Lot 90: William Jones (before 1726-1747 ?)

William Jones (before 1726-1747 ?)
An Irish view, possibly Leixlip, Co. Kildare
oil on canvas, unlined
17 x 24 7/8 in. (43.2 x 63.3 cm.)

Cork, Crawford Art Gallery, Painting Ireland, 2004, exh. cat. pp. 188-9, fig. 134.

Laffan, Painting Ireland, pp. 166-8, fig. 73.

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What is thought to be Leixlip Castle is shown with a shadowy representation of its twelfth-century tower to the right, and portrays the building before the addition of the Georgian-Gothic rooms and facade to the left, which were built in the 1750s or 1760s. The battlements were added to the Castle in 1837. The property was owned by the Conollys of Castletown in the eighteenth-century and was restored by the Hon. Desmond Guinness, founder of the Irish Georgian Society, for which the Castle served as Headquarters between 1958 and 1968.

Little is known of William Jones save through the engravings after his work, which depict several of the beauty spots in the vicinity of Dublin. The only other recorded oil by the artist shows Dublin Bay looking towards the Hill of Howth.