William Osborne, Animal Painter
(b. 1823, d. 1901)
Animal Painter
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Was born in Dublin in February, 1823. As a young man he was for some time in the employment of Ferrier, Pollock and Co., wholesale warehousemen in William Street, but his taste for art determined him to become a painter, and in 1845 he entered as student in the Royal Hibernian Academy and began his career as an artist at 29 Pleasants Street. He first exhibited in 1851 when he sent to the Academy "A Boy," "A Girl," and "A Dog." Although his first efforts were in portraiture, he, from this time, devoted himself to the painting of animals, chiefly dogs and horses, which he loved and thorough y understood. His pictures of dogs, in which he excelled, are full of life and vivacity, well drawn and good in colouring, often with touches of humour, the work of a man who had made the habits and characteristics of dogs a constant study. He was a regular exhibitor in the Royal Hibernian Academy down to the year of his death. He was elected an Associate on 13th October, 1854, and a Member on 6th July, 1868. He moved from Pleasants Street to Heytesbury Street in 1852; was at 47 Dawson Street from 1854 to 1861, when he went to Castlewood Avenue—his home until his death. A picture of "The Curraghmore Hunt" by him, belonging to the Marquis of Waterford, was reproduced in autotype and published by Cranfield. He also did a picture of "The Ward Hunt," and a "Portrait of Charles Brindley, Huntsman of the Ward Union Hounds," exhibited in 1880. He died in his house No. 5 Castlewood Avenue, Rathmines, on 13th April, 1901, aged 78, and was buried at Mount Jerome on the 17th. By his wife, Anne Woods, whom he married in 1855, and who died in 1910, he was father of Walter F. Osborne, R.H.A.
« Walter Frederick Osborne | Contents and Search | Patrick O'Tunny »