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Extract from
The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland
VOL. XXXV. CONSECUTIVE SERIES [VOL. XV. FIFTH SERIES] 1905 MISCELLANEA. 419 The Frescoes, Abbey Knockmoy, County Galway. In a note on these drawings in the last volume of the Journal, pp. 248-253, I mentioned that evidence was not then forthcoming that they had been coloured except by damp and vegetation, and that they were only outline drawings. In a Paper published in volume XI. (1870) of the Journal of this Society, entitled, " Memoir of Gabriel Beranger and his labours in the cause of Irish Art, Literature, and Antiquities, from 1760 to 1780, with illustrations by Sir W. E. Wilde, M.D., Vice- President of the Royal Irish Academy," at page 241 is given Beranger's description of his visit to Knockmoy in July, 1790, accom- panied by Signer Bigari, an artist of great ability, who was then engaged preparing plans and drawings for illustrating the now well- known volumes by Francis Grose, F.S.A., entitled, "The Antiquities of Ireland," published by Hooper in the following year. Bigari, who was an Italian fresco-painter, said to have " done great works of the kind abroad," assured them, "after a nice inspection, that they had never been coloured, and that the spots of various hues were occasioned by time and damp." Beranger says, " "We had heard much of these ancient fresco-paintings, and, on inspection, were much disappointed, as they -are bare, black outlines." Sir William Wilde adds, writing in 1879 : " Their present condition certainly confirms this opinion, although in my description of them in the ' Catalogue of the Antiquities of the Royal Irish Academy,' p. 350, I mentioned the green and yellow colours because I was describing the coloured copy of the painting which was made by Mr. Mac Manus for the first Dublin Exhibition, and which then hung in the Academy." From the present condition of these drawings it would be a matter of great difficulty to determine their original colouring. Beranger and Bigari examined them in July, 1790, and asserted that "they had never been coloured," and that they were bare, black outlines. O'Donovan (1838) examined the two "inscriptions in fresco, and found the wall damp, and very much stained ; a black scum was raised in it by the dripping of the rain." Eugene Curry, and his son Henry, visited the abbey, in company with Mr. Lentaigne, on the llth June, 1853, but were apparently chiefly concerned with the inscriptions. The evidence as to colouring being negative in character, I was obliged, reluctantly, to adopt Sir William Wilde's later opinion, espe- cially as it coincided with my own observations and knowledge of the frescoes during the past thirty years ; and, following the traditions and printed statements of the last fifty years, I had referred to the drawings made in the spring of 1853 as the work of the late Henry Mac Manus, K.H.A., and quoted the statements of Beranger and Bigari as conclusive as to the character of the wall drawings. My note on Abbey Knockmoy having come to the notice of Mr. James 2F2 420 ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF IRELAND. Brenan, K.H.A., he has been good enough to give the fullest particulars on two important points first, as to the condition of the colouring in 1853; and, secondly, as to the authorship of the drawings which Sir "William "Wilde described as having been executed by Mac Manus, and exhibited at the first Dublin Exhibition in 1853. Mr. Brenan's note on these points speaks for itself. The copy of the drawings is now in. the Museum in Kildare Street. It is very faint in outline, with scarcely a trace of colour, and is not capable of being reproduced by means of a process block for illustration in the Journal. ROBERT COCHRANE. A Note on Abbey Knockmoy, County Galway. I have read with great interest the notes on Abbey Knockmoy and its frescoes by Mr. R. Cochrane (Journal, vol. xxxiv., pp. 242-253). There are one or two matters in relation to the frecoes which appear to me to require a little elucidation. In the spring of 1853 I accompanied the late Sir John Lentaigne and Henry Mac Manus, B.H.A., to Tuam ; from thence we went to Abbey Knockmoy. A scaffold had been erected in front of the* frescoes and I covered the wall where they were with tracing-linen, and carefully traced every line of them in pencil. I remember finding portions of two figures, which are not in the illustration in Ledwich's "Antiquities " which book we had with us. At that date it was quite easy to see the different colours which had been used on the dresses of the figures. I had no difficulty whatsoever in noting them. There was no light and shade; there was a black outline surrounding the figures, but this had been filled in with flat colour to distinguish the different garments. On my return to Dublin I made the copy, full size, which was hung in the Exhibition of 1853, and there was nothing fanciful whatsoever about it. I simply used the colours where I found them on the walls ; and I had no difficulty in distinguishing between damp stains and local colour. I left Dublin shortly after this, and did not know what had become of the copy. About a year before Miss Margaret Stokes died, she called on me at the School of Art, and asked me if I could give her any information about Abbey Knockmoy. " Why did you come to me ?" said I ; " has anyone told you that I know anything about it ?" She said, "No ; no one had told her, but she just thought it was possible that I may have known something about it." I then told her how that I had been there, and had made the copy for the Exhibition. The next business was to find what had become of the copy. After some inquiries on her part, and on mine, we discovered the canvas folded into a heap in the crypt of the National Museum. It had been handed over to the Museum authorities with the collection of the Royal Irish Academy. On opening it a cloud of dust was raised, and I am sorry to say that the tempera I had used (size) had not been a success. Nothing remained but portions of the outlines of some of the figures. If it had MISCELLANEA. 421 not been folded up, no doubt it would have been in better preservation. Miss Stokes told me later on that she had the remains sprayed with a fixatif in order to preserve them. Of the tracings we could get no tidings, and cannot say what has become of them. I went to visit Abbey Knockmoy soon after Miss Stokes' s visit to me, and it was sad to see the change which had taken place in the frescoes ; in fact, I may say, they are almost destroyed. More damage has been done to them in the last fifty years than in all the preceding centuries. JAMES
