Nicholas Joseph Crowley R.H.A. 1819-1857
The Caution
Oil on canvas, 76.5 x 63 cm.
Signed and dated 1847
Exhibited: London, Royal Academy, 1847, number 408
Literature: Walter G. Strickland, A Dictionary of Irish Artists, 1913, Vol. 1, p. 239; Christopher Wood, Dictionary of British Art, Vol. IV, Victorian Painters, illustrated, p.176
Crowley was born in Dublin 6th December 1819 and commenced his studies in 1827 at the Dublin Society’s School and in 1832 at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1836 and a member the following year. He resided for a while in Belfast and was one of the original members of the Association of Artists and moved to London in 1837, specialising in portraits and figurative subject pieces. He became very successful and exhibited frequently at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the Royal Academy, the British Institution and the Royal Society of British Artists. His famous painting Fortune Telling by Cup Tossing was engraved by the Royal Irish Art Union and features the same sitters as in The Caution in this exhibition.