William Mulready

William Mulready


A carte-de-visite portrait of the Irish genre painter William Mulready (1876-1863). He is best known for his romanticizing depictions of rural scenes. A highly talented draughtsman, he also painted portraits and landscapes.

In 1840, he designed the illustrations for the postal stationery, known as Mulready stationery, that was introduced by the Royal Mail at the same time as the Penny Black postage stamp.

’In person, Mulready was tall, manly in form, and even in his old age presented an appearance scarcely less vigorous and handsome than it had been in his prime of manhood. His features were finely cut, his eye bright and clear to the last, his mouth severe but by no means sensual; his face had, when circumstances called it forth, a sarcastic expression, and his frown, as I have sometimes seen it, was positively terrible’ [Samuel Carter Hall, Retrospect of a Long Life, 1883].

Mrs Panton remembered him as ‘a small, very neat man, very deaf, and very kind’ [Leaves from a Life, 1908].

Photographed by Cundall, Downes and Co.

 


Code: 125629
© Paul Frecker 2024