Du 30 mars au 24 avril 2026
#Visiting scholar
Andrew Tierney, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
I am an architectural historian researching stone-working techniques in eighteenth century Britain and Ireland and will be a TPTI visiting scholar at Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in April 2026. My research project is "Crosscurrents: a comparative study of British, Irish and French eighteenth century stonemasonry". Having trained in Art History (BA, MA) and Archaeology (PhD), I have had the opportunity to research stone buildings of all periods from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. Since 2017 I have been studying architectural craftsmanship in Trinity College Dublin in a series of Irish Research Council funded projects, including MAKING VICTORIAN DUBLIN (2017-18), STONEBUILT IRELAND (2019), CRAFTVALUE (2019-2023), and more recently the ERC-funded STONE-WORK: collective achievement in Anglo-Irish architectural production (2023-28). My publications include The Buildings of Ireland: Central Leinster (Yale University Press, 2019) and Between Design and Making: Architecture and craftsmanship 1630-1760 (UCL Press, 2024). I also have a long standing interest in the digital visualisation of architectural craftsmanship, much of which features in the CRAFTVALUE digital exhibition "Craft Uncovered" (2023).
STONE-WORK's fundamental premise is that architecture depends on a broad coalition of actors, great and small, with a wide range of theoretical and tacit knowledge. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in stone production. The fashioning of base, column, entablature and wall surface required knowledge of the physical properties of different types of stone and an understanding of how it might be deployed within the formal vocabulary of architectural classicism. Our seven-members research team, comprising architectural historians and geologists, are examining the collaborative practices of eighteenth century artisans from quarry to building site. Part of my role is to analyse and capture (using digital media) artisanal techniques, focusing on the retrieval of the processes involved in cutting, shaping, laying, and carving stone.
It is not yet fully understood how craftsmanship in stone varied across different regions and there has been little analysis of working practices across national borders. Initial research has shown both parallels and divergences between Fraech, Britsh and Irish stonework of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. So, my aim in Paris, which I look forward to discussing with colleagues and students during my visit, is to get a better comparative view of the international context of Anglo-Irish stone production.
