George Petrie (1 January 1790 – 17 January 1866) was an Irish painter, musician,
antiquarian
An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...
and
archaeologist
Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...
of the
Victorian era
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...
who was instrumental in building the collections of the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
and
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...
.
Personal life
George Petrie was born in
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland, and grew up there, living at 21 Great Charles Street, just off
Mountjoy Square
Mountjoy Square () is a Georgian architecture, Georgian garden square in Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside (Dublin), Northside of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. One of five Georgian squares in Dublin, it was planned and d ...
.
He was the son of the portrait and miniature painter James Petrie, a native of Aberdeen, Scotland, who had settled in Dublin. He was interested in art from an early age. He was sent to the
Dublin Society's Schools, being educated as an artist, where he won the silver medal in 1805, aged fourteen.
Career
After an abortive trip to England in the company of
Francis Danby
Francis Danby (16 November 1793 – 9 February 1861) was an Irish painter of the Romantic era. His imaginative, dramatic landscapes were comparable to those of John Martin. Danby initially developed his imaginative style while he was the centr ...
and
James Arthur O'Connor
James Arthur O'Connor (1792 – 7 January 1841) was an Irish painter.
Career
James Arthur O'Connor was born 15 Aston's Quay, Dublin – the son of an engraver and printer, William O'Connor.''Hutchinson'', p. 83. O'Connor would become a ...
, both of whom were close friends of his, he returned to Ireland where he worked mostly producing sketches for engravings for travel books – including among others,
George Newenham Wright
George Newenham Wright (c. 1794–1877) was an Irish writer and Anglican clergyman. He was born in Dublin; his father, John Thomas Wright was a doctor. He graduated B.A. from Trinity College Dublin in 1814 and M.A. in 1817, having been electe ...
's guides to Killarney, Wicklow and Dublin,
Thomas Cromwell
Thomas Cromwell (; 1485 – 28 July 1540), briefly Earl of Essex, was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540, when he was beheaded on orders of the king, who later blamed false charge ...
's ''Excursions through Ireland'', and
James Norris Brewer
James Norris Brewer (1777–1839; fl. 1799–1829), was an English topographer and novelist.
He wrote many romances and topographical compilations, the best of the latter being his contributions to the series called the '' Beauties of Eng ...
's ''Beauties of Ireland''.
In the late 1820s and 1830s, Petrie significantly revitalised the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
's antiquities committee. He was responsible for their acquisition of many important Irish manuscripts, including an autograph copy of the
Annals of the Four Masters
The ''Annals of the Kingdom of Ireland'' ( ga, Annála Ríoghachta Éireann) or the ''Annals of the Four Masters'' (''Annála na gCeithre Máistrí'') are chronicles of medieval Irish history. The entries span from the Deluge, dated as 2,24 ...
, as well as examples of insular metalwork, including the
Cross of Cong
The ''Cross of Cong'' ( ga, Cros Chonga, "the yellow baculum") is an early 12th-century Irish Christian ornamented cusped processional cross, which was, as an inscription says, made for Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair (d. 1156), King of Connacht an ...
and
Roscrea Brooch
The Roscrea brooch is a 9th-century Celtic brooch of the pseudo-penannular type, found at or near Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland, before 1829.Briggs (2017), p. 74 It is made from cast silver, and decorated with zoomorphic patterns of open-ja ...
. His writings on early Irish archaeology and architecture were of great significance, especially his essay on the ''Round Towers of Ireland'', which appeared in his 1845 book titled ''The Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland''. He is often called "the father of Irish archaeology". His survey of the tombs at
Carrowmore
Carrowmore ( ga, An Cheathrú Mhór, 'the great quarter') is a large group of megalithic monuments on the Coolera Peninsula to the west of Sligo, Ireland. They were built in the 4th millennium BC, during the Neolithic (New Stone Age). There ar ...
still informs study of the site today.
From 1833 to 1843 he was employed by
Thomas Colby and
Thomas Larcom
Major-General Sir Thomas Aiskew Larcom, Bart, PC FRS (22 April 1801 – 15 June 1879) was a leading official in the early Irish Ordnance Survey. He later became a poor law commissioner, census commissioner and finally executive head of the B ...
as head of the Topographical Department (the antiquities division) of the
Irish Ordnance Survey. Amongst his staff were
John O'Donovan, one of Ireland's greatest ever scholars, and
Eugene O'Curry
Eugene O'Curry ( ga, Eoghan Ó Comhraí or Eoghan Ó Comhraidhe, 20 November 179430 July 1862) was an Irish philologist and antiquary.
Life
He was born at Doonaha, near Carrigaholt, County Clare, the son of Eoghan Ó Comhraí, a farmer, and hi ...
. A prizewinning essay submitted to the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
in 1834 on Irish military architecture was never published, but his seminal essay ''On the History and Antiquities of Tara Hill'' was published by the Academy in 1839. During this period Petrie was himself the editor of two popular antiquarian magazines, the ''
Dublin Penny Journal
The ''Dublin Penny Journal'' was a weekly newspaper, and later series of published volumes, originating from Dublin, Ireland, between 1832 and 1836. Published each Saturday, by J. S. Folds, George Petrie (artist), George Petrie, and Caesar Otway, ...
'' and, later, the ''Irish Penny Journal''. Another major contribution of Petrie's to Irish culture was the collection of Irish traditional airs and melodies which he published in 1855 as ''The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland''. The first commercial recording of Petrie's collection was ''The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland (the 1855 Edition of 147 Airs & the 1882 Edition of 40 Airs)''
007, 8-cd set, Trigon TRD 1526, 187 tracksarranged and performed by Irish pianist
J.J. Sheridan.
William Stokes's contemporary biography includes detailed accounts of Petrie's working methods in his collecting of traditional music: "The song having been given, O'Curry wrote the Irish words, when Petrie's work began. The singer recommenced, stopping at a signal from him at every two or three bars of the melody to permit the writing of the notes, and often repeating the passage until it was correctly taken down ...".
As an artist, his favourite medium was
watercolour
Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...
which, due to the prejudices of the age, was considered inferior to
oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...
. Nonetheless, he can be considered one of the finest Irish
Romantic painters of his era. Some of his best work is in the collections of the
National Gallery of Ireland
The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...
, such as his watercolour painting ''Gougane Barra Lake with the Hermitage of St. Finbarr, Co. Cork'' (1831).
He was awarded the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
's prestigious
Cunningham Medal
The Cunningham Medal is the premier award of the Royal Irish Academy. It is awarded every three years in recognition of "outstanding contributions to scholarship and the objectives of the Academy".
History
It was which was established in 1796 at t ...
three times: firstly in 1831 for his essay on the round towers, secondly in 1834 for the essay (now lost) on Irish military architecture, and thirdly in 1839 for his essay on the antiquities of Tara Hill.
Works
::''incomplete, only larger works listed''
;Music
*
**
** , uncompleted fragment published posthumously
;Illustrations
*
*
*
;Antiquarian works
*
**Also as
* , unpublished, won a gold medal from the Royal Irish Academy, see
*
*
References
Sources
* Cooper, David. ''The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland''. Cork University Press, 2002
* Crooke, Elizabeth. ''Politics, Archaeology and the Creation of a National Museum of Ireland: An Expression of National Life''. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2001.
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Dublin University Magazine1839
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Petrie, George
1790 births
1866 deaths
19th-century Irish painters
Irish male painters
George Petrie
Irish art historians
Irish antiquarians
Archaeologists from Dublin (city)
Irish musicologists
Irish people of Scottish descent
People associated with the National Museum of Ireland
Painters from Dublin (city)
19th-century Irish male artists
19th-century musicologists