ADAM'S - AT HOME AUCTION - FEBRUARY 26TH 2017 (Click Lot title for more images and to Place Bid)

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A set of twenty-five views of Dublin in hand
coloured aquatints
‘’A Picturesque and Descriptive view of the City of
Dublin’’
Frames 30 x 42.5cm
€ 8,000 - 10,000
James Malton is thought to have lived in Dublin druing the 1780s with his father Thomas Malton, an architectural
draughtsman and teacher. According to the Publius source he was apprenticed to James Gandon, the famous
architect, at the age of 17 in 1781. Malton’s apprenticeship to Gandon was terminated after three years by mutual
consent, after which he moved to London, working from there with frequent visits back to Dublin. Malton engaged
on his grand project to produce his ‘’Picturesque Views of Dublin’’, on a scale hitherto unknown even in London.
Dublin pre-Act of Union in 1800 was of course an incredibly rich and vibrant city at the zenith of its financial and
cultural powers, and so to Malton it must have appeared ripe for acceptance of such a publication to celebrate its
status as the city second only to London. The book was published in six parts by subscription, as was the custom
starting in 1792. The painting itself was carried out in London The book proved in part to be too great an under-
taking for Malton, and he could not have foreseen the exodus which took place in the city after the Act of Union in
1800. He died in 1803 in London at the age of 38 of a brain fever, and undoubtedly did not reap the rewards of his
endeavour.