CAG.413 Daniel Maclise, The Falconer, 1853, oil on canvas, 61 x 47 cm. Presented, Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, 1955. © Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

WORK OF THE WEEK! In the first of our new weekly spotlights on the collection, we take a look at one of our most iconic works: The Falconer (1853) by Daniel Maclise.

Did you know? The practice of falconry dates back some 3,000 years to Mesopotamia, a historical Middle Eastern region surrounding the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Possessing the artist’s customary rich palette of colours, this beautifully detailed work has a Medieval European quality popular in art during the 1850s - think the Pre-Raphaelites!

The painting depicts a man and a woman whom we think may be Federigo and Monna from Giovanni Boccaccio’s The Decameron (1353). Their romantic tale is filled with longing, unrequited love, and tragedy but suggests ideas of husbandry and forbearance. It’s all here in their glances and gestures!

Maclise loved to get every detail just right in his paintings and researched them thoroughly. Any avian experts know which species of falcon he has painted? Note the bloodied talon of the front falcon!

Tune in to The Arts House on Cork’s 96FM every Sunday morning as Conor Tallon chats with assistant curator Michael Waldron about each WORK OF THE WEEK!

As Gaeilge

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