Du Noyer, George Victor

George Victor Du Noyer (1817-1869)

George Victor Du Noyer (1817-1869), artist, geologist and antiquarian was born, lived and worked in Dublin. His life's work combined art and science in recording natural features and archaeological sites on the Irish countryside.

After schooling in Dublin, he was first employed by the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, sketching and painting antiquities, monuments, fossils, plants and animals. Made redundant after six years, he taught for a few years before joining the Geological Survey of Ireland, mapping rock formations exposed in the cuttings then being excavated for the construction of the railways northward and westward from Dublin. These railway sections have proved to be of lasting value.

This work being completed, he spent the next 22 years walking the Irish countryside, surveying all of counties Waterford, Wexford, Cork and Kerry, and much of Antrim, Down and Armagh. Our present knowledge of the geological structure of much of Ireland owes a lot to Du Noyer's work. His working field sheets, which are still consulted as geological records, are richly embellished with small paintings making them veritable works of art. He died of scarlet fever and is buried in Co. Antrim where he was on survey duty at the time.