In this painting, showing the interior of a West Cork cottage, the young girl reads a letter recieved from America to her parents, who presumably are illiterate. The girl, therefore, can be read as representing the spread of universal education in Ireland in the mid-ninetenth century, with the establishment of the Government National Schools system. Her parents are dependant on the daughters newly aquired skills. It is difficult to over-emphasise the importance of universal literacy in relation to political and social developments in Ireland in the nineteenth century.
James Brennan
Letter from America
1875, oil on canvas, 81.5cm x 91cm
1875, oil on canvas, 81.5cm x 91cm
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