Stanhope Alexander Forbes
Born in Dublin, the son of a railway manager and his French wife, Stanhope Forbes became one of the best known painters of his generation, and an important link between English and Irish artists of the period. He studied at the Lambeth School of Art and at the RA Schools (1874-1878), before moving to France where he spent two years in the studio of Lιon Bonnat. In the years 1881-1883 he painted in Brittany, meeting a host of other young artists including the Irishmen Walter Osborne, Joseph Malachy Kavanagh, Nathaniel Hill and Norman Garstin - all of whom were influenced by the plein air naturalism of Bastien-Lepage. In 1884 Forbes moved to Newlyn in Cornwall, where along with Garstin he became a leading proponent of the Newlyn School. He was a founding member of the NEAC, and together with his wife Elizabeth he ran a well known painting school in Newlyn. www.whytes.ie