George Atkinson

Born in 1880 in Cobh, Co. Cork to a family of timber merchants. He trained as a painter at the Royal College of Art, South Kensington, where his father was an art examiner. He became headmaster of the Metropolitan School of Art and was then elected ARHA in 1912. He is said to have been the first Irish artist to revive the art of mezzotint. An excellent etcher, he also designed memorials. He was appointed as headmaster of the National College of Art in 1938 eventually becoming director. He died in Dublin in 1941 and is buried in Mount Jerome Cemetery.