John Mulvany (c. 1839 – 1906) was an Irish born American artist best known as an artist of the American West[1] who painted the first large (11ftx21ft) image of General Custer’s defeat by the Oglala Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn in 1876. Mulvany's painting Custer’s Last Rally, was finished in 1881.[2] In Ireland, he is known for The Battle of Aughrim, painted in 1885[3] and exhibited in Dublin in 2010.[4]
Mulvany also recorded the American Civil War on canvas as well as maintaining a career as a portrait painter throughout his life.[5]
Early life and training
editMulvany was born in Diralagh, County Meath, Ireland c. 1839 to tenant farmers, Francis Lee and Thomas Mulvany.[6] When he immigrated to New York City in 1851 at the age of 12,[7] he was old enough to have witnessed and grasped the horrors of the Irish Famine.[8] He worked as a tow boy on the Erie Canal and came to the attention of Professor Juan Wandersford at the National Academy of Design in New York City.[9] In 1859 Mulvany enrolled in classes there.[10] before he went to Washington, D.C. to work for Mathew Brady by 1863.[11]
Mulvany never served in the army but may have worked as a sketch artist for a Chicago newspaper.[12] Mulvany's later Civil War paintings were praised for their realism - paintings such as Sheridan’s Ride at Winchester, 1896[13] McPherson and Revenge, 1889,[14] Battle of Shiloh[15] and The Death of General Mulligan.[16]
Munich training
editAfter the Civil War, Mulvany worked for Samuel B. Fassett, a leading photographer in Chicago.[17] He submitted paintings to exhibitions in New York, Chicago and Philadelphia.[18] Mulvany found a patron in St. Louis, Samuel B. Coale, who provided terms for him to study in Europe[19] where he enrolled in the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Munich.[20] studying with Alexander von Wagner, De Kaiser and Carl Theodor von Piloty, then with Jean-Léon Gérôme in Paris. He also spent time in Antwerp studying Rembrandts.
He was a classmate of Walter Shirlaw and Frank Duveneck.[21] Mulvany won a medal for his efforts, and returned to Chicago in the fall of 1871 just before the devastating fire.[22]
Career beginnings
editOver the next five years Mulvany worked in Eldon, Iowa; St Louis, Missouri; Denver, Colorado; and Louisville, Kentucky, painting portraits and western genre pictures. In 1876 he exhibited Preliminary Trial of a Horsethief in New York City. The painting, reportedly sold for $5000, won him national recognition and a reputation as a Western painter.[23] Other western-themed works include Lynch Law – Comrade’s Appeal 1877,[24] Scouts of the Yellowstone, 1877[25] and Back to the Wigwam 1881.[26]
The painting of Preliminary Trial of a Horsethief was painted near Oskaloosa, Iowa. The Magistrate in this trial, seated in the center of the picture, is John F. Cartwright (1827–1893), my Second Great Grandfather. The Des Moines Register published this picture in their Sunday edition in about 1954. Submitted by Harvey C. Mayhill.
"Custer's Last Rally"
editIn 1876 when news of General George Custer's fatal defeat by the Sioux Indians at the Battle of the Little Big Horn reached the East, Mulvany immediately recognized the significance of this event and headed west to Montana to capture it on canvas.[27] Over the next four years, he made two trips to the battle site and set up a studio in Cincinnati, Salida, Denver and then in Kansas City.,[28] Mulvany's large masterpiece, the 11ftx20ft Custer’s Last Rally, 1881, began its seventeen-year coast-to-coast tour of the country before H. J. Heinz took over ownership in 1898.[29]
"Aughrim"
editAround 1882, Mulvany secured a commission from the Irish Club of Chicago[30] to paint the Battle of Aughrim – a tragic loss for the Irish in 1691. John began preliminary sketches in Ireland in 1882 and finished the piece in 1885.[31] This painting was presumed lost until it was offered for sale on eBay in 2010 by a dealer who thought it represented an American battle scene, purchased by an Irish art gallery, exhibited in Dublin and subsequently sold.[32]
Politics
editMulvany was a lifelong member of the Irish secret society, Clan na Gael,[33] whose aim was Irish independence. He narrowly escaped imprisonment by the authorities while researching uniforms for his Aughrim painting at the Tower of London just days before it was bombed in the Fenian dynamite campaign in 1885.[34] His involvement in internecine fighting within the Chicago branch in 1886 cost him the Aughrim commission[35] and after his friend, Dr. Patrick Henry Cronin, was murdered in 1889 over financial irregularities with this same branch, Mulvany left Chicago for the west.[36] He married Mrs. Ellen Welch in 1890.[37] and was divorced two years later in CO.[38] He also had a romantic involvement with Lucy Deere,[39] whom he met c. 1880 and contacted before his death in 1906.[40]
Mulvany painted in Oregon, San Francisco, Colorado and Kansas City[41] before he finally headed East in 1896.[42] Over his lifetime, he set up studios in 21 different cities, sketching, painting and moving on; often leaving finished works and at least one debt behind.[43]
Brooklyn, New York years
editIn 1897, at the age of 58, Mulvany finally settled in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn, New York, where he remained the rest of his life.[44] with a studio at 133 Greenpoint Ave.[45] He continued his artistic career painting six known major works,[46] as well as a duplicate of Custer’s Last Rally,[47] seeking exhibition opportunities,[48] painting portraits,[49] and even sketching up until two weeks before his death.[50]
Mulvany died by drowning in early May 1906; the press declared it a suicide.[51] He was 66 years old, suffering from throat cancer, a fatal disease at the time,[52] vertigo[53] and possible effects of alcoholism. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, New York.[54]
Mulvany's contributions are several. He not only influenced William Merritt Chase[55] and Frederic Remington,[56] he also brought an international perspective to American Western Art. In addition, his life reflects a broader Irish immigrant experience than typically recorded. Recent Irish scholarship has focused on Mulvany's accomplishments. [57] Other noteworthy paintings include Love's Mirror and The Old Professor.[58] Much of his work is unlocated.
References
edit- ^ Taft, "Artists and Illustrators of the Old West 1850-1900" New York; Bonanza Books 1953
- ^ Kansas City Times 17 March 1881; Kansas City Times 19 March 1881
- ^ Freeman’s Journal,30 June 1885 and Niamh O’Sullivan’s article for Gorry Gallery Exhibition Catalogue Dec. 2010, Dublin, