the appearance of comfort and contentment which they presented was extremely gratifying. The picture of Father Mathew was exhibited at the end of the room. The drawing was conducted on the usual principle. The blocks of all the tickets sold were placed in one wheel, and one hundred cards, of which one was marked with the word "prize", and 99 were blank, were placed in another. These wheels were revolved many times, and after each revolution two of the blind inmates of the asylum drew a ticket and a card. About fifty draws had in this way been made before the prize card came forth, and on reference to the corresponding ticket block, it was found that the winner was--strange to say--the very gentleman who had lent the portrait to be copied, Mr. J. W. Clery. [Cork Examiner 20th Jan. 1876, p. 2, col. 8]

Also in January, the Examiner noted two paintings by James Beale, 'President of the Cork School of Art', which were being framed at Clarkes on Grand Parade. One painting depicted Buttevant Abbey and had been done from a sketch made by the artist many years previously, before the central tower had fallen. The second painting was of Kilcrea Abbey.

1877

(There were no reports on the visual arts in the Cork Examiner for the year 1877.)

1878

School of Art headmaster James Brenan and architect Arthur Hill were the honorary secretaries of the Committee which had been set up in 1876 to examine ways in which Schools of Science, Art and Music could be established in Cork. In January 1878 they presented their findings. Their report referred to the Great Exhibition, held in London in 1851, which had revealed the differences in technical education between Britain and other industrialised nations, and which had highlighted the 'poverty of design, inelegance of form and glaring contrasts of colour' which were characteristic of goods manufactured in Britain. To remedy this, the Department of Science and Art had been set up, at first under the administration of the Board of Trade, but latterly under the direct control of the Committee of the Privy Council, which was charged with the administration of education. The Privy Council was in a position to grant-aid local initiatives in art and science education, and, in addition, the amending of the Public Libraries Art in 1855 also enabled towns and cities to raise money from their own rate-payers for the support of schools of science, art, museums and public libraries. In Cork, advantage had been taken of the amended Act in 1855, to raise money for the support of the School of Art. In England, a subsequent Public Libraries Act gave power to local authorities to raise bank loans 'on the security of the rate', for the construction of schools of science and art. However, by some oversight, Irish local authorities were not enabled to take advantage of this provision; a position which was rectified in the last parliamentary session of 1855, through the efforts of Cork M. P. Mr. N. D. Murphy, with the passing of an amendment to the Irish Public Libraries Act. This amendment gave a significant advantage to Irish local authorities: by including music in its provisions, it enabled schools of music to be set up along with schools of science and art.

In Cork, the School of Art now had 220 pupils. It was supported by a grant from the city, by a share of the annual Parliamentary grant for the various art schools of the United Kingdom, and by the fees of the pupils--all of which, taken together, was just sufficient to meet ordinary working expenses. The report of the Committee outlined the deficiencies of the School of Art:

But although Cork deserves credit for being one of the first towns in the Kingdom that endowed its Art School out of the public taxes, and is still the only town in Ireland that does so, it has performed but half its duty, for it has yet to provide a building suitable for an Art School, and affording sufficient accommodation for the increasing number of pupils. The building in which the school is conducted, and which is held from the Royal Cork Institution at a rent of £60 a year, was built for a custom house in the last century, and is badly adapted for art teaching. The class rooms are not spacious enough for the large classes now attending, and the light from the windows is so defective that the pupils, especially the advanced ones, labour under serious disadvantages. Add to this that the premises are very much out of repair.

Again the school has no art gallery, in which to exhibit the work of the pupils, or loan collection of pictures, and other works of art, and in which the nucleus of a permanent art collection might be gradually gathered. . . Art can only flourish in an atmosphere of art--in other words art can only make progress where true taste is spread among the public at large. One of the best ways of doing this is to accustom the people to the sight of works of fine art in a public gallery. as regards painting this is difficult; but although we cannot hope in Cork to possess masterpieces, many fine examples may from time to time be borrowed . . . The fine collection of casts in the School of Art, and which the Royal Cork Institution hold in trust for the people of Cork, would form the beginning of a great gallery of casts, which might be made in a short time an object of which the city of Cork might feel justly proud. At present, these casts cannot be properly used for study by art students, and are not at all available for the education of the general public. They are also in continual danger of receiving irreparable injury, owing the character and state of the building in which they are. [Cork Examiner 26th January 1878, p. 5, col. 5]

The report of the Committee dwelt not only on the School of Art, but also on the possibility of opening new schools of Science and Music in Cork. In order to move the whole project forward, it was decided to send a deputation to the Corporation, to ask them to take advantage of the powers granted by the 4th section of the amendment of the Public Libraries Act (Ireland), which related to building grants. If the Corporation were willing to act, they would have to set up their own committee, and make application to the Commissioners of the Treasury for funding. At this point James Brenan's committee would be wound up, and the Corporation's committee would take over the job of acquiring the old houses which stood between the School of Art and Half-Moon Street, in order to construct a new building adjoining the Old Custom House, which would accomodate the Schools of Science, Art and Music together on the one site. Brenan believed that the necessary alterations and additions would cost about £6,000, of which he hoped £2,500 would be raised through public subscription. He hoped the the county gentry would contribute generously towards the cost of building the proposed schools, on the basis that the city tax-payers would look after their subsequent maintainance. [Ibid., col. 6] In the event, they were to find a generous benefactor in the form of William Horatio Crawford, who was to eventually donate £20,000 towards the construction of a magnificent new building and the complete remodelling of the Old Custom House.

On the 27th September 1878, members of the local committee of the newly-formed Irish Fine Art Society were busy in the Round Room of the Athenaeum, now called the "Theatre Royal", hanging the Society's annual exhibition. This group, which included many amateur painters, was the fore-runner of the Watercolour Society of Ireland, and had itself grown from a previous endeavour known as the Irish Amateur Drawing Society, founded in Lismore in 1870 by the Misses Keane, Phipps, Currey and Musgrave. Under its various names, the society had held successive exhibitions in Lismore, Clonmel and Carlow. The Irish Fine Art Society's first exhibition in Cork in 1878 represented a new phase in the group's history, and was an ambitious undertaking for amateur artists. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. II, p. 651; Cork Examiner 27th Sept. 1878, p. 2, col. 5] A review of the exhibition, which opened to the public some days later, appeared in the Examiner. The paintings by Mr. J. Ross Murphy of Dunkerry Cave in Co. Antrim, and the Candlestick Rocks, Howth received favourable notice, as did Mr. J. M. Donne's three Sketches by the Way. Mr. Lodder's Heads of Ayr was considered a bit of 'fine, bold scenery', and his Coaster Discharging coal was also praised. However, the finest painting in the exhibition was considered to be Evening on Caragh Lake, Co. Kerry by Mary K. Benson, with its 'strange tinge of glowing reality'. Not all the paintings in the exhibition achieved these heights. A portrait, supposed to be of Joan of Arc, was described as resembling some 'bilious young person, with a very discontented expression of face'. [Cork Examiner 5th October 1878, p. 2, cols 6 & 7] However, the exhibition was considered to be such a success, that the experiment was repeated the following year.

Messrs. Brett & Sons were the architects for a new National Bank, which was built at Millstreet, Co. Cork, in 1878. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XX, No. 439, 1st April 1878, p. 103]

1879

Some days before Christmas, the annual distribution of prizes took place at the School of Art. The ceremony was held in the lecture theatre of the Royal Cork Institution, rather than in the Rotunda room of the nearby Theatre Royal (as the Athenaeum was now called). Brenan reported that there were now 260 students enrolled at the School; 28 of these were attending the 'Science' classes of geometry, machine drawing and building construction. Nearly 300 works by students had been sent to South Kensington for assessment, and 14 students from the art division had been awarded prizes, with a further 2 prizes going to the science division. A new rule adopted in South Kensington, that no student 'can obtain a prize of the same class in the same stage of art a second time' had made the obtaining of these prizes more difficult, and must have caused much chagrin to the talented and dedicated female students of the Cork School of Art, such as the Thorpe sisters, or the Woodroffe sisters, who had been winning prizes since the early 1870's. However, there were new glittering prizes to aspire to: "Professor Armstrong again most kindly offered a silver medal in competition amongst the students for the best rendering of an original subject. The subject given for this year was 'Reflection' and the medal was awarded to Miss Harriette Fitzmaurice."
Reference was also made during the evening's proceeding, to the difficulties which were being experienced in obtaining a site for the proposed new School of Art, but as the matter was being actively pursued by two members of parliament for the city, Mr. N. D. Murphy and Mr. Goulding, it was hoped that there would be a speedy and satisfactory outcome to the negotiations. [Cork Examiner, 23rd Dec. 1879, p. 4, cols. 6 & 7]

The prize-winners in 1879 were: E. M. Sharman Crawford, Ellie Ransome, Rose Bulkeley, Ethel J. Hughes, Sally Hackett, Bessie G. Laud, Josephine F. McMullen, Isabel Spring, Caroline Beatson, Margaret Boole, Augusta Warren, Jennie Hackett, Florence Eames, Lizzie Clarke, Harriette Fitzmaurice, Hugh Charde, Miah J. O'Connell, James McCarthy, Arthur Adams, Thomas Callanan, Russell Martin, Henry Scully, Robert Sutton, John J. Thomas, Jeremiah F. O'Meara, Albert Barnard, John F. Maguire, Francis Spillane, Albert Whitford, Addison B. Perrott and John Charde. There was a definite demarcation between the types of prizes awarded to the male students, who specialised in subjects such as architectural drawing and building construction, and the female students, who excelled in 'ornament shaded from the cast', or 'study from nature'. [Ibid.]

The local committee of the Fine Art Society this year consisted of the two Misses Keane, of Cappoquin House; Miss Mary Reeves, 'Tramore', Douglas, Cork (an RHA exhibitor from 1877 to 1906); Mrs. Sharman Crawford of Lota Lodge; Miss J. Longfield of Longueville House in Mallow (who also exhibited at the RHA from 1881 to 1883); Miss F. W. Currey, Lismore; Miss Rose Barton, Sir John Joscelyn Coghill, Bart., and Mr. James Penrose. They were described by the Examiner as being 'engaged in preparing for the sixteenth Exhibition of the society'. There was to be an Art Union drawing of prizes in association with the exhibition, which was held again in the Round Room of the Theatre Royal, alongside the School of Art. [Cork Examiner 20th Oct. 1879, p. 2, col. 5] The exhibition opened at the end of October, and ran for three weeks. It was well attended, and the correspondent of the Examiner noted that 'many red stars are to be observed in the pictures'. [Cork Examiner, 5th Nov. 1879, p. 2, col. 4]

In 1879, after a break of thirty-four years, the elderly marine painter George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson again exhibited a work at the RHA, entitled The Last Run of the Aspasia--from Marryat's "King's Own". [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 24] Atkinson's daughter Sara, who was then in Dublin, also showed at the RHA the following year. A year later, in 1881, she was to again exhibit at the RHA, but this time from her family's address at 3 Mervue Place, Queenstown (Cobh). She exhibited for the last time at the RHA in 1884.

