Sir Gerald Festus Kelly KCVO (9 April 1879 – 5 January 1972) was a British painter best known for his

portrait A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, personality, and even the mood of the person. For this r ...

Gerald Kelly was born in

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, educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, ...

and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and later lived and studied art in

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.Sir Gerald Festus KellyPortfolio at Liss Fine Art
/ref> James McNeill Whistler was an early influence. Kelly travelled much, visiting

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, America,

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, and

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, which inspired a series of paintings of Burmese dancers. In 1920 he married Lilian Ryan, who became his model for a celebrated series of portraits. These were exhibited under the title ''Jane'', followed by a

Roman numeral Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, ea ...

that corresponded to the year of exhibition. Other sitters included T. S. Eliot, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Somerset Maugham, whom he painted 18 times. Maugham, a lifelong friend of Kelly, wrote an introduction to a catalogue (1950) of an exhibition of Kelly's work. Maugham regularly portrayed Kelly in his works, as Lionel Hillier in '' Cakes and Ale'', as Frederick Lawson in ''

Of Human Bondage ''Of Human Bondage'' is a 1915 novel by W. Somerset Maugham. The novel is generally agreed to be Maugham's masterpiece and to be strongly autobiographical in nature, although he stated, "This is a novel, not an autobiography; though much in i ...

'' and as O'Malley in ''

His Excellency Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder usually retains the righ ...

'' presenting him as "the young Irish painter called O'Malley", and dedicating '' Ashenden'' to him. He became a favourite painter of the Royal Family. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1930, was the Academy's Keeper from 1943–45, and served as its president from 1949–54. Kelly held a number of official positions, such as his membership of the Royal Fine Arts Commission, 1938–43, and was knighted in the 1945 King's Birthday Honours List. The artist John Napper (1916–2001) worked as his assistant. In 1950 he was elected to the

National Academy of Design The National Academy of Design is an honorary association of American artists, founded in New York City in 1825 by Samuel Morse, Asher Durand, Thomas Cole, Martin E. Thompson, Charles Cushing Wright, Ithiel Town, and others "to promote the f ...

as an Honorary Corresponding Academician. Kelly died in Exmouth in 1972. He is represented in many public collections, including the

Tate Gallery Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

, which holds seven works. His father was the Rev. Frederic Festus Kelly (1838–1918), formerly the vicar at St Giles', Camberwell where the young Kelly grew up. His grandfather, also named Frederic Festus Kelly, was the founder of Kelly's Directories Ltd. His sister,

Rose Edith Kelly Rose Edith Kelly (23 July 1874 – 1932) married noted author, magician and occultist Aleister Crowley in 1903. In 1904, she aided him in the Cairo Working that led to the reception of ''The Book of the Law'', on which Crowley based much of h ...

, was briefly married to

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pr ...

. Kelly's London residence at 117 Gloucester Place in Marylebone is marked by an

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

blue plaque placed in 1993.

Notes

References

*Hudson, Derek (1975). ''For Love of Painting'' *Postle, Martin; Vaughan, William (1999). ''The Artist's Model from Etty to Spencer''. London: Merrell Holberton.

External links

*
His paintings and short biography

2008 article on Newport exhibition that includes Gerald Kelly painting
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Gerald Festus 1879 births 1972 deaths Royal Academicians Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge 20th-century British painters British male painters Knights Bachelor Keepers of the Royal Academy People educated at Eton College 20th-century British male artists