MOORE, Thomas. Portrait of Thomas Moore. Mezzotint. Engraved by George Raphael Ward after a painting by George F. Mulvany

[MOORE, Thomas] Portrait of Thomas Moore. Mezzotint. Engraved by George Raphael Ward after a painting by George F. Mulvany. Published London and Dublin: Ward and Mulvany, 1836. Proof - Chine applique. Image 30.5 x 24cms. Framed and glazed. In very good condition. Dedication to the Marquis of Lansdowne.
George Francis Mulvany (1809-69), painter and art administrator, was one of the three sons of Thomas James Mulvany. He was born in Dublin and studied at the RHA school and in Italy before embarking upon a prolific career as a painter of landscapes and subject pictures, executed chiefly in oils. He first exhibited at the RHA in 1827, where he continued to show paintings until the year of his death. He was made an associate of the RHA in 1830, and a full member in 1835, and succeeded his father as keeper (1845-64). In 1836 and 1839 he contributed canvases to the exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London – respectively, ‘Infant Bacchus’ and ‘Various attractions, a scene in the Louvre’. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Royal Irish Art Union, founded in 1839, and was instrumental in its campaign to found a national gallery in Dublin. When this was achieved, he was appointed director in 1862, and in this capacity purchased some seventy paintings for the gallery, including many by baroque masters. Mulvany completed portraits of many distinguished figures of the time, notably the writers John Banim and Thomas Moore, Daniel O’Connell and the painter Sir Frederic Burton.