Adam's IRISH OLD MASTERS 5th November 2024

Irish Old Masters| 5 November 2024 www.adams.ie 27 This aquatint of Blackrock Castle by Thomas Sautell Roberts depicts the original structure as it once stood along the banks of the River Lee, approximately half a mile east of Cork. The original tower, dating to the early 17th century, was part of Lord Mountjoy’s fortifications of Cork, alongside the first fort on Spike Island. Roberts’ portrayal shows the tower in a somewhat deteriorated and overgrown state, surmounted by a newer 18th-century octagonal wooden turret, which functioned as a navigation light for vessels travelling on the river. Sev - eral such ships are depicted in the scene, with a man aboard a lugger beside the castle raising his arm. On the river’s north bank, a house situated within a wooded estate is likely Tivoli House. Additionally, the remains of a medieval fort, now destroyed, are visible atop a rocky promontory. The castle itself sustained significant damage in a fire in 1827. It had been leased by the Harbour Commissioners from the Corporation of Cork for 21 years, and by 1829, it was fully renovated. The structure was rebuilt in a Gothic style with additional turrets, and today it serves as Cork’s Astronomy Centre. Thomas Sautell Roberts (c. 1760–1826), the son of Waterford architect John Roberts, followed in the footsteps of his brother, the painter Thomas Roberts, and his brother-in-law, George Richard Pain. After his brother’s death in Lisbon in 1778, Thomas Sautell took over his studio, completing unfinished works under his brother’s name. Re - nowned for his Romantic landscapes, Roberts frequently portrayed storms and seascapes in contrast to his brother’s more restrained style. Few of his oil paintings remain, but in 1801, he exhibited a series of watercolour views of Irish landscapes in Dublin, with a dozen of these scenes later reproduced as aquatint prints.