Munster In 30 Artworks, No 11: Robert Gibbings, Gougane Barra, from Lovely is the Lee

The British artist was bewitched by the beauty of Gougane Barra, and featured the area in many of his pieces

Robert Gibbings described Gougane Barra as “a valley withdrawn, a garden enclosed, the holiest place I know”.

Robert Gibbings was already well established as an artist, author and adventurer when he arrived in Gougane Barra in West Cork in the summer of 1943, intending to write and sketch for a few weeks. Instead, he stayed for seven months, producing his first travel book about Ireland, entitled Lovely is the Lee.

Gibbings had often spent holidays in Gougane Barra as a child, and he memorably described it as “a valley withdrawn, a garden enclosed, the holiest place I know.” Almost inevitably, his illustrations for Lovely is the Lee include a study of St Finbarr’s Oratory on the little island on the lake, where he often slept in a boat, so he could sketch the birds that woke him at dawn.