Sir Frederic William Burton | Victorian painter

Irish painter🎨 Sir Frederic William Burton RHA (8 April 1816 in Wicklow - 16 March 1900 in London) was the third director of the National Gallery, London.

• Artistic career

Educated in Dublin, he was elected an associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy at the age of twenty-one and an academician two years later.

In 1842 he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. A visit to Germany and Bavaria in 1842 was the first of a long series of trips to various parts of Europe, which gave him a profound knowledge of the works of the Old Masters.

Sir William Orpen | Portrait painter

Sir William Orpen, in full Sir William Newenham Montague Orpen (1878-1931) was a Irish painter.

He attended the Metropolitan School of Art, Dublin (1891-1897), and the Slade School of Art, London (1897-1899). He became a friend of Augustus John and joined the New English Art Club.

The influence of Velázquez, in particular, is apparent in such early genre subjects as The Mirror (1900; London, Tate).

Oscar Wilde: "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance"

• The critic has to educate the public; the artist has to educate the critic.

• To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

• A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

• A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

Vladimir Kush

• What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

• There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

Brian McCarthy, 1960 | Magic Realism painter

Brian McCarthy is a Irish painter, best known for his Boomtown and Masquerade series of paintings.

Brian McCarthy's artistic career began in 1981, when a painting sold at Ireland's Douglas Hyde Gallery's 'Living Art Exhibition'.

Fine art auctioneers, such as Christie's in London and Adam's in Dublin, regularly feature his paintings, which can be found in many corporate and private collections, both in Ireland and internationally.

Elsewhere, his work has been included in numerous group shows at commercial galleries in Ireland and the UK, as well as annual exhibitions at the Irish Royal Hibernian Academy.

Irish Art History and Sitemap

The history of Irish art starts around 3200 BC with Neolithic stone carvings at the Newgrange megalithic tomb, part of the Brú na Bóinne complex which still stands today, County Meath.

In early-Bronze Age Ireland there is evidence of Beaker culture and a widespread metalworking.

Trade-links with Britain and Northern Europe introduced La Tène culture and Celtic art to Ireland by about 300 BC, but while these styles later changed or disappeared under the Roman subjugation, Ireland was left alone to develop Celtic designs: notably Celtic crosses, spiral designs, and the intricate interlaced patterns of Celtic knotwork.

Phoebe Anna Traquair | Arts and Crafts Movement painter

Sir John Lavery R.A. | Plein Air / Portrait painter

Sir John Lavery R.A. (1856-1941)* was a well-known Irish-born British painter*, associated with the Glasgow Boys*, a group of artists who followed the French "En plein air*" movement.

Sir John Lavery R.A. was born in Belfast in 1856 and educated in Glasgow, London and Paris.

For biographical notes -in english and italian- and other works by Lavery see: Sir John Lavery R.A. | The Glasgow School of Art*.

Stanhope Forbes | Plein Air /Genre painter

Tate, London / Stanhope Alexander Forbes (1857-1947) Painter of realistic genre, frequently in the open air, historical subjects and landscapes. Born 18 November 1857 in Dublin, son of a railway manager and a French mother. Studied at Lambeth School of Art, the R.A. Schools 1874-1878 and for two years in Paris under Bonnat. Influenced by Bastien-Lepage and painted in Brittany with La Thangue 1880. Settled in Cornwall 1884 and became a leading member of the ‘Newlyn School’.

Markey Robinson | Expressionist /Primitive Naif painter

David Marcus Robinson, known as Markey Robinson (February 7, 1918 - January 28, 1999 (aged 80)), was an Irish painter and sculptor with a primitive representational style. His main passion was painting, but he also produced sculptures and designed some stained glass panels.

Robinson was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, the son of a house painter. He trained at the Belfast College of Art. He took part in boxing matches, under the name "Boyo Marko", and later worked as a merchant seaman. Robinson's first exhibitions were in Belfast during World War II. He became better known through over 20 exhibitions of his work at the Oriel Gallery in Dublin, where he used the upstairs framing room as his studio.