Collection

Work of the Week | 10 July 2023

CAG.0907 Augustin Amant Edouart, Members of the Crawford Family, 1838, black cut paper silhouette, 30.5 x 23 cm. Presented, Hugh Crawford Esq., 1989.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Members of the Crawford Family (1838) by Augustin Amant Edouart presents a portrait in silhouette of individuals closely associated with Crawford Art Gallery’s development.

It is believed to represent father and son, William Crawford Jr. (1788-1840) and William Horatio Crawford (1812-1888), at their Lakelands home. The elder had been involved in the Cork Society for Promoting the Fine Arts when, in 1818, the Canova Casts first arrived in the city.

The family had moved from Merchants’ Quay in 1805 to the suburban property of Lakelands (now Mahon Point) on the shores of Lough Mahon. Having inherited a fortune while in his twenties, William Horatio pursued interests in art, books, and horticulture.

At Lakelands, he established a significant arboretum and large subtropical greenhouses, employing thirty workers. It is here that Magnolia campbellii first flowered in either Ireland or the United Kingdom. His collection of Brownea species led to the hybrid Brownea x crawfordii being named for him, specimens of which were sent to Kew Gardens and the National Botanic Gardens, Dublin.

A noted philanthropist, in 1884 William Horatio Crawford funded the extension of a building that was then to become Crawford Municipal School of Art and is now Crawford Art Gallery.

Augustin Amant Edouart (1789-1861) was born in Dunkerque but, following a time in Napoleon’s army, moved to London in 1814. Here he began to create ‘mosaic hair works’, but soon established a prolific career in silhouettes, moving to Edinburgh, Dublin, Cork, New York, and Boston.

Members of the Crawford Family (1838) by Augustin Amant Edouart is featured in SITE OF CHANGE: Evolution of a Building until 12 November.

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. You can listen back to this week’s chat here: