15 Dec 1582: William Chappell future tutor of John Milton #poet at #Cambridge, future Provost of Trinity College #Dublin and future bishop of #Cork is baptised at Laxton Notts #otd (eebo)

Comhghairdeas mór le Toma McCullim (Salt & Pepper art collective) who won Best LGBTI+ Artist/Arts Group at the Out & Outstanding Awards! Grá at Uillinn: West Cork Arts Centre was a rainbow beacon of joy/love this summer thanks to Toma’s leadership and support of a brilliant group of queer elders.

'View from the Window of 11A North Hill towards Highgate School' (1950s) by Margaret Thomas (Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution)

If someone performed witchcraft against you in ancient Mesopotamia, it could lead to all sorts of horrors, like illness and social isolation. There were professionals trained in rituals and prescriptions to address those ills. This ritual uses 15 stones that eventually get worn as a necklace.

Pest control in the seventeenth century seems like a pretty involved affair, requiring little guillotines, a cat-belt (!), and all kinds of other stuff. [Mouse Catcher, attributed to Adriaen Matham, Rijksmuseum]

Earlier today, Finola Finlay treated us to a superb journey through post-Medieval and early-Revival stained glass in Ireland as part of Cork Decorative & Fine Arts Society’s talks series at Nano Nagle Place. A tour de force!

Yesterday, we were delighted to welcome @deptcultureirl.bsky.social as they hosted a press event marking the official letter of acceptance to begin construction on our Redevelopment. Here’s a quick look of some of the moments that go into bringing an event like this together. youtu.be/99yMmPwKvE8

Today is #InternationalMountainDay so we’re taking a moment to celebrate the varied beauty of these majestic formations with some scenes from the collection – from rolling, gentle peaks, to the cheerful bubbling of a tranquil mountain stream, to rugged, snowy alpines. #CrawfordArtGallery #mountains

Tiny reindeer from a map of Norway in vol.1 of Joan Blaeu's 11 volume Atlas Major, 1662 #Christmas #Maps

#AshmoleanAdvent Day 10: Evening Snow at Kiyomizudera This woodblock print shows a view from inside the Kiyomizudera Temple in Kyoto on a snowy evening by Kawase Hasui. Snow falls steadily, forming drifts on the wooden balcony. Through the pillars, two figures can be seen looking out.

'Nocturne: Grey and Gold - Snow in Chelsea' (1876) by James McNeill Whistler (Harvard Art Museums)

‘… the words for sea in Welsh and Old Irish – môr and muir – correspond to “Mori” in Celtic names such as Moridunum, which means “sea fort” and is an ancient name for Carmarthen...’ Linguists start compiling first ever complete dictionary of ancient Celtic www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

The Vatican returns sacred artifacts held for a century to their Indigenous owners www.cnn.com/2025/12/08/e...

We're celebrating 12 Days of Medieval Illuminations. Today, 5 medieval cats.

The 'contract' for the first French colony in the Caribbean, St Christopher, 13th January 1627. Drawn up and signed in the Normandy port of Le Havre by Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and Urbain de Roissey, it launched a 'Company for the Islands' with Cardinal Richelieu as a major stakeholder.

We’re continuing our winter theme with Burren Land by Anne Madden. This abstract landscape captures the stark limestone and deep fissures of the Burren. An early work, it reflects Madden’s experiments with Abstract Expressionism and poured paint. #CrawfordArtGallery #winter #wintermood

#TodayInQueerHistory December 7 (1775) Writing in his journal, Father Pedro Font describes two-spirit people in the Quechan tribe: “Among the women I saw some men dressed like women with whom they go about regularly." It's an early observation of two-spirit folk from a European perspective.

Writing about his time in the Cotswolds, William Rothenstein said he found inspiration: 'In the stone buildings which always move me, austere in grey weather, pale, livid even, against a stormy sky, they are warm and sparkling in the sunlight.'

Entering the US public domain in 2026: Langston Hughes' Not Without Laughter. More info behind window 5 of our advent-style countdown calendar for works entering the #publicdomain on Jan 1st: https://publicdomainreview.org/features/entering-the-public-domain/2026/ #PDin2026

Ireland will not participate in next year's Eurovision Song Contest, and it will not be broadcast by RTÉ, after the European Broadcasting Union confirmed today that Israel will be allowed to take part

As our #CrawfordUncovered tours enter their final days, it’s been deeply moving and encouraging to savour the experience with so many wonderful visitors. This evening it was the turn of the Friends of Crawford Art Gallery, stalwart supporters for nearly 40 years. @crawfordartgallery.bsky.social

Pole dancing was a lot trickier back in the day 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums "A Youth at a Stream", 1844, by John Henry Foley, from @metmuseum.org

3 Dec 1218: Pandulph, Papal Legate enters #London #otd on his second mission to #England. Perhaps best remembered nowadays through #Shakespeare, here he is in King John, Act III, Scene 4 (BM)

Today is #InternationalDayOfPeopleWithDisabilities and we’re celebrating by sharing Ferris Wheel by Rosaleen Moore, a work depicting a familiar scene on Grand Parade at Christmas time. Rosaleen is a member of Crawford Supported Studios., a sustained creative environment that centres disabled people.

