Edward J. Brennan Sold at Auction Prices

Edward J. Brennan (fl.1878-1884) Sunset through Trees Oil on canvas, 36 x 54cm (14¼ x 21¼'') Signed and dated (18)'84; also signed and dated verso Recorded in W.G. Strickland's Dictionary of Irish Artists, Edward J. Brennan was born in Kilkenny, the

Edward J. Brennan (fl.1878-1884) Sunset through Trees Oil on canvas, 36 x 54cm (14¼ x 21¼'') Signed and dated (18)'84; also signed and dated verso Recorded in W.G. Strickland's Dictionary of Irish Artists, Edward J. Brennan was born in Kilkenny, the son of a tailor. He followed his father into that trade and worked as a cutter in a tailor's shop in Dawson Street, Dublin. Showing promise as an artist, he resolved to become a painter. He studied in Paris and by 1878 was exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy from an address in Harcourt Street in Dublin. He exhibited a total of thirty five works at the RHA up to 1884, the year the present work was painted. As a predominantly landscape painter, he won the second Taylor Art Scholarship in 1879 and in 1882 was awarded the RHA's Albert Scholarship. He must have worked in and around London in the early 80s as a number of his exhibited works have titles referencing the Thames, Hampstead Heath and Burnham. Strickland notes however that after 1884 he went to London, and then to the continent, where he died from the effects of intemperance.