Sir John Lavery
Sir John Lavery was born in Belfast on 20 March, 1856, the son of a wine and spirit merchant. He was orphaned at a young age when his father died in a shipwreck and his mother dying from heartbreak some months later. During his youth he lived with various relatives in Co. Down and Ayrshire in Scotland. Eager to establish himself as an artist he ventured to Glasgow and became apprenticed to a ‘photographic artist and portrait painter’ by the name of J.B. Maclair and later enrolled in the Haldane Academy of Art. In 1879 he opened his own studio in Glasgow which was utterly devastated in a fire in that same year. This catastrophe would in fact prove beneficial to the struggling young artist, who could then afford to travel to London to study at Heatherley’s Academy as the premises had been insured for £300.
In the early1880s Lavery began to exhibit at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, the Paisley Art Institute and the Royal Scottish Academy. In late 1881 he journeyed to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi, and in 1883 he submitted a small work to the Salon. He spent quite a lot of time in the artists’ colony of Grès-sur-Loigne, a short distance outside of Paris, and was joined here in 1883 by a group of Scottish artists, and in 1884 by his fellow Irishman, Frank O’Meara. Lavery was particularly influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage and embraced plein-air painting. By the mid-1880s Lavery was a prominent member of what would be termed the ‘Glasgow School’, a group of innovative Scottish artists whose work echoed the contemporary French style.
In 1888 Lavery received his most important commission thus-far which would firmly establish his reputation as a portraitist and society painter, as he was called upon to record the visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow International Exhibition of that year. Shortly there-after Lavery moved to London where he set up a studio in Kensington and became vice-president of the newly-formed International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. He travelled extensively and exhibited many of his works abroad; he was particularly drawn to Morocco where he would often retire to in the winter.
Lavery did not forget his Irish roots however, and exhibited at the Belfast Art Society and Royal Hibernian Academy, he was made an honorary member of the Belfast Art Society in 1904 and was appointed ARHA two years later. In 1919, he was elected president of the Belfast Art Society and served in this position for five years. His works of the 1920s show his increasing interest in the country of his birth and include a painting of his Michael Collins lying in State (Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art) and several portraits of the first Ministers of the Free State Government. In 1924 he was appointed a governor of the National Gallery of Ireland. In the 1930s he became an Honorary Freeman of the City of Dublin and received honorary LL Ds from both Trinity College, Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast. Lavery also received honours internationally and was a member of academies and institutions throughout Europe, including the Sociète Nationale de Beaux Arts and the Berlin Secession.
During the Second World War, the artist came to Ireland to reside with his step-daughter at her home in Co. Kilkenny. He died there on 10 January 1941. Examples of Lavery’s work can be found in major public art collections throughout the world, including the Tate Gallery, Musée d’Orsay, Uffizi Gallery and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
1. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin, 2002, pg. 334
2. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin, 2002, pg. 334
In the early1880s Lavery began to exhibit at the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, the Paisley Art Institute and the Royal Scottish Academy. In late 1881 he journeyed to Paris to study at the Académie Julian and the Académie Colarossi, and in 1883 he submitted a small work to the Salon. He spent quite a lot of time in the artists’ colony of Grès-sur-Loigne, a short distance outside of Paris, and was joined here in 1883 by a group of Scottish artists, and in 1884 by his fellow Irishman, Frank O’Meara. Lavery was particularly influenced by Jules Bastien-Lepage and embraced plein-air painting. By the mid-1880s Lavery was a prominent member of what would be termed the ‘Glasgow School’, a group of innovative Scottish artists whose work echoed the contemporary French style.
In 1888 Lavery received his most important commission thus-far which would firmly establish his reputation as a portraitist and society painter, as he was called upon to record the visit of Queen Victoria to the Glasgow International Exhibition of that year. Shortly there-after Lavery moved to London where he set up a studio in Kensington and became vice-president of the newly-formed International Society of Sculptors, Painters and Gravers. He travelled extensively and exhibited many of his works abroad; he was particularly drawn to Morocco where he would often retire to in the winter.
Lavery did not forget his Irish roots however, and exhibited at the Belfast Art Society and Royal Hibernian Academy, he was made an honorary member of the Belfast Art Society in 1904 and was appointed ARHA two years later. In 1919, he was elected president of the Belfast Art Society and served in this position for five years. His works of the 1920s show his increasing interest in the country of his birth and include a painting of his Michael Collins lying in State (Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery of Modern Art) and several portraits of the first Ministers of the Free State Government. In 1924 he was appointed a governor of the National Gallery of Ireland. In the 1930s he became an Honorary Freeman of the City of Dublin and received honorary LL Ds from both Trinity College, Dublin and Queen’s University, Belfast. Lavery also received honours internationally and was a member of academies and institutions throughout Europe, including the Sociète Nationale de Beaux Arts and the Berlin Secession.
During the Second World War, the artist came to Ireland to reside with his step-daughter at her home in Co. Kilkenny. He died there on 10 January 1941. Examples of Lavery’s work can be found in major public art collections throughout the world, including the Tate Gallery, Musée d’Orsay, Uffizi Gallery and National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne.
1. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin, 2002, pg. 334
2. Theo Snoddy, Dictionary of Irish Artists, Dublin, 2002, pg. 334
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'ARTHUR GRIFFITH'
- Price Realised: €2,000
- Sale: 18 November 2003
- lithograph, stamped artist's proof
- 51 by 41cm., 20 by 16in.
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'GIRLS IN SUNLIGHT and PÉRE ET FILLE: JOHN LAVERY AND HIS DAUGHTER, 1897 (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: €1,700
- Sale: 29 November 2010
- engraving (no.150 from an edition of 160)
- 26 by 20cm., 10.2 5 by 7.75in.
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'Walter Shaw Sparrow, John Lavery and his Work'
- Price Realised: €850
- Sale: 10 December 2005
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'A LADY IN BLACK - MISS ESTHER MCLAREN and MARY IN GREEN (A PAIR)'
- Price Realised: €420
- Sale: 03 April 2017
- engraving; (2) (no. 150 from an edition of 160)
- 7¼ x 5¾in. (18.42 x 14.61cm)
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'ARTHUR GRIFFITH'
- Price Realised: €380
- Sale: 25 July 2016
- lithograph
- 20 x 16½in. (50.80 x 41.91cm)
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'THE BARB'
- Price Realised: €360
- Sale: 24 October 2016
- engraving; (no. 150 from an edition of 160)
- 7¼ x 5½in. (18.42 x 13.97cm)
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'AUTOGRAPHED LETTER TO SCOTTISH PATRON J.J. COWAN, 28 APRIL 1895'
- Price Realised: €280
- Sale: 26 February 2018
- two and a half pages Octavo on Arts Club notepaper
- 7 x 4½in. (17.78 x 11.43cm)
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'LADY EVELYN FARQUHAR'
- Price Realised: €250
- Sale: 24 October 2016
- engraving; (no. 150 from an edition of 160)
- 8 x 5¼in. (20.32 x 13.34cm)
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'Walter Shaw-Sparrow, John Lavery and his Work, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., London, n.d.(circa 1911)'
- Price Realised: €110
- Sale: 29 April 2003
- 0 by 0cm., by in.
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'JOHN LAVERY AND HIS WORK by WALTER SHAW SPARROW'
- Price Realised: €80
- Sale: 09 December 2012
- first edition book
- 10.5 by 8.25in., 26.67 by 20.955cm.
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'ON THE RIVIERA'
- Price Realised: €20
- Sale: 17 February 2020
- colour print; (unframed)
- 32 x 24¼in. (81.28 x 61.60cm)