James Butler Brenan, Portrait Painter
(b. 1825, d. 1889)
Portrait Painter
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Was born in 1825, the son of the Cork landscape painter, John Brenan (q.v.). He passed his life in Cork, where he practised his art, his work consisting almost entirely of portraits of local personages, good likenesses often vigorously and skilfully painted; but he hardly fulfilled the promise of excellence shown in his earlier work. He commenced to exhibit in the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1843, and until 1886 there were but few years in which he did not contribute. He was elected an Associate on the 18th July, 1861, and a Member on the 4th April, 1871. He died at his residence, 5 College View Terrace, Cork, on the 22nd April, 1889. Among his portraits are:
Portrait of Himself. Cork Ex., 1852.
Francis, third Earl of Bandon. [Earl of Bandon, Castle Bernard.]
James Francis, Viscount Bernard, afterwards fourth Earl of Bandon. [Earl of Bandon, Castle Bernard.]
Catherine, Countess of Bandon. [Earl of Bandon, Castle Bernard.]
William, third Earl of Bantry. [Lady Ardilaun, St. Anne's, Clontarf.]
Jane, Countess of Bantry. [Lady Ardilaun, St. Anne's, Clontarf.]
— Beamish, M.P. [Commercial Buildings, Cork.]
Charles B. Bernard, Bishop of Tuam. Signed and dated 1869. [The Palace, Tuam.]
Robert Cole Bowen. [H.C. Cole Bowen, Bowen's Court, County Cork.]
Mrs. R. Cole Bowen. [H. C. Cole Bowen, Bowen's Court, County Cork.]
Thomas Brennan, President of the Cork Young Men's Society. Painted for the New Hall, Castle Street, Cork.
J. Corbet. R.H.A. 1859.
— Cotter. [Commercial Buildings, Cork.]
Sir Thomas Deane. [Royal Hibernian Academy.] Cork Ex., 1852.
W. V. Gregg, Mayor of Cork, 1878.
Sir W. B. Hackett, Mayor of Cork.
Sir John Pope Hennessy.
Captain George J. Huband, 8th Hussars. [The Rev. H. R. Huband, Ipsley Lodge, near Farnham.]
Mrs. Hewitt Poole Jellett. Signed and dated 1854. [M. Barrington Jellett, Clonard, Dundrum.]
John George MacCarthy, M.P. R.H.A., 1876 and 1884.
Master Moran; portrait of a boy. Signed and dated 1847. [Colonel Parsons, 68 Harold Road, Upper Norwood.]
Rev. H. J. Newman, Dean of Cork. [Earl of Bandon, Castle Bernard.]
— Reeves. [Commercial Buildings, Cork.]
James Roche, President of the Cork Institute. [Commercial Buildings, Cork.]
Lieutenant Colonel Sharp. R.H.A., 1856.
John Shea. Cork Ex., 1852.
Barry Sullivan, as Hamlet. Painted during the actor's last visit to Cork.
Christ. Painted in 1867. [School of Art, Cork.]
A Committee of Inspection. [A. Roche, Cork.]
Reverie. R.H.A., 1879.
The Raising of the Widow's Son. R.H.A., 1843.
Age Receiving Instruction from Youth. Cork Ex., 1852.
The Critic. [Imperial Hotel, Cork.]