1880

In November, a visit was paid to the Cork School of Art by Edward J. Poynter, who was Director for Art in South Kensington. He was met by Robert Scott, chairman of the School of Art committee, George Adams, and James Brenan. Poynter spent some time looking around the building, and before taking his departure for Dublin on the 12.30 train observed that it was a most uninviting building in appearance, and the arrangements for lighting 'by far the worst' he had ever seen. [Cork Examiner, 11th Nov. 1880, p. 2, col. 3]

The 'first Ceramic Exhibition ever held in Cork' was announced in the Cork Examiner on September 7th 1880. However, the exhibition, which was held in the Assembly Rooms on the South Mall, did not consist of plates and jugs but rather paintings on porcelain and terracotta, both in oils and watercolours. The paintings were of conventional subject matter; landscapes, still-lifes and historical compositions, whatever about the conventionality of the support. The exhibition was stylishly laid out, and the Examiner reckoned great credit was due to Mr. Gilbert, who had organised it. Prizes were offered in various departments, and the correspondent of the Examiner had been graced with a view of one of the prizes: "It is designed and manufactured by Mr. J. J. Crowley, jeweller, of Old George's-street, and proves that Cork possesses silversmiths high up in the artistic branch of their delicate craft. It is composed of two winged cupids, one holding a palette and brush, supporting a gartered shield, having on the top the Cork Arms, altogether forming a very handsome prize." [Cork Examiner, 7th Sept. 1880, p. 2, col. 6] The first prize was awarded to an 'original etching on terracotta' entitled The Last Days of Pompeii by Cork School of Art student Louis F. Roche. Roche's work was exhibited the following year at a similiar exhibition in Leamington, where he also obtained first prize. [Cork Examiner 31st Dec. 1880, p. 2, col. 4] Four years later, with an address at 15 North Mall, Roche exhibited at the RHA, the only time he showed with the Academy. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 114]
Early in October 1880, readers of the Examiner were urged to visit the Church of SS. Peter & Paul, where a chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart was being then embellished by local painter John O'Connell, of North Main Street. O'Connell, a student at the School of Art, had lately taken a prize at the South Kensington examinations. [Cork Examiner 9th Oct. 1880, p. 2, col. 6]

1881

In August, the results of the School of Art examinations were announced. Students successful in the Second Grade examinations included Hilda Beamish, Lizzie Bergin, Achilles Bradish, George Bradish, Mabel Carr, John P. Charde, Michael Cogan, Charles W. Grey, Charles Grierson, Marian E. Gubbins, Jacob Lester, Thomas MacDonnell, John Maguire, Helen Malet, Mary McDaniel, Thomas O'Flynn, Patrick T. O'Sullivan, Gertrude A. Peard, Thomas Scott, Henry J. Scully, Anna M. Sparling, Matilda C. Spring, Augusta Warren, Ellie J. Whitelegge, Mary E. Whitelegge.
Prizes were awarded to some of the above students, and also to Richard Baker, Lizzie Clarke, Hugh Charde, Bessie G. Land, Michael O'Meara, Miah J. O'Connell, Louis Roche, Robert V. Sutton, Alice Swan, Susan Dufton, Mary Exham, Annie Fitzmaurice, Josephine McMullen, Blanche Webster, Joseph O'Meara, Samuel V. Thomas, Lily Davis and Eva Tuckey.

Students in the science division who excelled included Robert Sutton, Michael O'Meara, Samuel V. Thomas, James Porter, Daniel Kelleher, Charles W. Gregg, Michael Cogan, Denis McCarthy, John Maguire and Nicholas Sisk. [Cork Examiner 16th August 1881, p. 3, co. 5]

Of the aforementioned students, Charles McIvor Grierson is worthy of notice. Born in Queenstown (Cobh), Grierson was apprenticed to architect William Henry Hill before attending the School of Art. He subsequently settled in London, where he studied at Hatherly's Life School and practised as an artist. Several of his paintings were reproduced in photogravure. [John Gilbert, "Authors, Artists and Musical Composers", p. 179]

The annual exhibition of the Irish Fine Art Society, 'its eighteenth', was held at the end of October in the Cork Assembly Rooms on the South Mall, 'amidst the terrible political and social excitement'. It was followed shortly afterwards by a second exhibition of 'ceramic paintings'. [Cork Examiner, 25th Oct. 1881, p. 2, col. 4] The Examiner commented on the Society's exhibition, and in particular on a painting by a student of the Cork School of Art entitled Tis I have the Apples, the Apples: "it represents an object of a class tolerably familiar to those who tread certain parts of our streets after nightfall. A young girl with a smiling face is seeking to entice customers for her humble wares, on which the light falls from the primitive lamp, composed of a half-penny candle and a paper bag." [Cork Examiner 14th Nov. 1881, p. 2, col. 4] The annual drawing of the Art Union took place following the conversazione of the Irish Fine Art Society which was held on November 15th. The winners were Mrs. Healy, Mrs. Webb, Miss McMullen, Captain McCalmount, Miss Dutton, Mr. Joseph Corbett, Hon. Mrs. Leader, Mrs. Elwhistle and Mrs. R. Bagwell. Mrs. E. M. Sharman Crawford, who was to exhibit a work entitled Japonica at the RHA the following year; her first and only time exhibiting with the Academy, also won an Art Union prize in 1881. [Cork Examiner, 16th Nov. 1881, p. 2, col. 4]

The Ceramic Exhibition, which followed the Fine Art Society's exhibition at the Assembly Rooms, was again organised by John Gilbert, included some examples of Meissen ware, as well as works by local enthusiasts of this fashionable art form of painting on porcelain. [Cork Examiner, 29th Nov. 1881, p. 2, col. 4; see also Hibernia, Vol. I, 2nd Jan. 1882, p. 16]

Also in 1881, Mrs. George F. Armstrong, of 'Queens College, Cork', and Albina Mahony, of Camden Quay, Cork, exhibited, at the RHA, both for the first and only time. Mrs. Armstrong's works were entitled A Little Invisible and A Great Unspeakable. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 19; Vol. II, p. 252] Another contributor to the RHA this year was John Macallen Swan A. R. A., with an address at 120 Patrick Street, Cork. In subsequent years, Swan's address was at St. John's Wood in London. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 195]

Architect William Ringrose Atkins designed the new church of St. Michael and All Angels, which was built at Corkbeg in 1881. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXIII, No. 513, 1st May 1881, pp. 142-143] Another architect working in Cork during this period was K. D. Roche, the designer of villas constructed at Carrigmahon, Glenbrook, Co. Cork, in 1881. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXIII, No. 511, 1st April 1881, pp. 100, 103]

1882

The examination results at the Cork School of Art for 1882 were announced at the end of August in that year. Amongst those students who had achieved grades of pass or better were William Gerard Barry (whose painting Time Flies is in the permanent collection of the Crawford Gallery), Alice M. H. Beamish, Caroline Beatson, Achilles Bradish, Daniel J. Callanan, Mabel Carr, Hugh Charde (who was also awarded a Free Studentship), Thomas Divane, Ellen Exham, Jessie M. Ferguson, Elizabeth Godby, Richard H. Good, Charles W. Grey, Teresa M. Griffith, Annie L. Hartland, William Hoare, William Kelly, John Langley, Jacob Lester, Georgina Lewis, George A. McBride, Denis McCarthy, Eugene J. McSweeney, Henry Magrath, Anna S. Maguire, John J. Maguire, John Muir, Patrick J. Murphy, Miah J. O'Connell, Henry T. Olden, Arthur H. O'Neill, Patrick T. O'Sullivan, Lizzie Perry, Thomas Pattison, Louis F. Roche, Margaret Ross, Thomas Scott, Bessie M. Stackpoole, Robert V. Sutton, Alice C. Swan, Samuel V. Thomas, Bessie Trenwith, Thomas Tuckey, Augusta Warren, Ellie J. Whitelegge, Mary E. Whitelegge. [Cork Examiner, 24th Aug. 1882, p. 2, col. 4]

The exhibition of students' work and distribution of prizes took place, as usual, at the end of the year. The Examiner of 22nd December commented on several of the works in the exhibition, in particular on Louis Roche's painting of '"a decayed old tomb, surmounted by a skull, next to which stands a pestle and mortar, which half conceal a poison jar which stands behind." Roche had recently shown another painting at the annual exhibition of the Fine Art Society which took place in November, a work entitled A Morning Thought. The painting, which depicted a youth lying half-asleep, with his fishing gear unused beside the bed, was based a on a poem of Hood's:

No more, no more will I resign
My couch so warm and soft,
To trouble trout with hook and line
That will not spring aloft.

With larks appointments one may fix
To greet the dawning skies,
But hang the getting up at six
For fish that will not rise!
[Cork Examiner, 22nd Dec. 1882, p. 2, col.7; 31st July 1882, p. 2, col.5]

In the students' exhibition, the watercolours, 'from nature', of Miss Beatson and of Hugh Charde, who contributed a View of Antwerp. were singled out by the Examiner critic. John Gilbert, in an article written in 1913, mentions Charde studying in Antwerp and Paris, as indeed did several Cork students of this period, including Charde's fellow student William Gerard Barry.

Gilbert also mentions James Griffin, another exhibitor in the 1882 student exhibition. Griffin was a talented and prolific landscape painter and etcher, who was obliged to work in business in order to make a living. [John Gilbert, "Authors, Artists and Musical Composers", JCHAS, Vol. XIX, 1913, p. 179] His landscapes in oil were praised in the Examiner, in particular a View of the River Lee, with the river over-arched by trees. Another landscape by the same artist, entitled Near the Wood, representing a grassy glade in a pine forest, was described as 'very fine'. Some studies in oils, of flowers, by Miss Beamish and Miss Exham, also received notice in the Examiner, as did Miss Perry's painting on china Duel After the Masquerade. One of the Mayor's prizes was awarded for a 'monochrome head painted from the cast' by student Richard Baker, who, in years following, appears occasionally as an exhibitor at the RHA. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 32] other Mayor's Prizes went to Miss Perry, A. G. Bradish, Mr. W. A. Smyth, Miss Whitelegge, Miss Curtis and Miss Holland. [Ibid.]

