William Ashford (1746-1824)
Ashford, who came from Birmingham, settled in Ireland at the age of eighteen and became in time the country's foremost landscape painter. In 1823 he was elected first president of the Royal Hibernian Academy, a considerable honour for a landscapist.
Most of his works were topographical views of country seats and well-ordered parks and he seldom painted the romantic scenery favoured by a number of his Irish contemporaries. His principal patrons were therefore the nobility and landowners. This particular scene (which probably represents an actual place although the location is uncertain) verges on the Picturesque, with its trees, brook and glowing sunlit sky.
Image: William Ashford (1746-1824)
Landscape with Carriage and Horses (U2295)
Painted c. 1781
Purchased 1975