A Public Talk on the Influence of the Netherlands on Cork City in the Seventeenth & Eighteenth Centuries  
 

The talk explored the Dutch influences on Cork's built environment, history, architecture, and cultural life in the eighteenth century. Historian Dr Tom Spalding shared his research, exploring the layered histories of the heart of our city. This event accompanied the exhibition Rembrandt in Print. 
 
The Crawford Art Gallery is housed in what was once the city’s custom house, which witnessed the trade partnership with the Netherlands. Salted beef, pork and butter were supplied from our safe harbour to the Dutch West Indies and the ports of Holland.  
 
Tom is a writer and historian, the author of several books on design history. His book Layers was praised by the Irish Arts Review as ‘expertly researched, deftly written …a worthy addition to the growing body of literature on Irish design history.’