French, Robert, and William Lawrence. St. Finbarr’s Oratory, Church Door, Gougane Barra, Co. Cork. 1865. From NLI Collection. Link.

A picture from the NLI collection, part of a series of photographs of St. Finbarr’s Oratory taken by commercial photographer Robert French. The DIB describes the work of the ex-constabularyman as follows:

His compositions presented sites to best advantage, and the images are invariably sharp and engaging and suggest the inherent atmosphere of the place.¹

I wonder who these religious pictures were being sold to and how they were being displayed.

St. Finbarr's Oratory

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