Stag Hunt upon the water.

Title at lower right: 'Mr Herbert's Stag Hunt, Killarney, Upper Lake.' The Herbert family were the original owners of Muckross House.

The scene depicts a Stag Hunt upon the lakes of Killarney (see below). The stag is depicted at lower left where it has been forced down into the water by the hounds. To the right, men are hauling a boat to the shore, while another crowd-filled boat is situated close behind. Other boats are visible in the distance. The mountains occupy the background, while the cloudy sky and presence of a rainbow hint at a damp day. Dated 1878 (lower right.

Artist: William Andrews Nesfield (signed and dated bottom centre).
Nesfield was born in County Durham, England, in 1793. Following a career in the military, he first became a watercolour artist and then a landscape architect. He quickly became one of the most sought after landscape architects of the mid-19th century. He died in 1881.

Watercolour and gouache on paper
c. 68 x 96 cm
Framed: c. 101 x 127 cm

Stag Hunting upon Killarney's Lakes was an established past time among the local ascendancy, at least as early as 1725. For, in August of that year, Valentine Browne 3rd Viscount Kenmare (c. 1694-1736) instructed O Sullevane More (sic) to meet him 'with a boat at Ross to go stag hunting.' The sport involved the hunting of a stag by a pack of hounds until it was driven down into the water. It was then captured by throwing a rope around it antlers. The ear of the stag was sometimes nicked to indicate that the animal had been captured and it was then often released. https://www.muckrosshouseresearchlibrary.ie/pdf/newsletters/newsletter23.pdf