Interior of one of the better kind of Irish cottages
Etching of a small, relatively comfortable Irish cottage. In direct central view is a fireplace with a black cooking-pot hanging from a crane. There are three adult figures (two seated women, one standing man) and four young children. From left to right, the cottage contains: a dresser with teapots, plates and jugs; a child (?) watching over a wicker cradle containing a sleeping baby; an old woman seated before the fire, half turned from the viewer; three white ducks feeding off the floor; poultry roosting high up to the left of the fireplace; a window with a rooster on the ledge; to the right, an open half-door and some pigs, also apparently feeding off the ground; a woman seated at a spinning-wheel; an infant between the legs of a chair reaching up towards a man who is standing with another child on his shoulders and kissing him.
In the List of Plates the title is given as 'Interior of a small Farmer's Cottage'.
Inscribed in Image
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Image Details
| Genre | Genre painting |
|---|---|
| Technique | Etchings |
| Subject(s) | Architecture, Manners and customs, Rural life |
| Keywords(s) | Buildings, Cabins, Children, Cottages, Houses, Interiors, Livestock, Men, People, Pigs, Shawls, Tools, Women |
| Colour | Monochrome |
| Published / created | 1836 |
Bibliographical Details
| Travel Account | A Tour round Ireland [Barrow] |
|---|---|
| Contributor(s) |
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| Print or manuscript | |
| Location of image in copy | opposite p. 194 |
| Source copy | National Library of Ireland Ir 9141 b 3 |
| Permalink | https://ttce.universityofgalway.ie/irelandillustrated/?id=ii_image_1347287624&object_type=image&ttce_function=5 |
Related text from travel account
| Even while the small farmer is able, from his surplus produce, to pay his rent, his condition is far from enviable, but might with a little management be improved. If he can afford to keep a cow and a pig, he generally admits both to be partakers of the same apartment; and though his cottage may be a degree better than that of the labourer, yet it is kept equally filthy; everything within it being soiled with smoke and soot, and the puddle and the dunghill invariably found before the door. The rent of such a cottage, if built by the landlord, may be about 2l. a-year; turf, 30s.; the man’s clothing 40s.; the woman’s 30s.; and four children, say 30s.; making altogether 8l. 10s. The rent, say of three acres and a cow-grass, 9l. The routine of his crops is, potatoes, barley, and oats. The barley is sold to be distilled into whiskey, and [p. 194] this and the pig contribute to the payment of rent and fuel; and the potatoes, the cow, and the oatmeal, supply the family with food. The females are employed in spinning linen and woollen yarn, and in knitting worsted stockings; of the woollen yarn is manufactured a kind of frieze, druggets and flannels, the common wear of the peasantry: after supplying the family clothing, the surplus helps to pay the rent. [pp. 193-194] |