'Master of the Ordinary': Popular Clare lecture series continues with new talk

The new season of Clare Museum’s Lecture Series continues on Wednesday, November 12 from 7.30 pm to 8:30 pm.

Marie Bourke will be giving a talk entitled ‘William Mulready 1786-1863, Master of the Ordinary, painter of subject pictures, landscape and informal portraits’.

The subject of the talk William Mulready, was born in Ennis in 1786 but grew up in County Dublin.

He later became a renowned painter in London, best known for his depiction of rural landscape scenes.

Read next: 'Huge relief': Two local Clare post offices 'saved' amid concerns for their future

Giving the talk is cultural historian and former Keeper-Head of Education at the National Gallery of Ireland, Marie Bourke.

She is known for her book  ‘The Story of Irish Museums 1790-2000’ published by Cork University Press, and as the curator of the Gallery's 'Frederic William Burton Exhibition', and her article on William Mulready which was published in the Irish Arts Review 2023, Volume 40,3.

The Lecture Series will continue at Clare Museum on the second Wednesday of each month, until May 2026.

Upcoming topics include the archaeological evidence for pilgrimage in medieval Ireland, pillboxes of the Shannon Estuary, the Folklore of Ireland Society founded in 1927, music and social life in the country house, the folklore of County Clare’s caves, and  more.

Admission to the lecture is free, but as there is a high level of interest for the lecture, people planning on attending are asked to book there seat in advance by emailing claremuseum@clarecoco.ie to avoid disappointment.