Na Píobairí Uilleann

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9 1 23 20130207 23 2nd 1679 where a payment of £1 is recorded as “Payd to the Bagpipe man and fidler, that came with m ris Manwaringe, and her company to the Castle”. 1 If this assumption is correct, the paintings represent a remarkable, and pos- sibly unique, record of two itinerant Irish mu- sicians from the end of the 17th century. For this identification to convince it would be useful to both date the paintings as well as identify the potential artist. With respect to the latter, the catalogue suggests the name Thomas ffrancis (fl.1635-1679). As far as I have been able to determine, nothing is known about this painter aside from an occasional mention in the accounts for this period. These references are slightly confusing. For example, once he is identified as “the painter”, in another entry as “the Herald Painter” and in yet another as “the Herald at Armes”; clearly painting did not take up all of his time. The majority of the entries referring to ffrancis record payment for what appear to be simple decorating jobs: “119 yards of wainscot in the draweinge room”, “89 yards in the chambers in the newe Tower”, and “col- louringe … at the castlestaires”. On another oc- casion he is paid for “writeinge the Ten comaundments to be sett up in Chirke Church”. There is only one reference to him painting works of art: he was paid £8 on De- cember 6th 1672 for “makeinge 3 landskips for 3 chimney peeces” as well as painting the “Bwll [Bull] signe” for the inn at Denbigh. He seems, then, to have been essentially a handy- man painter who could, when required, turn his hand to more artistic fare. This, of course, makes perfect sense: no establishment would be able to afford to retain a master artist as part of its household. For what it is worth, there is no record of any payment for either of the “Irish” paintings and, indeed, his name disap- pears from the accounts a month before the visit of the “Bagpipe man and fidler”. But were the musicians painted by ffrancis? The Castle has one other painting which is also as- cribed to him. This, Orpheus Charming the An- imals, is possibly one of the three landscapes painted for the chimney pieces mentioned above. 2 It is certainly an undistinguished piece of work which is quite consistent with someone who was more used to daubing walls and wain- scots than painting depictions of classical antiq- uity. Interestingly though, it still shows a greater

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2013-02-06T00:00:00

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