A review of the 1882 annual exhibition of the RHA in the Freeman's Journal gave particular attention to two paintings by James Brenan RHA, headmaster of the Cork School of Art, The Village Scribe and Left Behind. Both of these paintings depicted the interiors of Irish cottages, and were reckoned by the Examiner to be 'faithful views of the homes of the peasantry'. [Cork Examiner, 14th March 1882, p. 2, col. 6] James Brenan (not to be confused with James Butler Brenan) was a prolific artist: between 1861 and 1906 he exhibited a total of 107 paintings at the RHA. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 76]

Another Cork artist, Sir Egerton Coghill (1851-1921), also exhibited in the 1882 RHA exhibition, showing a work entitled The Mid-day Rest in the Studio. Egerton, son of Sir John Joscelyn Coghill, who also painted, hailed from the venerable and attractive village of Castletownshend, in West Cork. The previous year, Egerton had been in Dusseldorf, painting and maintaining a studio, where his younger cousin, writer and painter Edith Oenone Somerville (1858-1949) had also spent some time. Neither had chosen to study at the Cork School of Art, preferring instead to travel to the ateliers of Paris and Dusseldorf, although both returned eventually to Castletownshend, where they wrote, farmed, rode to hounds; and painted, occasionally. Edith exhibited at the RHA only five times, between 1889 and 1920, showing a total of ten works. Egerton was a little more active, showing twenty-four works between 1882 and 1919. He also exhibited at the Paris Salon. There are several paintings by Edith Somerville in the Crawford Gallery's permanent collection, including her masterpiece, The Goose Girl, and some sketches, done while she was studying in the atelier of Colarossi in Paris. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 142; Vol. III, p. 174; P. Butler, p. 121]

Towards the end of February 1882 in Cork, the sculptor Edward Ambrose was reported as having just completed a marble bust of the late Captain Barry, of Moycollop Castle, near Lismore. The bust, which had been executed from a photograph of the late Captain, was exhibited for a time in Clarkes Gallery, on Grand Parade. [Cork Examiner, 25th Feb. 1882, p. 2, col. 4]

In June, the Examiner reported on a piece of wood-carving which had just been completed by John Fitzgerald. The carving, an ornamental top for a glass case, measuring over four feet in length, was embellished with the Cork coat of arms and national emblems such a wolfhound, a round tower and a ruined abbey. The glass case was intended for the display of items in the 'Irish Exhibition', presumably the Cork Industrial Exhibition of 1883, in which Fitzgerald exhibited two wood-carvings of shields. [Cork Examiner, 20th June 1882, p. 2, col. 4; 1883 Cork Industrial Exhibition catalogue, p. 289]

The death occured in 1882 of marine and landscape painter Richard Peterson Atkinson, a son of G. M. W. Atkinson. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. I, p. 15]

1883

The Cork Industrial and Fine Art Exhibition of 1883, visited by over 10,000 people, was a reflection of that same prosperity and optimism which was also moving towards providing Cork with a first-class art school and gallery. William Horatio Crawford, the benefactor of that new school, was obviously concerned that its teaching collections should be also enhanced, and in September presented it with an impressive screen, embroidered with a peacock, which he had purchased at the Cork Exhibition, and which had been produced by the Dublin Art Needlework School. [Cork Examiner, 17th Sept. 1883, p. 2, col. 5] Crawford probably made this donation at the instigation of Henry Cole from South Kensington, who had also visited the Exhibition, and who was keen on promoting the lace-work and embroidery classes at the Cork School of Art.

The Exhibition does not appear to have galvanised the Examiner into any lengthy reviews of the various art exhibits, in spite of the fact that over eight hundred works of art were on show: more notice was taken of Messrs. Matteson's display of Limerick Hams, or of Egan's jewellery; or, indeed, of the exhibition specimens of various grasses and grains indigenous to Kansas, sent to Cork by the Achecon, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company. Early in June, when the exhibits began to arrive in considerable numbers, work was well under way in constructing cases and stands for the displays, which included goods manufactured in textiles and cast iron. "Some interesting articles have also been received from Messrs Young & Meilson, stay and corset makers, Bristol". However, the attention of the Examiner's correspondent at length focused on the works of art which had been submitted for the exhibition. The Cork monumental sculptor P. J. Scannell, whose large sculptured group in Dungarvan Church had previously been noted in the Examiner [Cork Examiner, 22nd Feb. 1865, p. 2, col. 4], submitted a statue of St. Francis of Assisi, while The Irish Builder reported on the sculptures shown by Richard Barter. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXV, No. 569, p. 279, 1st. Sept. 1883]

There was not space enough to show the large number of paintings which had been submitted for the exhibition, and a 'hanging committee' was busily trying to sort the paintings into different 'degrees of excellence'. A loan collection of paintings from South Kensington was due to arrive in Cork on June 10th, and a special room had been allocated for their display. The Great Hall of the exhibition area had been reserved for the display of architectural drawings, photographs, lithographs and engravings. [Cork Examiner, 7th June 1883, p. 2, col. 5] The person in charge of the Fine Art Section of the 1883 Exhibition was James Brenan RHA, headmaster of the Crawford School of Art.

By October 6th, 1883, the Cork Exhibition was drawing to a close and exhibitor were beginning to remove their wares. Over 10,000 people had visited the exhibition, and on the last days of the show, the great exhibition halls were thronged by a 'vast audience', not least during the morning and afternoon performances of the brass band of the Royal Irish Constabulary. In the art exhibition halls, the draw for prizes of the Art Union took place on October 6th. The Examiner exhorted the judges to select as prizes the paintings of Irish artists, 'whose works bear more than fair comparison with those of the English and Continental brothers', and singled out The Wounded Poacher by 'Harry Jones' as a suitable prize. Harry Jones later became better known as Henry Jones Thaddeus, and the painting mentioned is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Ireland. In an interview published in the Cork Examiner thirteen years later, Thaddeus recalled that this painting, his 'first Salon picture' had been purchased in Dublin by a Mr. Vincent Scully. [Cork Examiner, 7th April 1896, p. 6, col. 3] This same Scully loaned four works to the 1883 Cork exhibition, including The Wounded Poacher. Other works by Thaddeus Jones shown were Without a Care, Washing Day, St. Patrick, Young Fishermen, The Friends of the Model, Lelia and Market Day in Finistere. (This last painting is now in the National Gallery of Ireland.) Also singled out were some of Henry Albert Hartland's watercolours, and a painting by G. M. Atkinson 'illustrative of the beautiful legend of the Limerick Bells'. [Cork Examiner, 6th Oct. 1883, p. 5, col. 4] Hartland had eight watercolours in the exhibition; two on loan from Thomas Lyons--The Gap of Dunloe and A Mist on the Lakes, Inchigeela, while D. Arnold also loaned two works. Another Hartland watercolour, entitled The Corn Field, was loaned by Denny Lane. [Cork Industrial Exhibition 1883; Catalogue of the Fine Art Department.] Apart from G. M. Atkinson, three other members of the Atkinson family were included in the exhibition, including the senior George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, who showed two paintings of the Battle of the Nile, one of them a night scene, loaned by a Captain Seymour. Sara Atkinson exhibited two paintings, Making-off with a Soldier and Queenstown, by Moonlight.

Hugh Charde had four paintings in the exhibition: A Corner of Old Antwerp, A Reverie, The Vrow's Evening Prayer and Study of An Italian. In addition to a study and a view on the Blackwater river, School of Art headmaster James Brenan showed four works:One of the Band, The Beleaguered Fortress, The Young Housewife and The Spinning Lesson. Another Cork member of the RHA, Edward Sheil, exhibited six paintings, including Copperfield and Dora, The Little Housekeeper, Inspiration, Excelsior, The Agony in the Garden and The Taking Down from the Cross. William Magrath showed three works: Thinking it Over (the Land Question), In the Green Fields of Erin, andThe Seawood Girl, loaned by (this watercolour is now in the Crawford Gallery collection, Cat. No. ***). Seven works by Richard were included in the exhibition, including The Cobbler's Bulk, The Baron of Grogswig (also now in the Crawford permanent collection), A Cork Girl, The Clauricaun, The Beggar Boy (after Murillo) and Mariana. Former School of Art students of 1872, James J. Coakley and Joseph Poole Addey were each represented by several landscape watercolours. Another former School of Art student (from 1852) John Drummond, showed four watercolours, including The First Sail, "Blarney" and A Sister of Charity. Robert Lowe Stopford's five watercolours included A Storm on the Sea of Galilee, A Calm on the Sea of Galilee, Entrance to Cork Harbour, Wild Weather at Kilkee, and Killarney. James Butler Brenan, for many years Cork's leading portrait painter, showed portraits of a number of local personages, including The late Roger Evans, Bishop Delany (painted for the Christian Brothers), The late Rev. James Stewart, The late Lieut. Col. Beamish K. H. , The Late J. Maguire, M. P., and N. D. Murphy.

Over a year after the close of the Cork Exhibition a celebration dinner for the Executive Committee was held, at which the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Ludlow Beamish, was presented with an illuminated address, while his wife, who had also worked on the Exhibition, was presented with a half-length portrait of her good husband, painted by James Butler Brenan. Beamish's illuminated address was the work of the firm of Gilbert & Co. in Cork, which specialised in such highly ornamented commemorative presentations. [Cork Examiner, 22 Nov. 1884, p. 2, col. 8]
Notwithstanding the success of the Cork Exhibition, the Fine Art Society had its own annual exhibition as usual in November, in the Assembly Rooms. [Cork Examiner, 15th Nov. 1883, p. 2, col. 4]

At the RHA, in 1883, Mrs. W. Hanlon, of Innishannon, Co. Cork, showed a painting entitled Passing Thoughts, the first of six works she was to show at the Academy over the following six years. An 'E. L. Hanlon' of the same address also exhibited landscapes at the Academy on two occasions, in 1888 and 1890. [A. Stewart, Vol. II, p. 53]

In 1883 the architect George Ashlin remodelled the house named Annemount, in Glounthaune, for John Murphy, in an Italianate style. [M. Bence Jones, p. 5]

1884

Throughout the nineteenth century many talented people were associated with the Cork School of Art, or, as it later became, the Crawford School of Art; but it was James Brenan, headmaster of the school for 29 years, up to his departure for Dublin in 1889, who established the school firmly in the pre-eminent position that it has always held in art education in Ireland. Strickland commends his 'commonsense, shrewdness and tact', and it must have been largely through his efforts that one of Cork's merchant princes, William Horatio Crawford, was induced to support a magnificent extension to the school in 1884. In this year also, Brenan supervised the setting up of art and design classes in the convents of Kinsale, Kenmare and Killarney, extending the network of the South Kensington Schools system.

The extension of the Cork School of Art included several magnificent new purpose-built galleries and entailed the renovation of practically the entire building. As a consequence of this generosity, the new building was to bear his family name, as it still does to the present day. The extension was designed by Arthur Hill, of the architects firm of Hill & Co., whose practise extended through several generations and three centuries in the city of Cork. The firm of Hill & Co. is responsible for much of the better quality Victorian building work in Cork, and their characteristic use of red-brick with white limestone trim is sympathetic and attractive in an urban context. Judging from architectural drawings submitted by the firm of Hill & Co., it had originally been intended that the extensions and additions to the Old Custom House in 1884 would include a School of Art and Science, and indeed the wrought-iron gates at the entrance to the present Crawford Gallery do bear the inscriptions "Art" and "Science", but in the event, these proposals were scaled down, and the building which now stands on Emmet Place was formally titled the Crawford School of Art.

The architect's scale model of the original proposed building survives in a private collection in Cork, and is considerably more ambitious in scale and treatment than the extension actually completed. This model, and the ground plans associated with it, show that the original intention was to have had art and technology taught under the one roof, with both an art museum and a science museum lending further lustre to the building. The Crawford School of Science and Art was to be replete with several turrets, not just the one octagonal turret which graces the building today, and if it had been constructed, the proposed school would have put a good number of major metropolitan buildings to shame. As with many such ambitious architectural proposals, the building which was actually constructed reflects a keener awareness of budgetary constraints, although even in its abbreviated form, the new Crawford School of Art was a magnificent building by any standards.

In the event, the technical school which was also to bear the family name was not completed until 1911, and was located on Sharman Crawford Street, near St. Finbarrs Cathedral. It is no longer used as a technical school and now houses the newly-styled Crawford College of Art and Design, which was transferred from Emmet Place in 1979.

