William Elmer, Fruit and Animal Painter

(fl. 1772-1799)

Fruit and Animal Painter

From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913

Son of Stephen Elmer, A.R.A., of Farnham, Surrey, a still-life painter who died in 1796. William painted similar subjects—animals, birds, fruit, etc., and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1783 and 1784, and in 1797 and 1799. About 1788 he was induced "by some sporting gentlemen to try the effects of his genius" in Ireland ("Dublin Evening Packet," 10th December, 1788), and for some years he practised in Dublin and other parts of Ireland with considerable success, painting not only animals and fruit, at which he excelled, but also portraits and landscapes. In 1788 he was living at 76 Grafton Street. He had returned to England by 1797, and took up his residence at Farnham. He is not heard of after 1799. A portrait of him as "A School-Boy," was engraved in mezzotint by B. Clowes, and published in 1772.

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