Sarah Henrietta Purser

Sarah Purser was born in Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin, in 1848, where her family were involved in the milling and brewing business. She was brought up in Dungarvan, Co. Waterford and like many young ladies of her class finished her education in Switzerland. She later attended the Metropolitan School of Art in Dublin c. 1874-76. Following the failure of the family business Purser decided to become a portrait painter and in 1878 she went to Paris for six months to study painting at the Acdèmie Julian. Her time in Paris resulted in an awareness of the work of the Realists and the Impressionists and on her return she established a very successful portrait practice.

Sarah Purser was a major figure in the development of the arts in Ireland, she organised an exhibition of the work of Nathaniel Hone and John Yeats, in 1901, which proved to be the impetus for Hugh Lane's campaign to establish a modern art gallery in Dublin. In 1903 she set up An Tùr Gloine, a co-operative whose aim was to revive the craft of stained glass in Ireland. She also founded the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, a group who acquired works for public collections at a time when there was little funding available. She was a diligent supporter of the campaign to return Sir Hugh Lane's French paintings to Ireland and was instrumental in persuading the government to make Claremont House the home of the Municipal Collection.