Arthur Hill successfully blended in the new extension with the old 1724 custom house building. It seems that he went to the trouble of re-facing the entire existing building with the same new brick, in order that the two parts would harmonise. The octagonal tower on the present building (a feature characteristic of Hill's architecture), marks the joining of the old Custom House/School of Design with the new School of Art and Gallery extension. The original main doorway on the east facade of the building was bricked up and a window inserted, and the new entracne designed by Hill, in the 'Renaissance" style, is embellished with elaborate wrought-iron gates bearing allegorical figures in bronze representing Art and Science, and the initials WHC--William Horatio Crawford. The gates bear the makers plate of Watson & Co. in Cork.

The new 1884 extension more than doubled the size of the building, providing two enormous sculpture galleries, a life-drawing room, and workshops on the ground floor, while on the first floor were five large studios for the teaching of painting and other activities. A magnificent mahogany staircase, appropriately embellished with carved wooden sheaves of barley, leads to the panelled main landing and to three handsome exhibition galleries, in which are currently displayed the more important nineteenth-century paintings in the gallery's collection. On this floor also is a magnificent library, entirely panelled in wood, with brass light fittings and glazed bookcases. Many of the books from this library were transferred to the new College of Art library in 1979, but those that remain bear mute testament to the history of the building, many of them bearing the imprint of the Royal Cork Institution or the Government School of Design.

The extension doubled the size of the school and provided for the first time purpose-built galleries for the exhibition of sculptures and paintings, as well as studios for teaching art. It gave Cork what must have been the finest art school in Ireland at that time. Notwithstanding the construction work on the magnificent new building for the School of Art, which had been virtually completed by December 1884, the annual exhibition of students' work went ahead as usual, in the Round Room of the Theatre Royal (the Opera House), alongside the School. The distribution of prizes to the students took place on the evening of Monday, December 22nd, at 8.00 p.m., with the Lord Mayor in attendance.

The 1884 exhibition of the Irish Fine Art Society was also held in the Round Room of the Theatre Royal. Oil paintings by the following artists were included in the exhibition: Alexander Williams: Lough Melville Trout, Morning on the River Ouse, at Lewes and A Mountain Stream, Mr. A. A. Ussher: Sandbank, Barmouth, The Marsh Farm and A Mountain Path, Dora Carpenter: No Admittance and A son of the Desert, W. Hyde Perrott: From the Strand at Youghal, Donat Sampson: Glengarif Bay, , Mrs. Dawson Borrer: The Last Gleam, Mr. Dawson Borrer: Homeward Bound, A. Hyde Perrott: Off the Hook Light-house, Mrs. Fanholme: "And nobody kens that he lies there" , Mr. A. Butler: Bric a-Brac, Marianne Preindesberger: Two is Company, three is none and Amongst the Gorse, Miss Freke: Roses and Honeysuckle, Sir John Joscelyn Coghill, Bart: A Study, Glen Barahane and A Black Squall, Jennie A. Hackett: Spring Flowers, Edith Somerville: Autumn Harrowing, and Annie G. Watson: Summer Ripples. Miss Sara A. Armstrong, who had exhibited views of Cork at the RHA throughout the previous decade, showed Hawthorn Glade in Phoenix Park. [Cork Examiner, 14th November 1884, see also Cork Examiner, 20th November 1884]

The 1884 Fine Art Society exhibition also included the watercolours Foreign Lands by Maud J. Peel, Cattle and Jim by Mildred Anne Butler, as well as works by Miss Currey (a founding member of the Society in 1871) and Helen O'Hara. Mildred Anne Butler showed two watercolours. Rose Barton, described as 'that promising young artist', showed a painting entitled Hard Times. [Cork Examiner, 27th Nov. 1884, p. 2, col. 7]

The death occured on 7th January 1884 of George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, marine painter. He died at his residence, 3 Mervue Terrace, Queenstown, aged 78.
The death also occured in 1884 of Cork engraver, F. Wynne, who had produced book-plates for Nicholas Dunscombe, William Hickie of Janemount and William C. Hickie, of Kilellton. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. II, p. 566]

1885

The wrought-iron gates at the entrance to the new School of Art and gallery building bear the date 1884, the year the extension and renovation of the building was completed, but the official opening ceremony was not held until April 1885, when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) formally opened the building. A report in the Cork Examiner for 16 April 1885 gives a graphic account of the event:

Long before the hour appointed for the visit to the new School of Art, crowds of people assembled in Academy-street and Nelson's Place. They lined the footpaths, and where practicable, the centre of the streets, but as a rule the latter was taken up by a troop of the 11th Hussars and a body of police . . . All the members of the committee of the School of Art were in the building making arrangements for the reception from an early hour in the morning. A carpet was laid down all the length of the entrance hall, . . the exterior was tastefully decorated with flags. At a quarter to twelve o'clock, the royal carriage rolled up to the main door amid the music of the Hussar's band and the cheers of those within the building. Some handkerchiefs were waved from the windows, but all the demonstrations of welcome were completely drowned by the storm of hissing that burst from the large crowd in the street. Dr. W. K. Sullivan (president of the building committee) received their Royal Highnesses at the entrance, and the members of the committee were ranged along the hall . . . The Princess of Wales led the procession through the building, leaning on the arm of Mr. James Brenan. The male students of the school cheered the Royal party as they visited the old portion of the building, while the lady students were also cordial in their demonstration of welcome, and at one period of the visit they sang "God Save the Queen". The crowd in the street kept hissing all the time, except when they varied the sibilant expressions of disapproval by cheering for Parnell and singing "God save Ireland". [Cork Examiner, 16th April 1885, p. 3, cols 3 & 4]

Miss Beamish presented a bouquet to the Prince on the part of the lady students. The Royal party were then conducted downstairs to the new exhibition room for casts, where Mr. George Adams read an address, after which the Prince of Wales formally named the new building the Crawford School of Art.

Students at the School of Art (now referred to as 'the Central School') received their examination results at the beginning of September 1885. The following students were successful: Emily Anderson, William J. Atkinson, Maria E. T. Baker, Agnes M. Barry, Achilles Bradish, Francis Burke, Lizzie Clarke, William L. Cooke, Robert Daly, Peter Dee, Kyrle S. Evans, Sara W. Green, Joseph Harrison, Hugh Highet, William H. Hill, Edward L. Hornibrook, Annie Jones, Alleyn Lovell, Michael Lynch, George McBride, Eugene J. McSwiney, Malcolm Marks, John Muir, Cornelius Murphy, Richard C. Murphy, Maggie Murray, Alfred Newson, Joseph O'Connor, John F. O'Mahony, Denis O'Neill, Harriett Orr, Patrick O'Sullivan, Frederick Patterson, Harry Patterson, Arthur Percival, John Roberts, Louis Roche, Thomas Scott, Isabella Tuckey, Ursula Tuckey, Frances Amy Whitelegge, Samuel Williams, Emily Haynes. In the Science Division, the following students were successful: Arthur Percival, Thomas Scott, Richard C. Murphy, and William H. Hill. [Cork Examiner, 4th Sept. 1885, p. 4, col. 1]

The annual distribution of prizes for 1885 was not to take place until February 23rd of the following year. This 'very interesting ceremony', as the Lord Mayor referred to it, was held in the lecture theatre of the new School of Art. It had been intended to also hold a conversazione, or public reception and concert, in the School of Art, in co-operation with the Cork Literary and Scientific Society, to coincide with the distribution of prizes; but bad weather had forced the deferment of the conversazione, and the exhibition of students' work, until March. However, in February it was decided to proceed with the students' awards ceremony without further delay.
James Brenan in his report for the the year 1885, noted that 235 students were now attending the school. Of these, only 19 were described as being in the "Science Classes", with only two students obtained results in Building Construction examinations. Brenan regretted that more students did not attend 'this useful class', and went on:

It is true that close study and earnest work are required by those who do attend, but when the utility of these subjects is considered, it cannot but appear strange that in a city like Cork, where technical education is so much spoken of, such subjects as descriptive geometry, machine drawing, etc., which form the foundation of a great deal of technical knowledge, should not attract more than 19 students, of whom only five or six attended to the end of the course. [Cork Examiner, 24th February 1886]

Brenan was to repeat these observations ten years later, when, as Headmaster of the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, he remarked on the dominance of women students, who were more interested in 'picture painting' than in following technical courses. [J. Turpin "The RHA Schools 1826-1906" Irish Arts Review 1991-1992, p. 205]
The Mayor's prizes went to Annie M. Sparling, Florence Gilbert, Maria F. Lindsay, Georgina Lewis, Isabel Jennings, Mary Hall, Annie Jones, Maggie Murray, Patrick O'Sullivan, Hugh Somerville, John O'Connell, Peter Dee, Michael Lynch, Michael McNamara, Richard Baker, Achilles Bradish, R. Daly, Eugune McSwiney and Thomas Scott. In addition, the last four of these received Free studentships.
Certificates were awarded to William J. Atkinson, Agnes M. Barry, Francis Burke, William L. Cooke, Peter Dee, Kyrle S. Evans, Sara W. Greene, Joseph Harrison, Hugh Highett, William H. Hill, Edward L. Hornibrook, Emily Hynes, Annie Jones, Alleyn Lovell, Michael Lynch, George McBride, Cornelius Murphy, Maggie Murphy, Alfred Newsom, Joseph O'Connor, John O'Mahony, Denis O'Neill, Patrick O'Sullivan, Henry Patterson, Arthur Percival, and Samuel Williams.

An important branch class of the School of Art, which was held in Convent of the Poor Clares, Kenmare, concentrated on teaching nuns and students the art of lace-making. Prizes were awarded to M. Courtenay, B. Courtenay, G. Smith, L. Trappes and L. Guisani, whose designs, mainly for Irish point lace handkerchiefs, were forwarded to South Kensington for the National Competition. [Cork Examiner, 4th Sept. 1885, p. 4, col. 1] The first of these, Mary Courteney, was a fashionable lady from the Square in Kenmare, who had joined the Convent of the Poor Clares shortly after it's foundation in 1861. The abbess of the convent, Mother O'Hagan, was an enthusiastic promoter of needlepoint lace work, as a means for women to gain a measure of economic independence. [Patrick V. O'Sullivan "Kenmare Lace" Irish Arts Review 1991-1992, p. 106]

The classes in lace design at the convents at Killarney and Kinsale were also proving very successful--the class at Kinsale had been founded as far back as 1847, but it was only in1885 that it was brought into association with the Department of Science and Art at South Kensington. Alan S. Cole of South Kensington had succeeding in obtaining a prize fund of £73, which was awarded in 43 different prizes in an open competition for the design of Irish lace. Students at the Cork School and its branches had succeeded in winning ten of these prizes, with other prizes going to lace designers in places as far afield as Hamburg and Karlsruhe. Cole had been given £200 to collect examples of Irish lace for the Victoria and Albert Museum after the Cork Industrial Exhibition of 1883, and he had worked closely with James Brenan in promoting the lace-making industries of Co. Cork.

From the Central School in Cork, T. Scott, L. Perry and E. Anderson won prizes for their designs for dress trimmings, antimacassars and chalice veils. Owing to the remodelling which was still taking place in the Central School, the wood-carving classes had had to be cancelled temporarily. One of the students of this class, a John Linehan, had so excelled as a student in Cork that he had been awarded a Free Studentship at the London School of Art Wood Carving for two years running, with additional financial assistance from the Executive Committee of the Cork Exhibition.

