Life
1816-1900; painter, b. 18 April, Corofin House, Co. Clare; ed. RDS Schools;
began exhibiting at RHA, with Abraham on his Journey to Sacrifice Isaac,
1830; practised as miniature portraitist in Dublin; friend of Samuel Lover,
in his capacity as miniaturist; befriended by Petrie, who may have met
him while he was sketching in a Dublin Gallery; RHA 1839; designed the
frontispiece of The Spirit of the Nation in 1845 for Thomas Davis
[engraved by Carolyn Millard]; studied in Germany, living in Munich, 1851-58;
FSA 1863;. Dir. National Gallery, London, 1874-94; Added 600 valuable
paintings to the collection, including Leonardo’s Virgin on the
Rocks, Botticelli’s Venus and Mars, and Raphael’s Ansi dei Madonna; there is a portrait by George Francis Mulvany
in the National Gallery of Ireland; travelled to West of Ireland with
George Petrie, painting peasant life, including his canvas, “Aran Fisherman’s
Drowned Child” (1838-1841); also “The Blind Girl at the Holy Well”, 1840;
drew Mangan’s features in chalk immediately after his death at Meath
Hospital, having been summoned by William Stokes who recognised him being
carried into hospital, 1849; knighted 1884; LLD TCD, 1896; besides Mangan,
his Irish subjects incl. Charles K. Bushe; a pencil sketch of Davis; Eugene
O’Curry, drawing with Sir Samuel Ferguson, as well as a chalk sketch
of William Stokes (both in the NGI); painted celebrated portrait of George
Eliot; best-remembered today for “The Meeting on the Turret Stairs”, a
romantic image of Norman days. ODNB DIB DIH BREF
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Commentary
Marie Bourke, ‘Rural Life in Pre-Famine Connacht, A Visual Document’,
in Brian Kennedy and Raymond Gillespie, eds., Ireland, Art into History
(1994), pp.61-74. This is chiefly an account of Burton, his connection
with Petrie and the Aran Islands, and his painting ‘Aran Fisherman’s
Drown Child’, characterised as ‘part of a search for a “national
identity”.’ (p.63); told Davis that ‘free spiritual, high-aiming
art cannot be forced’; Thackeray wrote, ‘The drawings and reputation
of Mr Burton are well known in England, his pictures were the most admired
in the Collection’, reflecting the wide-spread acclaim that greeted
his ‘Drowned Child’ when shown first at the RHA exhibition in
1842; also shows influence of ‘A Scene from Gil Blas’ painted
by Daniel Maclise, 1839.
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References
Dictionary of National Biography calls him a portrait painter
in Dublin; lived in Munich, 1851-58; FSA 1863; dir. National Gallery,
London, 1874-94; LLD TCD, 1896; portrait of George Eliot; best known for
‘The Meeting on the Turret Stairs’ [NOTE, a picture characterised
by Paul Durcan in Crazy About Women, 1991].
Brian de Breffny, ed., Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopaedia (London: Thames & Hudson 1982), reproduces “Aran Fisherman’s Drowned Child” ( c.1841).
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Notes
Irish portraits by Burton incl. besides Mangan, Charles K. Bushe; Davis,
pencil; Eugene O’Curry, drawing, with Sir Sam. Ferguson [provenance,
Henry Stokes; NGI]; Will. Stokes chalk NGI. See Anne Crookshank, ed., Great Irishmen and Women Portrait Exhibition [Catalogue] (Ulster
Museum 1965)].
Samuel Ferguson’s Congal is dedicated to F. W. Burton along with Whitley Stokes, Margaret Stokes, ‘three much prized friends’. A letter of thanks from Burton is printed in Lady Ferguson’s life of her husband (1896).
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