Sir Gerald Festus Kelly

Gerald Kelly was born in London and received a conventional education at Eton and Cambridge. He decided to become a painter and travelled to Paris to study but did not enter any studio. In Paris he was introduced to Renoir, Monet, Degas and Rodin by Durand Ruel and also met Sickert and Sargent. He exhibited at both the Salon and the Salon d'Automne. His work, characterised by a precise academic technique and an emphasis on line, must have appeared quite conservative, at the latter exhibition. He was invited by Lane, with whom he was friendly, to contribute to the Exhibition of Irish Paintings at the Guildhall, London in 1904. Kelly returned to London in 1909 and established himself as a successful portrait painter whose work included portraits of the royal family. He became a full member of the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1914, and of the Royal Academy in 1930. He was President of the latter from 1949 to 1954 and was knighted in 1945.