During the month of the previous September, the National Competition drawings, which included works from all the Schools of Art in the United Kingdom, had been exhibited in the new galleries of the Cork School of Art, with over 4000 people attending. The exhibition of National Competition drawings had also been shown in Cork in 1883. Brenan emphasised to the students that he had requested the National Competition drawings for a second showing in order to inspire work befitting their fine new school: "This gratification the students can give Mr. Crawford, and at the same time, benefit themselves . . ." [Cork Examiner, 4th Sept. 1885, p. 4, col. 1] In the moving the adoption of Brenan's report, Mr. R. Scott expressed satisfaction with the new school building. He recalled how students in the old 'dilapidated' school had been hard put upon to produce art under difficult conditions: ". . .some of them were obliged to hold umbrellas over their heads whilst at work to prevent the rain from descending upon them through the old worn-out roof of the building (laughter)." [Ibid.] He also praised the generosity of William H. Crawford:

Fortunately for them, Mr. Crawford was himself a man of taste, a lover of fine arts; and he had the means--the money in his pocket--and he did lavish it with an unsparing hand in order to provide for them one of the best establishments of its kind . . . [Ibid.]

In 1885, John Gilbert, with an address at 120 Patrick Street, Cork, exhibited three paintings at the RHA annual exhibition. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 294]

1886

Alan Cole of the Department of Science and Art in South Kensington paid two visits to Ireland in 1886, visiting the lace class the Convent of the Poor Clares in Kenmare on January 29th and again later that year, in November. He was impressed with the work he found, particularly with the design for a large quilt, valued at £300, which had been commissioned by the wife of an American millionaire named Winnaces. [Patrick V. O'Sullivan "Kenmare Lace" Irish Arts Review 1991-1992, p. 107]

The long-promised Conversazione took place at the new School of Art on three evenings, from Tuesday 27th to Thursday 29th April, 1886. The first evening of exhibitions, concert recitals, and other entertainments was intended to formally inaugurate the new building (the earlier ceremony in 1885, when the Prince of Wales had formally named the building, had taken place before the construction and renovation work had been completed), while the second night was enhanced by a concert given by the School of Music: "It was a real pleasure to hear Miss O'Callaghan's beautiful contralto once again. Her singing of the song 'Should he Upbraid' was exquisite, and proved abundantly her rare gift of voice." [Cork Examiner, 29th April 1886, p. 2, col. 6] The crowds were also excited into admiration by Miss Lambkin's piano playing, while the rendering of Beethoven's "Sonata in D" by Miss Reynold, 'of tender age', was considered 'a most creditable effort', as was Mr. McCarthy's singing of the melody "Erin, the Tear and the Smile". The crowds were also entertained throughout the evening by the band of the "Queens Regiment", which played 'a fine selection, irreproachably'. On the final evening of the Conversazione, Professors England, Hartogg and Pearson demonstrated the use of the microscope and other scientific instruments.
A painting by William Gerard Barry was also displayed on this night. Entitled The Fountain, it depicted a woman filling a pitcher of water for a little child at a fountain. At this time, Barry was working on the continent, having been advised to travel to the continent by his teacher at the Cork School of Art, Thaddeus Jones. The following year, 1887, Barry was at the small artists' colony at Etaples, Pas de Calais, and that same year he painted Time Flies, probably his finest known work, which is now in the Crawford Gallery collection (Cat. No. ***). [J. Campbell, The Irish Impressionists, p. 190] In the years following, Barry worked in Canada and the United States, as well as Europe, making a living as a portrait painter. According to a relative of the artist, he travelled on the trans-Atlantic liners which docked at Queenstown (later Cobh) in Cork harbour; on one occasion visiting Cobh with Augustus John.

At the RHA in Dublin, Barry's former teacher at the Cork School of Art, Henry Jones Thaddeus exhibited for the first time, showing two views of Venice and a work entitled Elaine. Jones was at this time living in London. He was to exhibit regularly at the Academy over the following sixteen years. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 206]

In June 1886, the Examiner reported that Mr. J. F. Davis, sculptor, of Sunview, College Road, had just completed a seven foot high representation of St. Joseph and the Child in Portland stone. The statue was for the Little Sisters of the Poor, in Montenotte. Davis had exhibited two sculptures at the Cork Exhibition in 1883. Other works in his studio noted by the Examiner were two 'street scenes', in relief, a bust of Charles Stuart Parnell, and a bust of the Rt. Hon. T. D. O'Sullivan, Lord Mayor of Dublin. [Cork Examiner, 26th June 1886, p. 2, col. 6]

1887

A second Conversazione was held at the Crawford School of Art in September 1887, on the occasion of the completion and opening of the picture galleries. The Examiner reported on what the visitors might expect:

The Art Library, in which are already assembled some most rare and valuable books, will contain beside Mr. Robert Day's remarkable collection. In the Art Lecture room there will be offered a display of microscopes and other scientific instruments, and a succession of experiments; while in the new class rooms (Nos. 1 and 2) electricity and other interesting phases of applied science will be illustrated. The Christian Brothers, in Nos. 3 and 4, will exhibit their magnificent collection. [Cork Examiner, 27th Sept. 1887, p. 2, col. 4]

Music formed an important part of the proceedings, with both the band of the Devonshire Regiment, and the pupils of the School of Music, performing in different parts of the building.

The headmaster of the School of Art, James Butler Brenan, presented his annual report for 1887 at the ceremony for the distribution of prizes to the students, which took place early in January the following year. He noted that the total number of students, in both day and evening classes, was now 268.

Brenan took particular pride in the awards which had been won by students of the lace classes, notably Bridget Moran of Killarney, Margaret O'Sullivan of Tralee, Emily Anderson of Cork and both Bridget and Mary Courtenay of Kenmare. Caroline C. Beatson received a silver medal for crochet design. There were now seven branch classes in lace design affiliated to the Central School in Cork. These were held at the Convents of the Poor Clares, Kenmare; Presentation Convents, Killarney, Tralee and Youghal; the Convent of Mercy, Kinsale; St. Vincent's Convent, Cork, and the Ursuline Convent, Blackrock. Kenmare and Youghal specialised in point lace, while Killarney concentrated on reticella and embroidery. Limerick lace and crochet were taught at Kinsale, Tralee and St. Vincent's in Cork. Seven National prizes had been won by these classes. It was intended to establish further branch classes at Thurles and Parsonstown, pillow-lace making being already well established in the latter town. Brenan was pleased to report on the commercial success enjoyed by these classes in lace design: students at the Cork School of Art had prepared designs for a Mrs. O'Brien in Limerick, for the firm of Biddle Brothers in London, and for Todd & Co., in Limerick. It was intended to hold an exhibition of lace design at the Cork School in April 1888. Alan S. Cole, of South Kensington, who had provided much of the impetus and support for this revival of lace-making, had visited Cork twice in the past year, and had given much valuable advice to the teachers and students of the lace-making classes. Cole had also lectured to the students at Kenmare, Tralee and the other branch schools, who subsequently applied to the Treasury for support for the continuation of Cole's visits and lectures. Brenan worked closely with Cole on the development of this Irish lace revival, and had himself in the past year visited lace-making centres in Belgium and France. A recent article inThe Illustrated London News had reproduced a design for a piece of Irish lacework, which was to be presented to the Pope by the bishops of Ireland, and which had been designed in Kenmare and executed in the Presentation Convent at Youghal.

Throughout the year, work had continued on the completion of the picture galleries at the new School of Art. Several gifts of paintings by Cork artists had been made to the new galleries, as well as a loan of paintings from South Kensington. Some works had also been loaned to the new gallery by a Fr. Horgan of Kilworth. [Horgan loan, c.f. Cork Examiner, 24th December 1888, p. 2, col. 4]

In the field of building trades, two scholarships of £50 each had been offered by the committee of the 1883 Cork Exhibition. One was gained by William J. Atkinson, and enabled him to study for a period in London. The other scholarship was not awarded, the money being used instead to award a grant to Michael Murphy, a stone-carver.
Prizes had been awarded to the following students: Caroline C. Beatson, James Ogilvie, Emily Anderson, Edith J. Brownrigg, Edith M. Breton, Alice Corbett, Minnie Allen, Maria E. T. Baker, Jenny Elwood, Eleanor Ferguson, Florence Gilbert, Geraldine Hall, Catherine Magrath, Josephine O'Donnell, Emilie Roche, Anna M. Sparling, Ellie J. Whitelegge, Patrick O'Sullivan, Robert Daly, Henry D. Bradish, Achilles Bradish, Richard R. Baker, William J. Atkinson, Denis L. Fleming, Richard H. Good, Hugh Highet, Eugene J. McSweeny, Michael J. McNamara, Alan Lovell and Thomas Scott.

Second Grade Certificates were awarded to David J. Barry, Gertrude F. Bramhall, Mary J. Browne, John Conroy, Henry Clarke, Adelaide Creed, Lillie Curtis, Agnes M. Devane, John Diamond, Kate Daly, Edith M. Egan, Ellen Exham, Allan F. Gardiner, Selina A. Good, Richard J. Higgins, Elizabeth Harley, Anna Jennings, Lillie Lovell, Michael Lynch, Francis Magrath, Emily P. Maynard, Russell Martin, Horatio McGorum, Mary O'Gorman, Annie M. Riordan, Charles Sutton, Mildred J. Twiss.

Science certificates (technical drawing) were awarded to Thomas Callanan, George A. Boate, William Twohig and Charles B. Wood. [Cork Examiner, 19th Jan. 1888, p. 3, cols 3 & 4]

In 1887, Sir Edward Hudson-Kinahan enlarged and remodelled Glenville Park, at Glenville, to the designs of Sandham Symes. [M. Bence-Jones, p. 140]

1888

At the annual distribution of prizes to students which took place in December 1888, James Brenan noted that the total number of students studying art at the School was now 263. For the first time, a student from Cork had been awarded the National gold medal, the highest honour awarded by the Department in London. This student, Caroline Beatson, had also been awarded the £25 Princess of Wales' Scholarship, for her lace designs. Beatson, and another student of the lace classes, Emily Anderson, had been invited to London to attend lectures on design. The lace classes generally were thriving, with the Convent at Tralee spending £1000 on the construction of a small Art School for their classes. A new class had been opened at the Presentation convent in Skibbereen. These branch classes were being attended by many National School teachers, who in turn were passing on the instruction to their pupils. Brenan complimented the class at Youghal on their completion of a lacework fan for Mrs. Alfred Morrison, while students Mary Hennessy, and Edith Breton of the lace class in Kinsale, had won prizes offered by the Society for the Promotion of Home Industries in Dublin. The exhibition of lace work held at the School of Art in April 1888 under the auspices of the "Ladies' Committee of the 1883 Cork Exhibition", had been successful, although the amount of money raised from the public for future prizes had been disappointing. Designs for lace produced at the School in Cork had been purchased by Todds of Limerick, Mrs. R. Vere O'Brien, Hayward Brothers of London, and the Convent of the Good Shepherd in Sunday's Well. Students at the Cork school had also been engaged over the summer in 'making designs for such a distant lace-making centre as Malta'. In addition, two designs, one of them a Celtic design for the decoration of a missal cover, exhibited by Kenmare at South Kensington the previous year, had been purchased by the Department of Science and Art. Brenan was delighted to report that, largely through the efforts of Member of Parliament W. J. Lane, the visits of Alan Cole to the various branch schools were to continue.

