On his death, Matilda’s eldest son Henry was crowned King Henry II of England. This gave her cousin Stephen of Blois, grandson of William the Conqueror, the chance he needed to usurp the English throne and he became King Stephen I of England and ruled until his death in 1154. King Henry I of England died in 1135 and his only surviving offspring was his daughter Matilda, who at the time was pregnant in Normandy with her third child. However fate was to take a hand in his destiny. He had become the Earl of Pembroke on the death of his father in 1848 and had lands around Pembroke. He was a Cambro-Norman knight, that is to say, he was a descendent of the Norman knights who had eventually settled in southern Wales after the 1066 Norman conquest of England by William the Conqueror. Strongbow was the nickname given to Richard de Clare the 2 nd Earl of Pembroke who was born in Tonbridge, Kent in 1130. I suppose the first thing you need to know is who are these two characters, Strongbow and Aoife, and why are they the centre of attention in the painting. My Daily Art Display’s featured painting today by Daniel Maclise is entitled The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife and was completed in 1854. His health declined rapidly and in 1870, aged 64, he died of acute pneumonia. The Royal Academy even offered him the Presidency in 1865 but he declined the invitation. He would shut himself away and shun his erstwhile friends. The passionate and concentrated effort which he put into these two great historic works affected him badly. The two works took Maclise seven years to complete and he worked tirelessly on completing them on time. These two mammoth works were to be the greatest achievement of Maclise’s public career but sadly they were also to cause the deterioration of his health. His big break came along in 1858 when he was commissioned to paint two giant commemorative frescoes for the Royal Gallery of Westminster Palace, The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher and The Death of Nelson. One year later he painted a companion fresco entitled The Spirit of Justice. They liked his work and he was chosen to paint The Spirit of Chivalry for the House of Lords in 1848. He presented a cartoon, sketch, and fresco specimens to the Fine-Art Committee of the Palace of Westminster for their official competition to paint frescoes in the House of Lords. In 1848 he was back in London after a period of time spent in Ireland. He became a friend of Charles Dickens and contributed a number of book illustrations for his novels. Whilst in London Maclise mixed in the company of men who appreciated his artistic skills and in particular Dr William Maginn, the founder and editor of Fraser’s Magazine, a general and literary journal for which Maclise contributed portraiture and caricatures. the following year and stayed on for a further three years during which time he was awarded a silver medal and a gold medal for his historical painting, Choice of Hercules. ![]() Maclise travelled to London in 1827 and started to put together a portfolio of his work which he submitted to the Royal Academy as part of his submission to become a probationary student. ![]() This was to launch Maclise’s artistic career and enhanced his reputation as a portraitist. In 1825, when he was nineteen years of age, Walter Scott the novelist and playwright visited a local bookstore in Cork and Maclise made a sketch of him which was subsequently lithographed and the copies sold. ![]() Whilst still a teenager he was introduced to the art connoisseur, George Newenham, and the antiquarian and merchant, Richard Sainthill and it was through Sainthill that Maclise became interested in medals, coins, and aspects of heraldry and he would often illustrate coin catalogues for Sainthill. Maclise was educated locally in Cork and attended the Cork Institute where he studied drawing. His father, after leaving the British Army, became a shoemaker. I will be looking at the life of the Irish painter Daniel Maclise and one of his historical paintings which will allow me to take you back in time to the twelfth century and regale you about a happening at that time in Irish History, but first let me tell you a little about the artist.ĭaniel Maclise was born in Cork in 1806 into a poor but thrifty Scottish Presbyterian family. Today I am moving from France to Ireland for my featured artist. The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife by Daniel Maclise (1854)
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