- William Ashford
William Ashford (1746 –
April 17 ,1824 ) was a British painter who worked exclusively inIreland .Ashford was born in
Birmingham in 1746 and arrived inDublin in 1764 at the age of eighteen. Within three years of his arrival, Ashford was exhibiting with the Society of Artists on William Street. At first, he was an amateur painter specializing in flower paintings and still life, but in 1772 he exhibited his first landscape at the Dublin Royal Society of Arts. He turned professional soon after. [cite web | title=William Ashford | work=The Berger Collection | url=http://www.bergercollection.org/artist_detail.php?i=32 | accessdate=2008-07-11] He spent a year inLondon (1789-90) where he became a member of the Society of Artists (London).He was elected President of the Irish Society of Artists in 1813, was a founding member of the
Royal Hibernian Academy , becoming its first elected President in 1823. [ [http://www.whytes.ie/Biographies/BiogsAE.htm] William Ashford at Whyte's: Biographies or Irish Art and Irish Artists. Retrieved Mar. 22, 2008.] In the early 1800s he painted a number of landscapes in and aroundMount Merrion for Lord Fitzwilliam. It was near this time that he completed his "Marino Casino," one of his finest works. [Arnold, Bruce. A Concise History of Irish Art. Thames and Hudson, London. 1969. Pg 91-92. Retrieved Apr. 21, 2008.] Ashford was among the most respected landscape painters of Ireland in his time, on par with Thomas Roberts and George Barret. The architect,James Gandon , designed his home inSandymount ,County Dublin . [Aspects of Irish Art. National Gallery of Ireland. Cahill & Co. 1974. Pg 106. Retrieved Mar. 22, 2008.]Most of his works were topographical views of country seats and well-ordered parks and his principal patrons were, therefore, the nobility and landowners. His painting, "Landscape with Carriage and Horses", painted c.1781, is in the collection of the
Ulster Museum . [cite web | title=William Ashford | work=Ulster Museum | url=http://www.ulstermuseum.org.uk/the-collections/fine-art/irish-painting-from-17th-century/ashford/ | accessdate=2008-07-11]References
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