Lot Essay
Goodall would have executed the present lot when travelling across Ireland in the 1840s with a group of fellow artists, who included Alfred Fripp and Francis Topham. His first visit occurred in 1844 when the country was on the brink of famine, as hinted at in this interior. Such images would not have been commercial at the time, as they confronted affluent landowners and moneyed potential buyers with the realities of life in rural Ireland. Today such pictures provide important documentation relating to the Great Famine.