Brenan also reported that the first prize of £40 in the Taylor Scholarship competition in Dublin had been awarded to a former Cork student, William Gerard Barry. Two other scholarships, awarded by the Committee of the 1883 Cork Exhibition, had been won by Denis Fleming, carpenter, and William O'Sullivan, lithographer, who were both now studying at South Kensington. A copy in marble of a bas-relief by Donatello, carved in London by scholarship student Michael Murphy, had been purchased by the Director of Art at South Kensington, for £25. William Atkinson, another scholarship student, was studying architecture at South Kensington, under architecture master Henry Hagreen.

The death of William Horatio Crawford had cast a pall over the year, and Brenan spoke at length of his contribution to the School, and of his continued interest in its development, and of the well-being of the students. Mr. R. Scott, in moving the adoption of the report, commented that over 300 workers associated with the various lace schools in Cork and Kerry were now now 'earning a very decent and respectable livelihood'. He was very glad to hear that next year the Government intended to introduce a bill to promote technical education in the United Kingdom, and he looked forward to the establishment of a Technical School in Cork.

Prizes were then awarded to students Edith Breton, Caroline Day, Jane Elwood, Edith M. Egan, Elizabeth Harley, Lizzie Rice, Georgina Mackinlay, Ellen McCheane, Anna M. Sparling, Annie Sarsfield, Margaret Murray, Katherine Oakshott, Lizzie Clarke, Ellie Isabella Whitelegge, Amy Whitelegge, Eleanor M. Ferguson, Geraldine M. Hall, Lizzie Perry, Emily Anderson, Caroline Beatson, James Archer, Richard Baker, David Canty, Michael Holland, Michael Lynch, John Linehan, William O'Sullivan, Patrick O'Sullivan, John O'Connell, Frederick Paterson, Thomas Scott, Achilles Bradish, Alleyn Lovell, John Conroy, Hamilton Gratten, George Share, Michael J. MacNamara, George J. Bernard, Robert Mahony, Michael Newman, Denis L. Fleming and William Seymour.

Art Certificates were awarded to Annie Haynes, Florence O'Gorman, Annie Murphy, Minnie Burke, Kathleen Dowman, Dusan Bergin, Flora Hall, Jennette Alexander, Charlotte Biggs, Michael J. Newman, Arthur Elwood, George Coates, William Barriscale, Stanley Lester, Arthur Mayne, James W. Steele, Henry Bradish, Gernet Lester, William Hannen, Thomas Roberts, Anne Humphreys, Annie Graves, Nellie Humphreys, Sarah Ruby, George Munckton, Alan Gardner, Henry Clarke, Elizabeth Graham, Ethel Pim, William Twohig, Kathleen Longfield, Annie Jennings, Mildred Twiss, Minnie Morton, Alice Corbett, Gertrude Wramhall, Edith Brownrigg. [Cork Examiner, 24th December 1888, p. 2, col. 5]

In May 1889, a "Peripatetic Correspondent" of the Examiner reported on the progress being made by sculptor John Lawlor (1820-1901) on a memorial statue of the late Most Rev. Dr. Delany, Bishop of Cork. Lawlor was working on the monumental sculpture in a studio at the School of Art, and the report captures something of the character of the building at that time:

I retraced my steps to the entrance hall, and passed along to the foot of the grand staircase leading to the series of picture galleries on the second floor. Halting for a moment my attention was attracted to the entrance hall by the sound of footsteps coming from that direction. On looking around I observed a tall, elderly priest, and the courteous and attentive concierge of the institution coming towards me. The latter addressing me said--"Have you been in to see the figure of the Bishop?" I inquired, "What Bishop?" He said --"The Most Rev. Dr. Delaney, whose memorial is being prepared here by the artist." I observed that I was not aware of such a work being in progress on the premises and expressed a desire to be shown ot the studio where the artist was at work. . He led the way and I followed, passing along a corridor on each side of which there were doors opening into class rooms, exhibition rooms, etc, until we reached the end where one pace to the right and a turn to the left brought us in front of a large door at which the concierge rapped with his knuckles. A voice from the inside responded with the invitation "Come in". The door was opened, and in an instant we were standing in a lofty, spacious apartment, lighted by a lantern on the roof, through which the sun's rays streamed in with an almost dazzling brilliancy. In the midst of this blaze of lgiht and in front of a colossal figure of the Most Rev. Dr. Delaney, elevated on a platform about four feet high, sat the artist silently and truthfully developing bit by bit in plastic clay the portly figure of the late eloquent Bishop. [Cork Examiner, 1st May 1889, p. 2, col. 7]

The artist, pointing to bundles of wood stacked up in the studio, explained to his visitors that he had built up the mass of the figure using wood, so that the final layer of clay was only about three inches in depth. Although a plaster casting of the statue would take place on the spot, the casting in bronze would take place in London, as there was no foundry in Ireland capable of handling such a large figure. John Lawlor at this point was a well-known Irish sculptor. He had modelled many of the statues adorning the new Houses of Parliament, as well as the group representing "Engineering" on the Albert Memorial in Kensington Gardens. In Cork, apart from the statue of Bishop Delany, Lawlor produced several statues for the new cathedral in Queenstown (Cobh). As a student, Lawlor had studied in Rome, and when the correspondent of the Examiner mentioned John Hogan, Lawlor recalled his meeting with Hogan in Rome:

He [Lawlor] called in to the studio, and found Mr. Hogan busily engaged. Mr. Hogan turned round, and said : "Lawlor, my dear boy, you are just in the nick of time. I am finishing the statue of Davis, and I want you to give me half an hour's sitting for the hair." "Certainly, with pleasure," said Mr. Lawlor, and down he sat, and the hair which falls back long and thickly from the head of Thomas Davis, the poet, got its natural flow from the head of John Lawlor, sculptor." [Ibid.]

Lawlor reckoned to be finished his statue of Bishop Delany within two months, having already spent two months preparing the clay model. The completed bronze sculpture was to be fixed to a massive pedestal outside St. Mary's Cathedral in Cork. (A plaster cast of this monumental statue is in the permanent collection of the Crawford Art Gallery.)

The Irish Builder in 1888 records architect J. F. Fuller carrying out alterations and additions to Killeagh Church. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXX, No. 696, 1st Dec. 1888, p. 300]

1889

James Brenan, headmaster at the School of Art, was not destined to remain in Cork for many years to enjoy the new facilities at the new School. The Cork Examiner in its edition of March 30th 1889, records the 'gloom over the entire establishment' at the departure of James Brenan to take up his new post as headmaster at the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin. Brenan's own theories were very much those of Ruskin and William Morris: "He believed firmly, from the day the Cork Exhibition was opened [1852], that they could do nothing better than add art to industry. He belived in that firmly, and it was the one hope he had in going to Dublin, to apply some of the principles there he had endeavoured to carry out in Cork."

Brenan retired as headmaster of the Crawford School of Art in June 1889, when he was appointed headmaster of the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin, a position he was to hold until his retirement, fifteen years later. At a ceremony held in the School library at the end of June, Brenan was presented with 'a service of plate and an address in the form of an illuminated album, the work of the students.' Several students, including Michael Holland, Miss Allen and Caroline Beatson spoke in praise of Brenan's achievements, and he responded with a short speech, in which he recalled his arrival in Cork 29 years before, when the School buildings had been 'a reproach to the city of Cork':

I may say they were eminently unsuitable for the purposes to which they were applied, and yet we steadily kept on our way, hoping that at some time the citizens of Cork might see the necessity which existed for improving a building which was architecturally an ornament to the city, and which contained within it at least the nucleus of an Art Gallery, a museum and a library. It might have remained until this day decayed and decaying were it not for the public spirit of one to whom Cork owes so much and whose memory shall ever remain with me as the kind-hearted, generous friend I found him, the late William H. Crawford (applause). [Cork Examiner, 1st July 1889, p. 2, col. 8]

Brenan was held in high esteem by the students of the Crawford School of Art, and the many testimonials paid to his talents are borne out both by the results achieved by his students, and by his own achievement in making the new School of Art a reality.

The death occured on 22nd April of James Butler Brenan (1825-1889), portrait painter, at his residence, 5 College View Terrace, Cork. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. I, p. 79]
From Bowen's Court, near Mallow, Co. Cork, Elizabeth Bowen sent a Study of an Italian Cardinal and a Study of a Girl's Head for exhibition at the RHA. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 66]
Also at the RHA that year, another woman artist from County Cork, Edith OE Somerville exhibited for the first time at the RHA, showing Retrospect. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 174] Somerville was to show at the Academy on only four other occasions, in 1891, 1892, 1903 and 1920.

The Gresham Life Assurance Company erected new offices on the South Mall in 1889, designed not by an architect, but by a civil engineer, R. Walker. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXI, No. 717, 1st Nov. 1889, p. 267]

1890

The death occured on April 29th, of sculptor Edward Ambrose, aged 76.

On the 15th February 1890, the death occured of William Henry Stopford (1842-1890), the son of Robert Lowe Stopford. William Henry had studied at the Cork School of Art before going on to become a student, then a master, at South Kensington. He also taught, along with W. L. Casey, at St. Martin's School of Art, before going on to become head master of the School of Art in Halifax, Yorkshire. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. II, p. 405] In May 1890, it was announced that the Manchester fine arts printers R. H. & J. Sharp had acquired the rights to Stopford's recently completed watercolour of Timoleague Abbey. Sharp had previously lithographed Stopford's Blarney Castle, over140,000 copies of which had been distributed in the United States alone. One of the exhibitors at the 1890 RHA exhibition was Miss Charlotte C. Stopford, most probably a daughter of Robert Lowe Stopford, who exhibited a total of twenty-six landscapes, many of them Cork scenes, at the Academy between 1887 and 1916. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 187]

Eugene J. McSwiney, of 16 Grattan Street Cork, who had received the Mayor's Prize while a student at the School of Art four years previously, exhibited two paintings at the 1890 RHA exhibition; A Day Dream and A Reverie. [A. Stewart, Vol. II, p. 248] McSwiney exhibited at the RHA the two years following, before moving to London, where he remained for the rest of his career, occasionally exhibiting at the Academy in Dublin.

Also at the RHA in 1890, Cork architect Arthur Henry Hill showed his drawings for the Crawford School of Science and Art, constructed five years previously, while architect W. G. Doolin exhibited his prize-winning designs for the facade of the Father Mathew Memorial Church in Cork. [A. Stewart, Vol. II, p. 87; Vol. I, p. 220] Work continued on the magnificent gothic St. Colman's Cathedral at Queenstown (Cobh). The December 1st edition of The Irish Builder illustrated architect George Ashlin's designs for the wrought-iron hinges for the entrance doors. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXII, No. 743, pp. 282-283, Dec. 1st, 1890]

At the older, Church of Ireland, St. Colman's Cathedral in Cloyne, a monument to Bishop Berkeley was unveiled. The sculptor was A. Bruce-Joy. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXII, No. 739, p. 227, Oct. 1st, 1890]

1891

1891

The results of the annual examinations for 1891 were announced in the first week in September. Amongst those who won medals were Emily Anderson, Georgina Mackinlay, Minne Nagle and Edith Mary Breton (for lace designs), while Patrick O'Sullivan won a medal for his measured drawing of the pulpit in St. Mary's Church in Youghal. Lizzie Perry, James Archer and Anna Sparling were also awarded prizes, as were Michael McNamara, Michael Holland and Hugh Charde. Charde was obviously a student of some merit; in 1886 his portrait of T. Mahony, Esq., J. P. had been shown at the annual exhibition of the RHA, and he continued to exhibit with the Academy until 1938. Although a talented painter, and a member of the teaching staff of the Crawford School of Art for many years, Charde's work is not well known. He is represented in the Crawford Gallery collection by several works.

