Lot Essay
Dating from circa 1782, this is likely to have been painted on a journey to Killarney. It was engraved in Thomas Milton's Collection of Select Views from the Different Seats of the Nobility and Gentry in the Kingdom of Ireland, the plate being dedicated to Sir Edward Leslie, Bt. Ships of the line often anchored in Tarbert Roads and in the foreground sailors are seen dancing with rustics. During this period the threat of French invasion caused an extensive Volunteer Movement, the regular British army having been absent from Ireland during the troubles in North America. Wheatley is particularly celebrated for his superb Volunteer and Parliamentary paintings done in Dublin during his Irish sojourn 1779-83, whilst escaping from his debts in London. Tarbert House, the seat of Sir Edward Leslie, Bt., is seen in the woods on the Kerry bank, directly opposite the Clonderlaw Peninsula in Co. Clare, from which the present scene is viewed.