Beatrice Elvery

Beatrice Moss Elvery (1881, Dublin – 1970, Rockall, Sandycove) was an Irish stained-glass artist and painter.

She was the second daughter of a Dublin businessman whose family had originated from Spain where they were silk merchants. She attended the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where William Orpen (1878-1931) taught painting and later used Beatrice as a model. Of his pupil, Orpen wrote that she had "many gifts, much temperament and great ability. Her only fault was that the transmission of her thoughts from her brain to paper or canvas, clay or stained glass became so easy to her that all was said in a few hours. Nothing on earth could make her go on and try to improve on her first translation of her thought." She remained a friend and correspondent of Orpen until shortly before his death in 1931. [ [http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/read/IrelandGenWeb/2001-10/1004059592] Retrieved Feb. 29, 2008]

When Sarah Purser (1848-1943) founded her studios An Tur Gloine (Tower of Glass) in 1903, she invited Beatrice Elvery to be one of the designers and her first commission of six windows was installed in the Convent of Mercy, Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh in 1905.

Beatrice married Charles Campbell, 2nd Baron Glenavy in 1912 and they settled in London, returning to Ireland at the end of the war when she then concentrated on painting. She had three children Patrick, Bridget (known as Biddy) and Michael. Bridget was killed by a fire bomb in the Blitz.

The couple moved in the highest literary circles including Yates, Shaw, and D.H. Lawrence. Elvery was also a friend and correspondent of the short story writer Katherine Mansfield. [ [http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-Mur01Lett-t1-body-d1-d63.html Katherine Mansfield Letter to Beatrice Campbell] ] Elvery painted a picture of Mansfield in Elvery's garden. This painting is in the collection of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

Elvery's "Éire" (1907) was a landmark painting promoting the idea of an independent Irish state. [ [http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/irish/irish2/text1/text1.html] Echoes of The Belle Epoque. When Time Began to Rant and Rage: Figurative Painting from Twentieth-Century Ireland. NYU. Retrieved. Jan. 31, 2008.] She also produced numerous illustrations for children's books. [ [http://gateway.uvic.ca/spcoll/digit/orpen/Biography/biography.htm] William Orpen Biography. Retrieved Jan. 31, 2008.]

External links

* [http://www.nyu.edu/greyart/exhibits/irish/irish2/text1/eire/body_eire.html "Éire" by Beatrice Elvery]
* [http://www.jssgallery.org/Other_Artists/William_Orpen/Bridgit_a_picture_of_Miss_Elvery.htm "A picture of Miss Elvery" by William Orpen]
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References

Persondata
NAME = Elvery, Beatrice Moss
ALTERNATIVE NAMES = Glenavy, Beatrice
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Artist
DATE OF BIRTH = 1881
PLACE OF BIRTH = Dublin, Ireland
DATE OF DEATH = 1970
PLACE OF DEATH =