Another prize winning student in 1891, James Archer, was also to become a teacher at the Crawford School of Art, when, in 1906 he returned from scholarship studies in London, to start a metalwork class in Cork. The Crawford collection includes an elaborate Celtic Revival casket, which was made by James Archer, on which he demonstrated the most important techniques of metalworking and enamelling. His son, Fred Archer, still practices metalwork and jewellery-making in Cork, at 32 Grand Parade. [Letter from Fred Archer to the author, 12th Nov. 1990]

Returning to a century ago, those students who had their works accepted for the Art Class Teachers' Certificate in 1891 were Emily Anderson, Edith Breton, Denis J. Buckley, Maggie Bullen, Cornelius Cahill, Lizzie Clarke, Jane Elwood, Eleanor M. Fergussen, Caroline Hill, William Hoare, Louisa Jones, Mary Kerr, Alleyn Lovell, Madeline M. Merne, Chrissie Robertson, John Roberts and Amy Whitelegge. [Cork Examiner, 8th Sept. 1891, p. 3, col. 4] Of the above students, it is worth noting Lizzie Clarke, who went on the exhibit views of the Cork coastline at the RHA, from 1894 until 1905; when she seems to have moved to St. Ives in Cornwall. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 135]

Other students, recorded as successful in their 1891 third grade certificate examinations were; Margaret Allen, Elizabeth Anderson, Thomas R. Atkinson, Richard Baker, Patrick J. Barrett, Henry Clarke, Alice F. M. Cuppage, Emily G. Daly, Caroline W. Day, May A. R. Dobbin, Kate Dobbin, Mary Forrest, Percy Gilbert, Sidney Gilbert, Anna C. Hall, May M. Hartog, Anne Humphreys, Elizabeth Johnstone, Stanley Lester, Janetta E. Lovell, Elisa B. Marmion, Francis McCarthy, Ellen M. McCheane, Daisy McKinlay, Annie Murphy, Patrick Murray, Thomas Murray, Francis O'Hanlon, Denis O'Neill, Dominic O'Regan, Fred O'Sullivan, William O'Sullivan, Annie Reardon, Ethel Roberts, James J. Sargent, Angel Sarsfield, Sarah F. Scott, Georgina Sutton, Jeanie Tobin, Isabella J. Treanor, Lizzie Walker, Arthur J. Williams, John H. Williams and Thomas Williamson.

One of the above students, Kate Dobbin (1868-c.1948) is worth noting. Although born in Bristol, the daughter of a solicitor, she spent most of her life in Cork, where she attended the School of Art between 1891 and 1895. As she is referred to in the examination lists as Dobbin, she must have married her husband, Alfred Graham Dobbin, himself a keen amateur artist, before enrolling as a student. Alfred Graham was a Cork tobacco manufacturer; he served as High Sheriff of the city in 1900 and received a knighthood, after which Mrs. Dobbin became Lady Kate Dobbin. She practiced as an artist for over half a century, specialising in watercolours of Irish country scenes and still-lives of flowers. Between 1894 and 1947 she exhibited over one hundred such watercolours at the RHA. In later years, the Dobbins resided at the Imperial Hotel in Cork. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 216] Sir Alfred and Lady Kate Dobbin are both represented in the Crawford Gallery collection.

Kate Dobbin was not untypical as a student: As had been the case with the Crawford School of Art since its foundation, the pupil intake tended towards the more affluent and educated families, and realisation of this social imbalance led to initiatives such as the 1891 scheme for admitting apprentice plasterers, stone-cutters, carpenters and masons at half-fees. This initiative did not come from the Art Committee, but rather from an amalgamation of unions known as the United Trades, which offered to pay the balance of the apprentices' fees. The art master Mr. Maguire, 'himself a member of one of the trades', was to teach the class. The Art Committee also agreed to give two free studentships to each National School in the city in addition to the studentships they already offered at the Christian Brothers' schools. [Cork Examiner, 6th October1891, p. 2, cols 4, 5]

Orientalism was in favour in Cork in 1891, with architect Henry Hill designing a new Turkish Baths for the city. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXIII, No. 765, p. 248, 1st Nov. 1891] Also, around this time, Capt. Adam Warren-Perry remodelled his house, Perryville, in Kinsale, in an extravagant Art Nouveau and Oriental style. [M. Bence-Jones, p. 231]

1892

At the beginning of January, members of the Art Committee, including W. Ringrose Atkins, Thomas Crosbie, the Rev. M. Kerr and F. McMullen met to discuss their response to the news that their Chairman, the very Rev. Canon Sheehan, had just been offered the bishopric of Waterford, and had offered his resignation as chairman of the Art Committee of the School of Art. They agreed to ask him not to resign that year. [Cork Examiner, January 14th, 1892, p. 2, col. 6] The Crawford School of Art that year took in 75 students to its day classes, 129 to the evening classes. [Cork Examiner, February 19th, 1894, p. 6, col. 5]

The Irish Builder records the rebuilding of the fire-damaged Cork Courthouse, to the designs of architect W. H. Hill. The courthouse was formally reopened four years later. [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXIV, No. 777, p. 99, May 1892]

1893

At the beginning of the term, in September, an examination was held to select eight free students, who would attend the School of Art without paying any fees until June 30th the following year. The only condition was that candidates should be under twenty-one years of age and have not attended the School of Art previously. This scheme was funded privately, by philanthropist Sir John Arnott, who subscribed £25 annually to fund the scheme. In addition, another examination was to be held on September 28th, to select the ten free students from the National Schools of the city, thus enabling a total of eighteen free students to attend the Crawford School of Art in the coming year. The Examiner commented 'this should tend to make our School of Art a thoroughly popular institution', although, in the event, only thirteen free students were admitted to the school in 1893. [Cork Examiner, Sept. 22nd, 1893, p. 5, col. 1; also Feb. 19th, 1894, p. 6, col. 5]

The report of the Art Committee, for the year ending 1893, was presented at the annual distribution of prizes, which took place in February of the following year. The Secretary, J. F. McMullen, recorded the achievements of the School under its headmaster W. A. Mulligan. It would appear that Mulligan was a person of some private means: the attention of the committee was directed "to the very handsome subscription given each year by Mr. Mulligan towards the salaries of the assistant teachers, the amount in 1892 being £80, and in 1893, £98." [Cork Examiner, 19th Feb. 1894, p. 6, col 5]. Students attending the School of Art now numbered 258 in total; just over a third of these were day students.

An exhibition of students' works was mounted in the School of Art at the end of January, to co-incide with the awards ceremony. [Cork Examiner, 31st Jan. 1894, p. 6, col. 1] This exhibition could not include the work of teacher Emily Anderson, who had excelled again in the national competition in South Kensington, winning a silver medal for her studies of historic lace designs, some of which had been purchased by the Science and Art Department. Patrick O'Sullivan's work was also on exhibition in South Kensington, where he gained a bronze medal for his measured drawing of the old Courthouse in Cork. Mrs. Kate Dobbin (Lady Kate Dobbin) was another talented student who could not be represented in the exhibition at the Cork School; she had sent four watercolours to Dublin for the RHA annual exhibition. As a student and a benefactor of the School, Lady Kate Dobbin in 1893 found herself in the curious position of winning an Arnott prize, for 'a beautiful monochrome from the cast', while fellow student Edith Breton won the Dobbin Prize for 'an admirably painted head from life'. Other students represented at South Kensington were Maggie Bullen, Minnie Nagle and Isabel Treanor, who each gained a bronze medal for designs for lace, while Madeleine le Mesurier and Georgina Mackinley received book prizes, also for lace designs. Other book prizes went to John R. Roberts and Hugh Charde, the latter also receiving his Art Masters' Certificate. John Roberts won the first Arnott Prize, for 'a figure shaded from the antique', and the second Arnott Prize went to Madeleine le Mesurier. Two other Arnott prizes, for modelling in clay, went to Henry Clarke and Mr. George Coates. Isabel Treanor received a £50 scholarship from the 1883 Cork Exhibition Committee, while their second scholarship, for carpenters, masons, etc., went to Edward Corkery. A previous winner of this scholarship, Joseph O'Brien, had gone on to win a bronze medal at South Kensington for his architectural drawing. The building selected for the architectural drawing students' competition in Cork was the old Great Southern and Western Railway station ('the old Glanmire terminus'), and the architect W. H. Hill, who awarded the first prize to student P. H. Curtis, commented on the quality of the students' measured drawings. Notwithstanding this improvement, the annual prize fund of £6, which had been awarded each year by the Builders' Association, was withdrawn in 1893.
The exhibition of students' work at the Crawford included a section devoted to 'the best water-colour out-door sketch executed during the summer vacation'. About thirty sketches were exhibited in this section, with the Headmaster's Prize going to Miss Sarsfield. Other successful students in the exhibition included Miss Acheson, Sarah Kingston and John Merne, who won prizes for 'tinted ornament'.

Mulligan went on to report that the number of evening students had more than doubled over the previous four years, and now stood at158. He noted that the number of day students had decreased in the same period, but commented "it is clearly much more important that the artizan classes should flourish than that there should be a large number of ladies attending in the day time (hear, hear)." [Cork Examiner, 19th Feb. 1894, p. 6, col 5] Mulligan encouraged the lady students to try the wood-carving classes, and remarked on the fact that only a dozen students attended the clay modelling classes.

The following students had their works accepted 'for Art Masters' (or Mistresses') Certificates': James De Quincey, Jane Elwood, Minnie Nagle, Amy Whitelegge, Emily Anderson, Georgina Mackinlay, Patrick O'Sullivan, William Sullivan, John Roberts, Hugh Charde and Michael McNamara. Works were accepted for Art Class Teachers' Certificates from: Charlotte Biggs, William Ellis, Caroline Hill, William J. Hoare, Mary Kerr, David Long, Ernest Perry, Edith Russell and Jeanie Tobin. Many of the above-mentioned students also received third grade certificates in subjects such as 'Historic Ornament', 'Modelled Design', 'Drawing the Antique from Memory' and 'Drawing in Light and Shade', as did Edith M. Breton, James Archer, 'Miss Dobbin', Josephine Dunlea, Sarah Kingston, Bessie Stackpoole, Lilian O'Connell, John J. Lyttle, Chrissie K. Robertson, Nellie E. Robertson, Mida Lynch, Gerard O'Sullivan, Mary A. Hogan and Thomas E. Roberts. Second Grade Certificates were awarded to some of the above students, and also to Julia Good, Eveline Sutton, Edith St. F. Marks, Theodore E. Reed, John R. Reed, Alex P. O'Leary, James M. Walker, William H. Wallace, Edward Rogers, Gerald O'Sullivan, Stephen D. O'Sullivan, John G. Aherne, George C. Jeffreys, Daniel Fitzgibbon, Christopher R. Peters, Christopher Gamble, Edward W. Dale, Charles E. Dale, Henry B. Dale, John F. O'Brien, Teresa Dunlea, Joseph F. Dunscombe, Mary K. Barry, Anna M. Meehan, Bridget M. Murphy, Maurice F. Landers, Mary Duffy, Mattie Preston, Robert B. Chillingworth, Thomas Park, James Murphy, Samuel R. Hosford, Thomas B. Keymes, Louisa O'Leary, Albert Coakley, Alfred Coakley, Bridget M. Sheehy, Jeremiah Murphy, Thomas E. Campbell, Kathleen A. Spillane, Mary O'Sullivan, Howard Hill, James S. McBride, Samuel Walker, Harry H. Fenner, Ignatius O'Sullivan, Catherine Oakshott, Maggie McKinlay, Daisy McKinlay, Minnie Lyndon, Fred H. Dale, Edward W. Dale, John G. Merne, John J. Lyttle, Thomas Williamson, Mary A. Mulligan, Annie Glavin, Lilia O'Connell, Arthur T. Williams, James J. Neff, Nicholas Ellis, Michael Holland, Louis O'Regan, Henry Roberts, Patrick Harden Curtis, Kate E. Daly, Maurice Burke, William Corkery and Thomas Kelleher.

