Distant View of Avondale - Beaufort, William Louis (My University, 2008)
'William Louis Beaufort was a good amateur watercolourist and the son of the map-maker, diarist and Rector of Navan and Collon, the Revd Daniel Augustus Beaufort. William Louis was a pupil in Bristol in 1782 of Nicholas Pocock and a Miss Simmonds and later in Dublin of a James George O'Brien. He painted watercolours on a large scale, such as this one and a view of the 'Falls at Doonas at Castleconnell'. These works have a marked blue tone and concentrate on the landscape, the buildings being far in the distance.' (Crookshank & Glin, Watercolours, 44) Avondale House, pictured here, was built in 1777 and designed by James Wyatt. It is surrounded by Avondale Forest Park, synonymous with the birth of Irish forestry, which is 500 acres of forests, paths and the River Avondale runs through it. Later, in 1846, Avondale House became the birthplace of Charles Stewart Parnell.
Keywords: Avondale House; Avondale Forest Park; River Avondale; Art -- Irish; Watercolor painting -- Irish; Rathdrum (Ireland); Wicklow (Ireland : County) History.; Wicklow (Ireland : County) Social life and customs.; Fishers -- Ireland.; Wyatt, James, 1746-1813; Clothing and Dress -- Ireland -- History.; Architecture -- Georgian -- Ireland.; 18th - 19th century