In conjunction with the Triskel Arts Centre, Cork, Mike and I are pleased to announce our upcoming National Heritage Week talk, ‘Spirit of genius: art and patronage in nineteenth-century Cork’, to be delivered on 20 August at 1pm in Triskel Christchurch.

While our project is primarily concerned with Forde’s artistic milieu, this talk will look at nineteenth-century Cork’s wider civic and cultural landscape, of which he was a part. In particular, we want to show how the city’s leading families of the time, such as the Penroses, the Sainthills, and the Crawfords, interacted with and nurtured the first generation of students that passed through the Cork School of Art.

This patron/artist relationship is particularly significant for understanding developments in Cork art and culture of this period, especially the shift from art’s private to public consumption. Long before government funding, Arts councils or advocacy groups, these merchant and political elite acted as private benefactors and supporters for the city’s artistic, architectural and intellectual talent. As such, they left an indelible mark on Cork that reflects both their personal tastes and preserves the best of contemporary creative potential. Although we see this legacy every day, even in the plan of our streets, we often take this contribution to our city’s heritage for granted. So why not join Mike and I as we explore this legacy and what it means for Cork’s heritage!

For further details visit our event page or the Heritage Week website.

Note: Composite image includes photo of Triskel Christchurch (Michael Waldron), and details from (left to right) Charles Hutton Lear’s Portrait of Daniel Maclise (© National Portrait Gallery, London), Samuel Forde’s Self-portrait (© Crawford Art Gallery, Cork), and Richard James Lane’s Portrait of Richard Sainthill (© National Portrait Gallery, London).