CORK.- Over 150 watercolours and drawings by George Victor Du Noyer (1817 – 1869) are being exhibited at Crawford Art Gallery from 17 November 2017 – 24 February 2018. Curated by Peter Murray this event is an incredible opportunity to see Ireland through the renderings of Du Noyer, made as he documented the country through his travels during the 1800s.

An Irish painter, geologist and antiquarian, George Victor Du Noyer spent his life recording Irish geology, antiquities, natural history and landscape. Born in 1817, over the course of a half-century, Du Noyer travelled the length and breadth of the country with his beloved dog, Mr. Buff, sketching and recording as he went. His work, the subject of a 2014 BBC documentary narrated by Martha Kearney, traced life in the most remote districts in the aftermath of the Famine and during the time when railways were being built throughout Ireland. Although himself a descendant of Huguenot refugees who settled in Dublin in the eighteenth century, at no point did Du Noyer regard himself as alien to the landscapes he travelled through. Whether in Wexford, Cork, Kerry or Antrim, his sketches and notebooks suggest a sense of ease and kinship with those around him.

Thousands of watercolours, drawings and sketches by Du Noyer are preserved in the libraries and archives of institutions, including the Botanic Gardens, National Museum of Ireland, Geological Survey Ireland, Royal Irish Academy and Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland. However, due to the fragility of these works, they have rarely been exhibited. The exhibition at the Crawford Art Gallery is the first major exhibition of his works in twenty years, so it is certainly one not to be missed.

“I am delighted to be able to support this exhibition featuring the works of George Du Noyer through the provision of a special grant to the Crawford Art Gallery. The exhibition depicts Ireland's varied landscape and structures of the 1800s as seen through the eyes of a unique artist. It has been made possible through the collaboration of the Crawford Art Gallery, the National Museum and Archives of Ireland, the National Botanic Gardens, the Royal Irish Academy, Royal Society of Antiquaries and Geological Survey of Ireland. It is my strong belief that collaborative projects such as this enrich Ireland's cultural offering.” --Minister Heather Humphreys T.D. Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht

The exhibition, featuring over 150 watercolours and drawings, celebrates Du Noyer’s extraordinary achievements and commemorate the bi-centenary of his birth. The exhibition has been curated by Peter Murray, former Director of the Crawford Art Gallery, in collaboration with Petra Coffey and Geological Survey Ireland. Stones, Slabs and Seascapes features loans from the collections of the Royal Irish Academy, National Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, National Museum of Ireland, Royal Society of Antiquaries, Geological Survey Ireland and National Archives.

George Victor Du Noyer was born into a Huguenot family in Dublin in 1817. While still a young teenager, Du Noyer was apprenticed to the artist George Petrie, who headed the Topographical Department of the Ordnance Survey. After leaving the Ordnance Survey, Du Noyer worked as an art teacher at the College of St. Columba and was then employed by the newly-formed Geological Survey of Ireland. He is known for his remarkable devotion to recording the antiquarian and archaeological sites that are such a characteristic feature of the Irish landscape.