Why Cork landmark Blackrock Castle is loved by Irish artists

Rare print of Victorian-style painting of the castle comes up at May Day sale online from Doneraile 

This Blackrock Castle print by Joseph William Carey is at Aidan Foley's sale on May 1.

Rebuilt in 1829 following a fire after a banquet in 1827, the picturesque Blackrock Castle in Cork has been especially beloved by generations of artists. 

Belfast-born Joseph William Carey RUA (1859-1937) was no exception and this rare print of his Victorian-style painting of the castle comes up at Aidan Foley’s May Day sale online from Doneraile on May 1.

A ship called The Bittern, used by the Cork Steamship Company from 1856, is possibly the vessel depicted here on its way upriver to Penrose Quay. The first two vessels employed by the St. George Steam Packet Company, later the City of Cork Steamship company, were The Lee and The Severn, both built in 1825.

Blackrock Castle also features on this porcelain plate in the Aidan Foley sale.

In 1843 their first steamship, The Nimrod, was built and by 1903 there were 16 vessels on their books. Steamships acquired by the company were used for UK and American voyages.

Aidan Foley’s sale features a Cork historical library and a collection of Irish silver plaques with the Glenisheen collar mark. It will be on view in Doneraile on Friday and Saturday (April 30-May 1). Included is a porcelain dish illustrating Blackrock Castle.