#WhereinCork would you see the street in this painting from 1937? #LoveCork #PureCork #CorkLike

Yesterday I had the privilege to be guided around the hidden corners of St Fin Barre’s Cathedral on the 198th anniversary of its visionary architect William Burges. Huge thanks to Orla O’Byrne for this remarkable insight into the Burges-designed maquette collection of international significance.

✨Inside the medieval roof timbers at Beverley Minster, Yorkshire, one of the rafters has been dated (c. 921) and was a sapling during the reign of King Æthelstan, before England was an entity. Touch it and you feel a kind of altitude and sense that the past is cheek by jowl.

Really love this rather rare peep inside @crawfordartgallery.bsky.social of 50 years ago for ROSC Corcaigh (with added @corkoperahouse.bsky.social magic) Cork ROSC Art Exhibition 1975 www.rte.ie/archives/201...

Today may be wet rather than snowy, but we’re still celebrating the beginning of December with the beautiful and serene Winter Landscape by Henri S. Jourdain. With its mirror-like river and fresh snowfall, this work is giving us all of the winter feelings! #CrawfordArtGallery #WinterWonderland

'Pont Saint-Louis, Paris,' (1928) shows off Albert Marquet's command of light, colour and space. There's real atmosphere in this work; a feeling of luminosity, the way Marquet articulates the flow of the Seine is a masterclass in creating movement.

Oscar Wilde who died on this day 125 years ago: Wilde was initially buried in the Cimetière de Bagneux outside Paris. In 1909 his remains were disinterred and transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.

Lámh Laichtín • The Shrine of St Lachtin's Arm This remarkable shrine in the shape of a forearm dates to around c.1120. A hollow in the shrine is believed to have held the arm bone of St. Lachtin, a saint of the 6th century. (some additional detail in the Alt-Text) #Ireland #SpéirGhorm

'London Town, No. 72', Eltham Road, Blackheath (c.1950s) by Robert Ellis (Private collection)

You may be familiar with Georges Seurat's colorful paintings, but have you ever seen his darker work with Conté crayon? In Woman Strolling (Une élégante), a veiled lady dressed in the latest fashions seems to nearly walk off the page. (🧵 1/2)

The first directly dated wildcat bones found in Ireland have been identified, confirming that the species inhabited the island more than 5,500 years ago

Some pictures from one of our Crawford Uncovered tours, courtesy of @cethanleahy.com

The #CrawfordUncovered tour was so much fun. Felt like slipping into a hidden secret world. We were allowed to wander freely through the currently closed @crawfordartgallery.bsky.social into areas usually unseen by the public. An intimate insight into one of Cork's most important historic sites

It has been incredibly fun and just a little moving to welcome people back to @crawfordartgallery.bsky.social this week for #CrawfordUncovered tours. Brilliantly orchestrated by the whole gallery team, the enthusiasm of visitors has been a salve before the redevelopment works commence ❤️‍🩹

Today we’re continuing the #autumnvibes with this oil painting by Nano Reid depicting a group of Irish Travellers gathering wood for a fire. With its muted, earthy tones and abstract figures, the people and animals begin to blend into the landscape of the setting itself. #CrawfordArtGallery

Irish sculptor Joseph Higgins died #onthisday in 1925. To mark the award-winning artist’s centenary, we’re sharing one of his most celebrated works: An Strachaire Fir (c.1923). And a little bit of trivia: Higgins took night classes in our building when it was Crawford Municipal School of Art.

John Singer Sargent met his muse, Thomas McKellar when TM was working as a hotel elevator operator. TM became "The Boston Apollo", posing for many of JSS' classical characters 👍🏛️🍑 #MuseumBums This is JSS' Study for Eros and Psyche for the Rotunda of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1916–1921 😁

On this Trans Day of Remembrance, we remember the bright and courageous trans people whose lives were stolen by hatred. Their absence is felt across our city. We will honor them by building a New York where every trans person can live safely, fully and freely.

In honour of Transgender Day of Remembrance, today we are posting Dylan is Ainm Dom... by Stephen Doyle, which is thought to be the first artwork in the national collection that openly addresses transgender identity. #CrawfordArtGallery #TransgenderDayOfRememberance

What are you wearing now the weather's turning colder? We suggest some Hibernian fashion this winter season, as modelled here by this couple donning some cosy looking threads. This image comes from 'Costumes of the British Isles', showing the clothing of Hibernians.

It's good to see Bishop Lucey Park open again and there are some nice elements but overall it's rather charmless, cluttered and over-engineered. Strap yourself in for a rollercoaster ride of a thread (1/n)🧵 #Cork

Aosdána member and Saoi Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin awarded Honorary Doctorate of Literature by UCC aosdana.artscouncil.ie/general/aosd...

This was a really stellar acquisition for @nationalgalleryirl.bsky.social, a painting about which I wrote a short piece for the Una Watters blog. Incidentally, tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of the artist’s death. unawattersartist.com/2021/10/21/s...

The last of this season’s Talks Series at St Canice's Cathedral, Kilkenny takes place on Thursday evening. Following my talk on #HarryClarke last week, Evan Connon will speak on “Fragments of Faith: Conservation of Ireland’s Stained-Glass Legacy” www.stcanicescathedral.ie/event/fragme...

On this November afternoon, we are taking a moment to reflect on Potato Diggers in the West, a highly atmospheric work by Charles MacIver Grierson that beautifully captures the late autumn light and intensity of the setting sun. #CrawfordArtGallery #IrishArtist #AutumnVibes #IrishArtists