Biography
Daniel Maclise
"was born [Daniel McClish] in Ireland on February 2, 1806, the
son of Alexander McClish, a shoemaker. He
studied at the Cork School of Art which was
established in 1822. Maclise then set up his
own portrait studio. The artist came to London
in 1827, and entered the Royal Academy Schools
the following year. In 1829 he won the Silver
Medal for drawing from the antique and made
his debut at the Academy's annual exhibition
with Malvolio Affecting the Count. Two years
later he won the Schools' Gold Medal for history
painting with the Choice of Hercules. In 1835
he began to spell his name Maclise instead of
McClish. He exhibited a large number of successful history compositions at the Royal Academy, and his career flourished. In 1843
purchased his Scene from
Undine to present to Prince Albert on his birthday. The Prince in his turn commissioned
Maclise to execute one of the frescoes in the
Garden Pavilion at Buckingham Palace. . . This was followed by commissions for two frescoes in the New Palace of
Westminster: The Spirit of Chivalry completed
in 1848 and The Spirit of Justice completed in
1849 . . . . In 1857 he agreed to
paint two huge frescoes in the Royal Gallery
in the new Parliament buildings, and in 1859 he
began The Meeting of Wellington and Blucher.
Work on this and its pendant, The Death of
Nelson, was not completed until 1865 and the
effort completely undermined his health.
In 1835 he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy and in 1840, a full Member. In 1866, he declined to be put forward for its Presidency. During his career he exhibited eighty-four works there and in 1875, a group of fifteen of his paintings was shown at the Academy's Winter Exhibition." — Christopher Forbes, p. 102.
Works
Bibliography
Forbes, Chrisopher. The Royal Academy Revisited, 1837-1901. Ed. and Intro. by Allen Staley. New York: Forbes Magazine, 1975.
Last modified 30 July 2001