William Percy French
William Percy French was born in Roscommon into an Anglo Irish family. He studied at Trinity College between 1872 and 1880 but was disinclined towards academics preferring art, among other excursions. He took a job as Chief Engineer by the Board Works in Cavan and performed in his spare time, travelling widely around Ireland. It was also at this time that he began painting watercolours of the landscape he was seeing on his travels, which explains the small format of his pictures. Engineering was not for him, instead, he became one of Ireland’s leading songwriters and entertainers. He has since been recognised for his landscape watercolour paintings which were a great passion for him. Upon viewing an exhibition of the Watercolour Society of Ireland, he submitted a number of paintings the following year. In 1908, he exhibited in London and on the strength of this, won a royal commission to paint two works for the Queen of Spain. Another great champion of his paintings was Oliver Nulty who supported French through representation at the Oriel Gallery.
His paintings are generally traditional landscapes, typical of the Victorian style, sentimental in ambience but with a specific sense of place. His work, moves in and out of vogue as scenes specific to their time, however his ability and importance in the history of Irish art is well recognised and accepted.
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His paintings are generally traditional landscapes, typical of the Victorian style, sentimental in ambience but with a specific sense of place. His work, moves in and out of vogue as scenes specific to their time, however his ability and importance in the history of Irish art is well recognised and accepted.
Read More
