One of a pair of paintings by Atkinson commemorating Queen Victoria’s visit to Ireland in 1849 (see also BHC0703), signed and dated ‘Geo M. W. Atkinson 1851’.

In August 1849, at the height of the crisis following the disaster of the Irish potato famine, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made their first visit to Ireland. The famine decimated the population, not only through death by starvation and disease but also through emigration: between 1845 and 1851 over 1.5 million people emigrated from Ireland, more than had left the country in the previous 50 years. Many sailed from the port of Cóbh (Cove), which was the most important emigrant port and was also the first stop on the royal visit: the royal yacht and squadron stayed there on 2–3 August. Despite the context of the Great Famine, the visit was a popular success and important in promoting loyalty to the Union among Irish Catholics.

Atkinson’s pair of pictures focuses firmly on this celebratory aspect, despite the dark register of this moonlight scene. It shows Cork Harbour, calm and placid, where the royal party arrived in the royal yacht ‘Victoria and Albert’ at 9 pm on the evening of Thursday 2 August. Bonfires were lit on the hillside, rockets fired and Navy vessels in the harbour illuminated. Under the moonlight breaking through cloud can be seen the illuminated mast and rigging of the ‘Fairy’, with bonfires on the cliffs beyond. The following morning the Queen and Prince Consort landed at Cóbh, which was renamed Queenstown in honour of the royal visit.