John Kelly, Portrait Painter
(fl. early 19th century)
Portrait Painter
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
A portrait painter of some merit working in Belfast early in the nineteenth century. In 1822 he was in Dublin and was engaged in painting a picture representing the last scene of the opera "Love in a Village," as represented the previous winter on the Dublin stage. In this picture were introduced portraits of Miss Wilson, Mr. Horn, Mr. Fullam and Mr. Johnson, as also of Dr. Spray, a Dublin musician, and Mr. Williams. In a notice of the picture the "Freeman's Journal" (30th September, 1822) says that it "promises to reflect no small degree of credit on the arts of the country." Two portraits by Kelly were exhibited at Belfast in 1888: "John Cunningham of Belfast," lent by James Thompson, and "Hugh McKibbin," painted in 1817, lent by H. Hyndman, LL.D.