James Gandy, Portrait Painter
(b. 1619, d. 1689)
Portrait Painter
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Born in Exeter in 1619, he was, it is said, a pupil of Van Dyck. After practising in his native city for some time he was brought to Ireland, probably in 1661, by the first Duke of Ormonde, and passed the rest of his life there, dying in 1689. For the duke he painted copies of pictures by Van Dyck. Pilkington, in his "Dictionary of Painters," 1770, says: "There are at this time in Ireland many portraits painted by him of noblemen and persons of fortune which are very little inferior to Van Dyck either for expression, colouring or dignity of character; and several of his copies after Van Dyck which were in the Ormonde collection at Kilkenny, were sold for original paintings of Van Dyck." The sale of the pictures at Kilkenny took place in 1718 after the impeachment and disgrace of the second duke in 1715. The sale was advertised in the "Dublin Gazette" in August and September, 1718, and included the household goods, furniture, etc., of "the late Duke of Ormonde in the Castle of Kilkenny and house of Dunmore," as also "a large collection of some of the finest pictures in Europe belonging to the Duchess's Closet, the long Gallery and the rest of the Castle of Kilkenny and the House of Dunmore." Particulars of the pictures are not given.*
The following pictures by Gandy are now, or were formerly, in Ireland:
Sir Dudley Carleton. Belonged to Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci, and was in the sale of his collection in Dublin in 1843.
Elizabeth Burke, Viscountess Dillon. Formerly at Gracefield, Queen's County.
General Fairfax. Belonged to Lord Fitzgerald and Vesci.
Caryl, 3rd Viscount Molyneux. [Lord Talbot de Malahide.]
Frances Molyneux, Lady O'Neill. [Lord Talbot de Malahide.]
Sir Neil O'Neill. [Lord Talbot de Malahide.]
Duke of Newcastle. Belonged to Henry Harrington of 5 Great Denmark Street, Dublin; sold in Dublin in 1832.
A Man in Armour. [Earl of Kilmorey.]
A Young Man. A small portrait on panel, attributed to Gandy. [W. J. Lloyd, Belfield, Raheny.]
NOTE: *Sir John Loveday in his "Tour in Ireland," 1732, tells us that the "incomparable tapestry" was carried into England for sale, and was purchased there by Lord Arran and sent back.
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