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    Home > Collections > Galleries

    Irish Musical Images in 19th Century Newspapers: The Victorian Perspective

    The Illustrated London News (ILN) was the world’s first illustrated weekly newspaper and was first published on Saturday, 14 May 1842. Published by Herbert Ingram, this Victorian publication reached a weekly circulation of over 300,000 copies, bringing news to life with detailed woodcut engravings depicting personalities and events of the day. Success brought other competitors to the market and in 1869, former ILN engraver William Luson Thomas launched The Graphic. These newspapers now provide the modern reader with a visual record of history including events relating to Ireland, and an insight into Victorian perceptions of the Irish.

    We have digitised a selection of these illustrations taken from ITMA’s own newspaper collections.  These were published between 1844 and 1893 and depict or include Irish music, song, dance or musical instruments. Political parades featuring marching bands; banners & flags bearing a symbolic harp; St. Patrick’s Day celebrations; dancers and ballad singers as well as well-known musical figures such as Thomas Moore & George Petrie are among the selected images. Some are of a journalistic nature while others betray a more caricaturist approach to the depiction of the Irish during the 19th century.

    The Illustrated London News ceased publication in 2003 and The Graphic in 1932.

    The Dublin Horse Show. West of Ireland types, 1900 / Tom Browne
    Ireland at the grave of O’Connell, 1869 / [unidentified artist]
    A travelling circus in Ireland, 1884 / [unidentified artist]
    The old Music Hall, Fishamble Street, Dublin, 1884 / Claude Byrne
    The Music Hall Dublin, 1844 / [unidentified artist]
    The great aggregate meeting in the Music Hall Dublin, 1844 / [unidentified artist]
    Twelfth-night revels in Ireland, 1880 / [unidentified artist]
    Lord Salisbury in Ireland, 1893 / [unidentified artist]
    Royal visit to Ireland, cead mile fáilthi, 1885 / [unidentified artist]
    Demonstration on Mr. Parnell’s Estate, Avondale, Wicklow, 1882 / A. O’Kelly
    Young Ireland, 1881 / Harry Furness
    The ballad singer, 1881 / Harry Furness
    Sketches of Irish character in Dublin, 1881 / Harry Furness
    The state of Ireland: making the best of it, 1879 / M.F.
    The riots in Belfast: Orangemen attacking the procession, 1872 / [unidentified artist]
    Sketches from Ireland: a funeral in Connemara, 1870 / [unidentified artist]
    The late Dr Petrie of Dublin, 1866 / [unidentified artist]
    Concert hall of the Dublin International Exhibition Building, 1865 / [unidentified artist]
    Laying the first stone of St. Patrick’s bridge, Cork, 1859 / [unidentified artist]
    `Allhallow-Eve’, a sketch in Kilkenny, 1858 / Edmund Fitzpatrick
    The new Inland Revenue office, 1857 / [unidentified artist]
    Drowning the shamrock on St Patrick’s night, 1853 / E. Fitzpatrick
    St. Patrick’s Day, 1853 / George Thomas
    Irish piper in Patrick Street, Cork,1852 / [unidentified artist]
    Facsimile of a letter to the ‘Illustrated London News’,1852 / [unidentified artist]
    Birth-place of the late Thomas Moore,1852 / [unidentified artist]
    Thomas Moore,1852 / [unidentified artist]
    Irish Home Rule riots in Glasgow,1880 / M. R.
    Irish brooches, by Waterhouse, Dublin,1851 / [unidentified artist]
    Grand musical performance in the theatre of Trinity College, Dublin, 1851 / [unidentified artist]
    Procession of the wren bush and wren boys, 1850 / James Mahony
    Dancing between decks, 1850 / [unidentified artist]
    An Irish harvest home, 1849 / P. Fitzpatrick
    Dance of peasantry on the lawn at Carton,1849 / [unidentified artist]
    New Year’s night in an Irish cabin, 1848 / Topham ; Dalziel
    To the memory of O’Connell, 1847 / William Harvey
    Saint Patrick’s Day, 1847 / James Mahony
    The Ethiopian serenaders, 1846 / [unidentified artist]
    Mr O’Connell in his triumphal car, 1844 / [unidentified artist]
    Schools of the benevolent society of St Patrick, 1844 / [unidentified artist]
    St. Patrick’s day in London, 1844 / [unidentified artist]
    The Ulster demonstration against Home Rule, 1893 / [unidentified artist]
    A league band in the rain, 1888 / [unidentified artist]
    The police off duty, 1887 / [unidentified artist]
    The crisis in Ireland, 1886 / [unidentified artist]
    Visit to the island of Inishkea, 1884 / [unidentified artist]
    Orange torchlight procession in the streets of Belfast, 1883 / [unidentified artist]
    Orange procession on the way to the Botanic Gardens, Belfast, 1883 / [unidentified artist]
    Land agitation in Ireland, 1882 / [unidentified artist]
    The land agitation in Ireland, 1881 / [unidentified artist]
    The agitation in Ireland : Incidents of the Parnell reception at Limerick, 1880 / W.R.
    The Moore centenary, 1879 / H.W. B.
    O’Connell centenary celebration in Dublin, 1875 / [unidentified artist]
    O’Connell centenary celebration in Dublin, 1875 / [unidentified artist]
    O’Connell centenary celebration in Dublin, 1875 / [unidentified artist]
    The `nobleman’ organ grinder, 1873 / [unidentified artist]
    An Irish jig before royalty, 1871 / [unidentified artist]
    New year’s eve in Ireland, 1870 / [unidentified artist]