ALOYSIUS O'KELLY (1853-1936)

An original illustration of this historic event in Irish history - commissioned for the Illustrated London News in 1887

Aloysius O’Kelly was born in Dublin in 1853 and moved to London at a young age. In 1874 he became one of the first Irish artists to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he received his training from Jean-Leon Gerome and Leon Bonnall. O’Kelly was also one of the initial Irish artists to spend time painting in Brittany, where he met Jules Bastien-Lepage. During the 1880s he was appointed specialist artist to the Illustrated London News, and travelled around Ireland as a political illustrator, having exhibited at the RHA twice in the previous decade. O’Kelly is possibly best known for his painting depicting Northern African scenes – a popular subject among European Romantic painters. In an unusual move, O’Kelly emigrated to New York in 1895 and changed his name to Arthur Oakley. Following this he continued to visit and exhibit in France, as well as in Chicago, Milwaukee and New York where he was a member of the Water-Colour Club. He returned to Ireland in 1927 for a period and died in New York in 1936.