Lot 83: William Brocas (c.1794-1868)

William Brocas (c.1794-1868)
The Falls at Powerscourt, Co. Wicklow
watercolour with scratching out
12¼ x 8 5/8 in. (31.1 x 21.9 cm.)

Laffan, Painting Ireland, 2006, p. 233-235, pl. 165.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
The deer park of the Powercourt Estate, Co. Wicklow, is home to the Powerscourt Waterfall. Nestled in a valley surrounded by the Djouce Mountain and the Great Sugar Loaf Mountain, the Glenislorane River plummets almost vertically down a sheer rock face. Powerscourt Waterfall, at a height of 121 metres, is the the tallest waterfall in Ireland. Its drama resides not only in its height but also in the steepness of the gradient.

The Falls at Powerscourt reveals Brocas' position as a forerunner of Romantic landscape painting. Edward Burke's theory of the Sublime can be read within the picture's confines.

In the 1760s George Barret, R.A. (1732-1784) executed a large-scale oil painting of Powercourt Waterfall which is now in the collection of the Limerick City Gallery of Art.