Students of Building Construction in 1893 included Cornelius Hegarty, Ignatius O'Sullivan, Thomas Kelleher, Edward Corkery, James Lanigan, Daniel O'Regan, Patrick O'Connor, William Corkery, William Ellis, Thomas Kenealy, John Harrington, James Buckley, Arthur T. Williams, James C. O'Connell, Cornelius Fahey, William Carroll and Jeremiah Murphy.

In November 1893, readers of the Examiner were urged to visit an exhibition of three watercolour paintings by Cork artist William Magrath, at the Crawford School of Art gallery. The three works, entitled Trafalgar Square, An Ideal Head, and Bacchantes ('the vivacious figures in the foreground are admirably displayed against the bright blue of the Hellenic Sea'), were to be shown for only a few days, as the newspaper pointed out that the artist 'departs for America in a few days'. [Cork Examiner, 24th Nov. 1893, p. 5, col. 2](There are several works by Magrath in the permanent collection of the Crawford Art Gallery.)

James Griffin, of 42 Patrick Street, Cork, exhibited an etching entitled Cork from the Custom House Quay at the annual RHA exhibition. [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 311]
The Cork watercolourist Harry Scully showed three landscapes at the RHA exhibition in 1893. Scully had his studio at 15 Nelson's Place, the house where once Richard Sainthill lived and Daniel Maclise painted. Scully was to exhibit a total of ninety-six portraits and landscapes of Cork, Brittany, Normandy, Cornwall and other rural areas at the Academy, showing each consecutive year until 1911, when he ceased to exhibit for a period of twenty years. He re-emerges as an exhibitor at the Academy in 1931 and the following year, when he showed for the last time. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 140] (Scully is represented by several watercolours in the Crawford Gallery permanent collection.)
Also at the Academy's annual exhibition was a work entitled Autumn, by Miss A. Sarsfield, of Doughcloyne, Cork. [A. Stewart, Vol. III, p. 133]
The watercolour painter Henry Albert Hartland, originally from Mallow, died at Liverpool on 28th November 1893, after falling from a cliff. [W. G. Strickland, Vol. I, p. 451; see also The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXV, No. 815, 1st Dec. 1893, p. 273]

An article in the June 15th 1893 edition of The Irish Builder illustrated R. Cochrane's designs for the proposed new customs offices at Queenstown (Cobh). [The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXV, No. 804, pp. 140-141, June 15th, 1893] Not far away, at Midleton, George C. Ashlin designed the new Catholic church, which was built in that same year. At the RHA exhibition the following year, Ashlin was to exhibit two designs for his New Church, at Midleton, Co. Cork; while some years later he designed a new Munster and Leinster Bank for this same town [A. Stewart, Vol. I, p. 21;The Irish Builder, Vol. XXXV, No. 808, 15th Aug. 1893, p. 193]

In Chicago, at the 1893 World Columbian Exposition, the Irish pavilion was an elaborate assemblage of replica Irish buildings designed by L. A. MacDonnell for Lady Aberdeen, an enthusiastic promoter of the Irish lace industry. The success of the Irish pavilion at Chicago resulted in a large number of orders for Irish lace from the convents in counties Cork and Kerry. [Nicola Gordon Bowe "The Irish Arts and Crafts Movement (1886-1925)" GPA Irish Arts Review Yearbook 1990-1991, p. 175]

1894

At the beginning of May, the South Kensington Examinations took place at the Crawford School of Art. Thirty-nine students presented themselves for the first of these examinations, which were on plane and solid geometry. An inspector, Colonel Meredith, from South Kensington was in attendance, and several superintendents from the school committee. [Cork Examiner, p. 30th April 1894, p. 5, col. 8] The second examination was in "Principles of Ornament", followed by "Elementary Perspective" and "Freehand Drawing from the Cast". Other South Kensington inspectors who attended were Colonel Owen and Captain Bland, the latter presiding over the examination 'Drawing of ornament in monochrome'. [Cork Examiner, 12th May 1894, p. 5, col. 3]

The results of the South Kensington Examinations were published on September 10th, in the Cork Examiner. Maggie Bullen and Lizzie Perry each won a Bronze medal for crochet designs, and a National Book prize for their designs for lace, as did also Georgina Mackinlay, Minnie Nagle, Chrissie Robertson and Georgina Sutton. John R. Roberts also received a book prize, for a shaded drawing of the head of the Laocoon. Hugh Charde won two book prizes, one for a measured drawing of the pulpit in SS Peter and Paul's church, the other for a measured drawing of the facade of St. Mary's Church, Pope's Quay. Lizzie Perry won a book prize for a set of historic studies of old lace. Two other prize winners were George Coates and Patrick O'Sullivan.

Several of the above-mentioned students had their work accepted for Art Masters' and Mistresses' Certificates, as did also Emily Anderson (for a 'set of designs from plant forms adapted to certain manufactures'), Teresa Dunlea, Mary Hogan, Sarah Kingston and Lilian O'Connell. [Cork Examiner, 10th Sept. 1894, p. 6, col. 3]
Other students successful in the May examinations were Sara Acheson, Florence E. Anglin, William H. Baker, Charlotte Biggs, Denis J. Buckley, Thomas E. Campbell, Arthur H. Carleton, Josephine Casey, Robert B. Chillingworth, Alfred Coakley, William Corkery, Minnie Cotter, Patrick H. Curtis, Kate E. Daly, Adelaide D. E. De Foubert, Joseph F. Dunscombe, Josephine Dunlea, William F. Ellis, William Ellis, Jeannie Elwood, Harry H. Fenner, Christopher Gamble, Julia Good, Winnifred E. Hannon, Denis F. Hayes, Nora Healy, John F. Hegarty, Elizabeth Johnstone, Mary J. Kearney, Mary K. Kerr, Thomas B. Keyms, James Lanigan, Madeline Le Mesurier, David J. Long, William Low, John J. Lyttle, Madeline Merne, John G. Merne, Charles McGovern, Michael McNamara, Jeremiah M. Murphy, James C. O'Connell, Richard F. O'Connor, Alice M. A. O'Connor, Patrick O'Connor, Louisa O'Leary, William J. O'Mahony, Daniel M. O'Regan, Kate O'Reilly, Edmund B. O'Sullivan, John J. O'Sullivan, Christopher R. Peters, Fannie L. Pratt, Theodore E. Reed, James P. Reen, Sarah A. Reynolds, Michael Riordan, Thomas E. Roberts, Eleanor C. Robertson, Alice Rodgers, John H. Rutter, Franziska M. A. Schroter, Maurice B. Shaw, Bridget M. Sheehy, Kathleen A. Spillane, Monica M. Sullivan, Jane E. Tobin, Florence Treanor, Berti Welti, Amy S. F. Whitelegge, Thomas Williamson, Alexander H. Wilson, Anna E. Wolfe and Richard B. Wood. [Ibid.]

On September 14th, the competition for the Arnott Scholarships took place at the School of Art. The only restrictions on applicants were that they had to be aged 21 years or less, and that they must not have previously attended the School. The examination was a very simple one:

candidates being merely asked to copy a large drawing of ornament, and reduce it in size so as to fit the piece of drawing paper supplied to them. As every candidate will have to draw from the same copy, it is easy to compare their work, and to see which of them displays most correctness of eye and skill of hand. [Cork Examiner, 14th Sept. 1894, p. 5, col. 3]

In all, there were eighteen free studentships offered at the Crawford School of Art in 1894.

Miss Mary M. Hartog of Military Road, Cork, exhibited A Sketch at the RHA in 1894, and another work the following year. [A. Stewart, Vol. II, p. 59] She was probably the daughter of the Professor Hartogg who demonstrated the use of the microscope and other scientific instruments at the 'Conversazione' held at the School of Art in 1886 (q.v.).

1895

The 1895 winter session at the Crawford School of Art opened on Monday, September 2nd and continued until January 31st the following year. In keeping with the policy of trying to promote technical education, students at the School were now segregated into 'Industrial' and 'Non-Industrial'. There was an emphasis on teaching technical drawing, with Geometry and Perspective now vying with Artistic Anatomy and Historic Ornament. Classes for Machine and Building Construction had also been established at the School; there was no mention of 'Drawing from the Antique', although presumably this still formed a significant part of the curriculum. [Cork Examiner, 3rd Sept. 1895, p. 4, col. 3]

The results of the South Kensington examinations held the previous May were published in the Cork Examiner on September 6th. As usual, these examinations had consisted both of students' work being sent from Cork to the Department of Science of Art at South Kensington for assessment, as well as the personal examinations held at the School of Art in Cork, under the superintendence of South Kensington inspectors.

Yet again, the honours went mainly to the lace designers, with Lizzie Perry being awarded a silver medal for a set of designs for crochet; Georgina Mackinlay, a bronze medal, also for crochet designs; Maggie Bullen, Madeline Le Mesurier, and Minne Nagle, each a national book prize for designs for lace; Patrick O'Sullivan, a bronze medal for anatomical drawing, and other prizes, while Georgina Sutton, Jeanie Tobin, Thomas Roberts and Hugh Charde each received a prize of ten shillings for their work over the year.

Most of the above-mentioned students had works accepted for the Art Masters' or Mistresses' Certificates, as did also Emily Anderson, Nora T. Galvin, Elizabeth Johnstone and Amy Whitelegge. Other students successful in the May examinations were Leopold Allan, Robert F. Allan, Florence E. Anglin, Charlotte Biggs, Thomas E. Campbell, Arthur H. Carleton, May Chillingworth, Amy M. J. Clanchy, Alfred Coakley, Edward Corkery, John D. Curtin, Patrick H. Curtis, Adelaide D. E. De Foubert, John Dillon, Kate Dobbin ('Painting from Still-life'), Theresa Dunlea, William Ellis, David Ellis, Hugh W. Flanagan, Richard Farren, Michael J. Foley, Jessie Goldfoot, Julia Good, James G. Goulding, Mary Nora Lane, Joseph G. Lendrum, Mary Linehan, John J. Lyttle, William Low, William J. Mahony, Anita Mc