19 October 1864?C21 August 1915 Related Paintings of Thomas Pakenham :. | Joseph Holt,one of the few Protestants who fought with the rebels in Wicklow | Lord Edward Fitzgerald | John Sheares,radical barrister | Robert Emmet 24-year-old brother of Thomas Addis Emmet | Henry Grattan | Related Artists:
Charles - Theodore FrereFrench, 1814 - 1888
Joseph van Leriuspainted Portrait of Henriette Mayer van den Bergh in 1857
William John Hennessy (July 11, 1839 - December 27, 1917) was an Irish artist.
William John Hennessy was born in Thomastown, County Kilkenny in 1839. His father, John Hennessy, was forced to leave Ireland in 1848 as a result of his involvement in the Young Ireland movement. He landed in Canada and settled in New York. William, his mother Catherine, and brother joined their father there in 1849. He gained admittance to the National Academy of Design in 1854 and exhibitioned his first works there.
Hennessy developed a skill in wood engraving and was hired to illustrate the works of renowned poets, including that of Tennyson, Longfellow and Whittier. As an American he became the co-founder of the Artists Fund Society, and an honorary member of the American Society of Painters in Watercolours. In 1870 he moved to London where he became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1902. Between 1879 and 1907 the Royal Hibernian Academy displayed eight of his paintings.