Adam's IRISH OLD MASTERS 5th November 2024

32 James Malton’s A Picturesque and Descriptive View of the City of Dublin (1799) constitutes a significant artistic and historical docu - ment, reflecting the author’s profound admiration for the city’s architectural grandeur. In the preface, Malton expresses his desire to bring Dublin into the cultural spotlight, believing it to be a capital that had been unjustly neglected. His work, however, emerges from a context marked by both professional turmoil and personal ambition. “Few cities can boast more extensive conveniences, more eminent beauties, than Dublin… To convey to the curious inquirer adequate ideas of those objects; to diffuse information of a Capital so long undesertly unnoticed, and to give it that place in estimation with regard to others it merits, this work was undertaken.” Preface, A Picturesque and Descriptive view of the City of Dublin, James Malton, 1799 Born in England in 1765, Malton was the son of Thomas Malton, a noted architectural draughtsman and instructor in geometry and perspective. The Malton family relocated to Dublin in 1769, where the elder Malton sought to establish himself within the city’s vibrant architectural scene. In 1781, through his father’s connections, James Malton secured a position as a drawing clerk under the esteemed architect James Gandon, who was then overseeing the construction of the Custom House, one of the city’s most important public buildings. Despite initial praise from Gandon, Malton’s tenure was short-lived; he was dismissed due to what Gandon described as breaches of professional trust and misconduct. This dismissal later culminated in an anonymous and caustic critique of Gandon’s architectural designs, published in 1787—a possible act of retaliation by Malton or his father. That same year, Malton failed in his candidacy for the position of Master of the Dublin Society’s School of Architectural Drawing. Undeterred by these setbacks, Malton devoted himself to documenting the architecture of Dublin. By 1791, he had completed a com - prehensive series of architectural drawings capturing the city’s most prominent buildings. These drawings vividly depicted Dublin’s Georgian streetscapes with great detail and accuracy. The engravings were issued in six installments between 1792 and 1799, with the final bound volume published that same year, complete with descriptive text. Malton’s engravings are not merely technical records but are imbued with an artistic vision that animates the architecture of late eight - eenth-century Dublin. His Picturesque and Descriptive View situates Dublin within the aesthetic discourses of the time, contributing to the visual and cultural representation of the city.