Susan Curley Meyer explores a favourite Dublin ‘type’, the flower seller, and her representations in many forms of visual culture
Dublin’s flower sellers represent some of the longest-lasting street traders in the city, with the flower girl recognised as one of Dublin’s ‘types’ by her inclusion in a variety of popular visual culture, including prints, photographs, magazines and postcards. The flower girl featured in a number of genre paintings created during the late 19th century, both as a solo sitter and as part of a wider cityscape scene. She appeared in allegories of work – where selling flowers often indicated a darker and more subversive way of life for the women who traded on the streets. She also featured in portraiture, illuminating the tension between fantasy and reality for street-selling women, many of whom were the main wage earners, often supporting large families. Generations of flower sellers formed part of Dublin’s social and economic fabric, influencing internal and external perceptions of the city.
Unravelling the sequence of carving on the stones has been challenging but has been helped by the fact that there are so many examples to study, writes Elizabeth Shee Twohig
