Andrew Richard Twigg, Portrait and Figure Painter

(d. 1810)

Portrait and Figure Painter

From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913

Was younger son of Richard Twigg of No, 11 Henry Street, coach and heraldic painter. He began to study art at an early age under Francis Robert West in the Dublin Society's School and made rapid progress, gaining medals for his proficiency in 1798, 1799 and 1800, and a premium in 1801. He contributed two portraits in oil to the exhibition in the Parliament House in 1802. He specially studied the Dutch and Flemish masters; his landscapes are said to have been of conspicuous merit, and his portraits could bear comparison with those of H. D. Hamilton. His early promise, however, does not appear to have been quite fulfilled. In November, 1806, he offered to the Dublin Society a whole-length portrait of General Vallancey, which he described as "the first fruits of his academic studies." It was accepted and ordered to be hung in the Board Room. In the following February Twigg petitioned the Society for aid to enable him to go to London for the purpose of improving himself in his profession, and fifty guineas were given to him to defray his expenses. In the same year, 1807, he sent to the British Institution a picture, "Girl and Pitcher."

He was back in Dublin in 1809, when he competed, unsuccessfully, for the mastership in the Dublin Society's School, vacant by the death of West, and exhibited at the Society of Artists in Hawkins Street ten pictures. Among these were a "Madonna" and "Il Penseroso," both severely criticized in the "Monthly Pantheon" of that year. At the end of the year, about Christmas, he left Dublin for London. On the journey he caught a chill, from the results of which he died, soon after his arrival, on the 24th of January, 18 10. In the same year five of his works were shown at the British Institution, including a large picture, 4 feet 1 inch by 4 feet 10 inches, "Celadon and Amelia," and at the Royal Academy his "Crossing the Stile." In 1807 he married Margaret Le Bas of Dublin. His elder brother was a captain in the 54th Regiment.

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