Henry Edward Doyle CB (1827 – 17 February 1893) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

painter and draughtsman, and for 23 years the director of the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

Life

Doyle was the third son of John Doyle (author of the "H. B." political sketches) and Marianne, daughter of Mr. James Conan, of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He was born in 1827, and educated as an artist. On the recommendation of

Cardinal Wiseman Nicholas Patrick Stephen Wiseman (3 August 1802 – 15 February 1865) was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who became the first Archbishop of Westminster upon the re-establishment of the Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales in 1850. Born ...

, he was appointed Commissioner for Rome at the

1862 International Exhibition The International Exhibition of 1862, or Great London Exposition, was a world's fair. It was held from 1 May to 1 November 1862, beside the gardens of the Royal Horticultural Society, South Kensington, London, England, on a site that now houses ...

in London, and for his services in that capacity was nominated a Knight of the

Order of Pius IX , image = , caption = Knight's cross of the Order of Pius IX , awarded_by = , type = Papal order of knighthood , established = 1847 , motto = ''VIRTUTI ET MERITO''(Virtue and Merit) , day ...

. He was Art Superintendent of the International Exhibition of 1865, in Dublin; and honorary secretary of the National Portrait Gallery in connection with that of 1872. in the same city. He was elected by the Board of Governors Director of the

, in 1869 on the death of

George Francis Mulvany George Francis Mulvany (1809 – 1869) was an Irish painter and the first director of the National Gallery of Ireland. Biography George Francis Mulvany was the son of Thomas James Mulvany, a painter and the RHA's keeper. George Francis Mulv ...

, R.H.A., the first holder of that office. He was also a member of the Committee of Advice for the three special exhibitions of national portraits from 1866 to 1868, and he was a member of the

Royal Hibernian Academy The Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA) is an artist-based and artist-oriented institution in Ireland, founded in Dublin in 1823. Like many other Irish institutions, such as the RIA, the academy retained the word "Royal" after most of Ireland became in ...

. During his twenty-three years' incumbency of the directorship of the Irish National Gallery, he raised that collection from insignificance to a more than respectable place among the minor galleries of Europe, and that in spite of extreme parsimony on the part of the treasury. In 1880 he was nominated a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

. He died suddenly on 17 February 1892.

Family

On 6 February 1866 he married Jane Isabella Ball, daughter of the Right Hon. Nicholas Ball, one of the Judges of the

Court of Common Pleas (Ireland) The Court of Common Pleas was one of the principal courts of common law in Ireland. It was a mirror image of the equivalent court in England. Common Pleas was one of the four courts of justice which gave the Four Courts in Dublin, which is still ...

and Jane Sherlock, and the sister of John Ball at St. James' Church, Spanish-place, London. The ceremony was performed by Jane's brother, the Rev. Anthony Ball. His nephew was the author Sir

Arthur Conan Doyle Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Ho ...

References

;Attribution 1827 births 1893 deaths 19th-century Irish painters Irish male painters Companions of the Order of the Bath Draughtsmen Knights of the Order of Pope Pius IX Henry Edward Museum people from Dublin (city) Artists from Dublin (city) {{Ireland-painter-stub