Henry O'Neill (1798–1880) was an Irish artist and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

Career

Born in

Clonmel Clonmel () is the county town and largest settlement of County Tipperary, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The town is noted in Irish history for its resistance to the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland, Cromwellian army which sacked the towns of Dro ...

, O'Neill lost both parents at a young age, and was tended by his sister, Sara O'Neill, a

haberdasher In British English, a haberdasher is a business or person who sells small articles for sewing, dressmaking and knitting, such as buttons, ribbons, and zippers; in the United States, the term refers instead to a retailer who sells men's clothing, ...

who provided him an exceptional education. As from childhood he had evinced a talent for drawing, he was placed as a pupil in the Dublin Society's Schools in 1815. He applied himself eagerly to his work, and carried off the first premiums in every class he competed in. O'Neill identified himself with the popular political movements of the day, was a member of the Repeal Association, and during the imprisonment of O'Connell in Richmond gaol he painted a group of the Liberator and his fellow-prisoners, and later he did the well-known series of lithograph portraits of the Young Irelanders, Smith O'Brien and others. In 1863 was published his "Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland," illustrated with seven chromo-lithographs by himself and wood-cuts by G. Hanlon, an ambitious work on the antiquities of Ireland, in which he attempted to refute the conclusions of Petrie in his "Ecclesiastical Architecture of Ireland," and maintained the pagan origin of the Round Towers. In 1868 he published a brochure, "Ireland for the Irish," attacking landlordism. He projected a work on the Round Towers, of which only the first part, relating to the county of Dublin, was published: "The Round Towers of Ireland, by Henry O'Neill. Part the First, containing descriptions of the four Round Towers in the county of Dublin," published by M. H. Gill and Son, Sackville Street, 1877. His last work was a lithograph of the Cross of Cong. O'Neill was a constant exhibitor at the Royal Hibernian Academy down to 1879. Most of his works were in water-colour, but he occasionally painted in oils. O'Neill is best remembered for the creation of

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

s portraying Celtic art and crosses in Ireland. They were published as ''Illustrations of Some of the Most Interesting Sculptured Crosses of Ancient Ireland'' (1859).

Memory

He died in poverty in 1880 and was buried in an unmarked grave in Glasnevin Cemetery. In 2016 a group of well-wishers came together to mark his grave with a Celtic Cross. A viewing and reception to dedicate the monument was held on Tuesday 2 August 2016.

References

External links

O'Neill at Celt ArtsHenry O'Neill of the Celtic Cross, biography by Peter Harbison, Dublin, Worldwell 2015
* ttp://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/an-irishman-s-diary-on-the-campaign-to-commemorate-henry-o-neill-1.2742768 Irish Times, Commemorating Henry O'Neill* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Henry 1798 births 1880 deaths Burials at Glasnevin Cemetery 19th-century Irish painters Irish male painters People from County Tipperary 19th-century Irish male artists