"Ould Times" at Donnybrook Fair

In the foreground of this bustling fair scene, a woman (left) and a man (right) dance a jig to the piping music played by a man seated on a bench (center). The woman wears a red skirt, and a green plaid top with short white sleeves and a white collar. The musician --wearing a brown patched coat, a red vest, blue tie, blue pants, and a crumpled black hat -- looks down at his instrument fingering. The man dances exuberantly with his arms overhead; his right hand holds a stick. At the far left, an old woman (shown in profile) --dressed in black from head to toe --leans on her walking stick and watches the dancing couple. In the right middleground, several men are fighting. In the central background, other couples are dancing; a woman with a basket on her head faces the viewer (left of center). Tents are in the upper left background. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.

"Donnybrook Fair" was a traditional fair held in Donnybrook, Dublin, but it also refers to an Irish jig. Starting in the mid-1840s, immigrants from Ireland began arriving in New York in great numbers; they were escaping the famine caused by a devastating blight affecting potato crops. This print probably appealed to the newly settled Irish communities in America.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued until 1907.