VISUAL ARTS: Collectors and scholars, who have long awaited a second edition of The Painters of Ireland c.1660-1920 (1978), will not be disappointed. Retitled Ireland's Painters 1600-1940, it now spans a period up to Louis le Brocquy, with more information and significant reattributions in the earlier periods. There are over 400 illustrations, nearly all in colour, writes Adrian Le Harviel.
Ireland's Painters 1600-1940. By Anne Crookshank and the Knight of Glin. Yale University Press, 345pp. €55
Chapter headings remain similar, with the additions of 'Patronage and Dealing in the 18th Century' (the impact of both in the 20th century remains to be analysed) and 'The Advent of Modernism' to cover developments up to 1940. The emphasis is on oil painting, with necessary exceptions such as F.W. Burton, George Petrie and Mildred Anne Butler, who only used watercolour and the distinctive tradition of pastel. The authors admit that some paragraphs are little changed from the original; however, a scan of the footnotes or bibliography (grown from three to 10 pages) shows how much has been incorporated from their own and others' research.
Modest biographies on the dust-jacket belie the great debt owed to them. Anne Crookshank is Fellow Emerita of Trinity College, having established the Chair of Art History there. Since her time as curator at the Ulster Museum, she has promoted both historic and contemporary Irish Art.
Desmond FitzGerald, 29th Knight of Glin, is president of the Irish Georgian Society and his home, the magical Glin Castle, is a prime example of the country house today, receiving paying guests and visitors interested in the collection gathered by himself and his wife. He spearheaded the revival of interest in Irish furniture during his time at the Victoria and Albert Museum and, as Christie's chief representative in Ireland, has uncovered many of the paintings that illustrate the book.
Their writing method comes about "by conversation, as we discuss each sentence and compare it together", although this partnership of feisty personalities from Donegal and Limerick can appear more combative than collaborative. Their skill is in weaving a series of biographies into a readable narrative, with a sufficiency of historical background, adding contemporary and more recent comment while highlighting key paintings and giving their own balanced insights. These are not without wit or feeling, as in the observations about the "weak and rather knobbly" foliage of J.H. Campbell or the "seductive colour" of Jack B. Yeats.
Illustrations play a major part and there are two irritations here: the colour quality is inconsistent, at times muddy or too yellow; and captions are not always dated, even when given in the text, so slowing comparison, one of the pleasures of such a work.
Alongside the expected paintings from public collections, a large number of those illustrated remain in private hands. Ten of them are at present on exhibition at the National Gallery to mark the book's launch, ranging from the inscrutable Máire Rua O'Brien of the 1640s to a stunning vase of roses by Roderic O'Conor.
It is salutary to learn that, in the 15th century, the richest church diocese, Dublin, had no picture inventoried with its plate and vestments. One might contrast Flemish altarpieces commissioned from Memlinc and Van der Goes for England and Scotland, where painting was equally nascent and Irish nobles sat for their portraits to visiting artists in the Tudor period.
With the Restoration of Charles II, painting was properly established here, due to the cultural renaissance brought about by the Duke of Ormonde and the raising of quality by Garret Morphy to "a more competent level". Much more of Morphy's output, as well as that of William Gandy and the gentlemanly Thomas Pooley, is now identified.
The 18th century justifiably accounts for half of the book and it is here that the authors have gathered many of its finest images. If Robert West, the founding teacher of the important Dublin Society Schools, remains "maddeningly elusive", the better-known portraitists (James Latham, Nathaniel Hone, Robert Hunter) are more defined.
A number of small full-lengths by the erstwhile shadowy John Trotter are uncovered, along with John Astley's essays in Van Dyck, and we also discover that John Lewis had an artist wife, Judith. James Barry is still highlighted for the range of his imagination, now joined by Henry Brooke and a single known subject painting. The reputation of Hugh Douglas Hamilton in oil and pastel has soared and there is greater knowledge of other artists who visited Italy. Despite records of exhibits, religious art is absent and only features sporadically later with Nicholas Crowley and Joseph Haverty.
Landscape developed from topographical drawing to an extraordinary wall-sized oil of Stradbally House and Demesne, but might never have reached the heights of George Barret, Thomas Roberts and William Ashford without the lyrical works of William van der Hagen that have come to light, or knowledge of Continental masters. Surprisingly, there are few horse painters, given the popularity of racing and hunting, or artists tackling still-life before the 20th century.
The impact of visiting, mainly British, artists is well assessed, and support for this publication by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art underlines the close relationship between the two countries. Included are distinctive "Irish-period" pictures by Francis Wheatley, Gilbert Stuart and (later) Howard Helmick. Attention is also drawn to the decorative schemes for houses, many later removed, with those at Castletown and Lyons sensitively conserved.
With the 19th century comes a broader range of subjects, the romantic vision and later packaging of the Irish landscape for tourists, together with more coverage of rural life. While The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife is Daniel Maclise's most reproduced work, his other colourful and inventive scenes of history and literature should not be overlooked. To the few native depictions of the Famine can be added the masterpiece of William Willes, first headmaster of the Cork School of Art.
The impact of the Continent on artists who travelled there from the mid-19th century, and the ensuing "Irish Impressionists" and 20th-century modernists, have become familiar since the 1980s. Once often marginalised or mocked, their paintings now have wide appeal and mark the greater presence of female artists.
Before closing their majestic survey at a sensible 50-year cut-off point, Crookshank and Glin examine the impact of William Orpen and the appeal of the enigmatic Jack B. Yeats. With major restrospective exhibitions of Paul Henry next spring and William Orpen in 2004, interest in Irish art shows no sign of waning and this looks to remain a standard work on its history.
Adrian Le Harivel is curator of British and Dutch paintings at the National Gallery