The Port of Cork Company's donation of maritime artworks and historical pieces to the Crawford Art Gallery in Cork is a further boost to the city's art collection, writes the Irish Examiner. 

As well as significant paintings of the port and its surrounds through the ages, the donation also includes a Ship’s Register from the Cork Harbour Commissioners, recording the visit of the Titanic, and mentioning the Lusitania.

The Port of Cork organisation, which is currently housed in the city's Custom House, is expected to move to Ringaskiddy as part of the major development of facilities closer to the mouth of the harbour. Plans have already been approved for the creation of a 34-storey hotel – potentially Ireland's tallest building – at the site of the Custom House, albeit with conditions around the preservation of aspects of the original building.

Among the 17 maritime paintings making their way across the city to the Crawford are 11 works by Cobh artist George Mounsey Wheatley Atkinson, whose iconic Paddle Steamer Entering the Port of Cork already forms part of the gallery's collection. A former ship's carpenter, the 19th Century resident of what was then Queenstown is renowned for providing insight into the ships of the era. The Crawford plans to exhibit the newly acquired pieces alongside other maritime pieces in its collection.

Also included in the Port of Cork donation are pieces by Mallow artist Henry Albert Hartland, famous for his watercolours and landscapes, skills he would have honed in the Crawford building during its early incarnation as Cork School of Art. Indeed, before it became associated with art, the Crawford building served as the city's Custom House before those functions transferred to the current Port of Cork premises.

Click here for further reading of the port's donation to the city's culture.