An exhibition of maritime paintings in Cork charts the move from canvas to steam, steam to diesel and the comings and goings over 300 years, writes Aidan Dunne.
Solidly planted at the apex of Lapp's Island, presiding over the reunited channels of the River Lee, with quays to either side, the Custom House, Cork is wonderfully sited. It was designed by Abraham Hargrave early in the 19th century, when the Port of Cork was just beginning a phase of dramatic development, and it is the ideal venue for the exhibition Maritime Paintings of Cork 1700-2000.
A glance at a map of Cork Harbour with its pattern of generous expanses of water guarded by narrow natural entrances is enough to convince you that sea traffic must have been the determining factor in the establishment and history of the city. Not to mention Cobh to the south, a town wedded to the water and home to the oldest yacht club in Ireland and Britain.
So rather than just being a collection of generic ship-and-sea subjects, the exhibition is a closely observed, engrossing account of the topography and history of Cork Harbour, its ships and shipping, with works drawn from the Crawford Art Gallery and other collections. From Willian van der Hagen's bustling 1738 view of Haulbowline surrounded by sailing craft of various sizes, to Kenneth King's paintings of present-day Irish Naval Service vessels, we witness the move from canvas to steam, steam to diesel, the comings and goings of formidable warships, myriad cargo vessels, emigrant ships and pleasure craft.
IN A WAY the show is dominated by the work of the several fine marine painters of the Cobh-based Atkinson family. They and others excelled at ships' portraits - lovingly detailed descriptions of individual vessels, made with an anorak's unrelenting eye for technical specifications. Momentous events also figure large, including Queen Victoria's visit to Cobh in 1848, which took the name Queenstown to mark the occasion, though it just didn't stick.
When Robert Lowe Stopford painted his beautiful panoramic view of the then Queenstown around 1870, St Colman's Cathedral, which dominates the skyline in the painting, wasn't actually there. He probably incorporated it on the basis of architectural drawings. A pity, since the town looks much better without the Gothic extravagance, designed by George Ashlin and Pugin.
Stopford's view is echoed in Mark Hathaway's 1995 view of Cobh, a wonderfully precise and lively panorama.
One of the most charming sets of exhibits is the series of watercolours by Richard Peterson Atkinson chronicling the cruises of the yacht Knight Templar around Cork Harbour in the 1870s: echoes of Swallows and Amazons.
But, given the nature of the beast, it is inevitable that rough weather and wreckings come up. The unfortunate SS City of New York is twice depicted, by RP Atkinson and Henry Albert Hartland, grounded on the Daunt Rock in 1864. The 1,679-ton (1.5 million kg) ship had just crossed the Atlantic, and her passengers and crew were taken to safety, but numerous efforts to refloat her failed and she was eventually abandoned, at substantial cost. One feels for her Captain, James Kennedy, who, though held to have been negligent, comes across as a thoroughly sensible, capable commander who suffered an understandable stroke of bad luck.
The accompanying book Maritime Paintings of Cork is a superb production, visually rich but also excellently documented, and boasting a hugely informative introductory text by Crawford director Peter Murray who, drawing on a variety of sources, delves into the relevant historical contexts, including the startling excesses of naval press gangs in the region.