Henry Jones Thaddeus was a realist

Realism (arts)

Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...

 and portrait

Portrait

thumb|250px|right|Portrait of [[Thomas Jefferson]] by [[Rembrandt Peale]], 1805. [[New-York Historical Society]].A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expression is predominant. The intent is to display the likeness,...

 painter born and trained in County Cork

County Cork

County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...

, Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

.

Jones entered the Cork School of Art when he was ten years old. There he studied under the genre painter James Brenan

James Brenan

James Brenan was an Irish artist.-Career:Brenan was among the most popular painters of nineteenth-century Ireland. He travelled to London where he studied decorative arts under Ownen Jones and Matthew Digby Wyatt. He became headmaster of the Cork School of Art in 1860 and began working with the...

. Thaddeus won the Taylor Prize in 1878 enabling him to go to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and then again in 1879 enabling him to continue his studies in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 at the Académie Julian

Académie Julian

The Académie Julian was an art school in Paris, France.Rodolphe Julian established the Académie Julian in 1868 at the Passage des Panoramas, as a private studio school for art students. The Académie Julian not only prepared students to the exams at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts, but offered...

. His first major painting (illustration, right) was hung "on the line" (at eye-level) at the Paris Salon

Paris Salon

The Salon , or rarely Paris Salon , beginning in 1725 was the official art exhibition of the Académie des Beaux-Arts in Paris, France. Between 1748–1890 it was the greatest annual or biannual art event in the Western world...

 of 1881.

Commissions

He received two papal portrait commissions

Contract

A contract is an agreement entered into by two parties or more with the intention of creating a legal obligation, which may have elements in writing. Contracts can be made orally. The remedy for breach of contract can be "damages" or compensation of money. In equity, the remedy can be specific...

 (for Pope Pius X

Pope Pius X

Pope Saint Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914. He was the first pope since Pope Pius V to be canonized. Pius X rejected modernist interpretations of Catholic doctrine, promoting traditional devotional practices and orthodox...

), and being was a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society for his travels. His autobiography was titled Recollections of a Court Painter; he wrote it in his retirement in California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Renewed interest

Julian Campbell became interested in Jones', and other mid-to-late-century Irish artists, and assembled the "Irish Impressionists" exhibition in 1984 at the National Gallery of Ireland. Many of the artists exhibited, like Thaddeus, were not Impressionists.

External links

• Henry Jones Thaddeus; analysis of "The Wounded Poacher"

Further reading

• Brendan Rooney, 2003. Henry Jones Thaddeus (Peter Murray) ISBN 1-85182-692-0 Reviewed