John Comerford

Henry Flood portrait drawn by John Comerford and engraved by James Heath.

John Comerford was born at Kilkenny. Having gained some knowledge of art from copying the pictures in the collection of the Marquis of Ormonde, he went early in life to Dublin, and entered as a student in the art schools of the Dublin Society. [1]

Comerford, who exhibited in London at the Royal Academy in 1804 and 1809, was very successful and gained a high reputation as a miniature-painter in Dublin, and had a large and lucrative practice in his art. He particularly excelled in his male portraits, which were carefully finished, well expressed, and quiet in colour. [1]

Some examples of his work were exhibited at the Special Exhibition of Portrait Miniatures in 1865, including portraits of Lady Sarah Lennox, Mr. Burgoyne, and Mr. William Fletcher, the latter in college dress. There is a miniature by him of an English military officer in the South Kensington Museum. [1]

In 1819, the Dublin Society of Artists, which had been for some years torn by internal dissensions, applied for a charter of incorporation. This was actively opposed, and Comerford was selected by the opposers, as being a man of good repute and much respected, to write to Sir Robert Peel, then chief secretary for Ireland, explaining the reason for opposition. The controversy ended in the complete defeat of Comerford and his friends, and the society obtained their charter in 1821. [1]

He died in Dublin of apoplexy in 1832 or 1833, aged between sixty and seventy years. [1]

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Bryan, Michael (1886). "Comerford, John". In Graves, Robert Edmund (ed.). Bryan's Dictionary of Painters and Engravers (A–K). I (3rd ed.). London: George Bell & Sons.
•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Cust, Lionel Henry (1887). "Comerford, John". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 11. London: Smith, Elder & Co.