George Petrie

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George Petrie (1790 – 1866), was an Irish painter, musician, antiquary and archaeologist of the Victorian era.

His early years were spent in Dublin, where his father was a portrait painter. After an abortive trip to England in the company of Francis Danby, he returned to Ireland where he worked mostly producing sketches for engravings for travel books.

In the late 1820s and 1830s, Petrie significantly revitalised the Royal Irish Academy's antiquities committee. He was responsible for their acquisition of many important Irish manuscripts, including an autograph copy of the Annals of the Four Masters, as well as examples of insular metalwork, including the Cross of Cong. His writings on early Irish archaeology and architecture were of great significance, especially his Round Towers of Ireland of 1845, and he is often called "the father of Irish archaeology". His survey of the tombs at Carrowmore still informs study of the site today.

From 1833 to 1843 he was employed by Thomas Colby and Thomas Larcom as head of the Topographical Department (the antiquities division) of the Irish Ordnance Survey. Amongst his staff was John O'Donovan, one of Ireland's greatest ever scholars, and Eugene O'Curry. During part of this time Petrie was editor of two popular antiquarian magazines, the Dublin Penny Journal and the Penny Journal.

Another major contribution of Petrie's to Irish culture was the collection of Irish airs and melodies which he recorded. William Stokes' contemporary biography includes detailed accounts of Petrie's working methods in his collecting of traditional music: 'The song having been given, O'Curry wrote the Irish words, when Petrie's work began. The singer recommenced, stopping at a signal from him at every two or three bars of the melody to permit the writing of the notes, and often repeating the passage until it was correctly taken down . . .'

As an artist, his favourite medium was watercolour, which due to the prejudices of the age was considered inferior to oil painting. Nonetheless, he can be considered as one of the finest Irish Romantic painters of his era. Some of his best work is in the collections of the National Gallery of Ireland.

[edit] Bibliography

The Petrie Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, M.H.Gill (Dublin 1855), reprinted (Farnborough 1967), (Heppenheim 1969)[1]
George Petrie and Charles Villiers Stanford (ed), The complete collection of Irish Music: Boosey & Co. (London 1902-5).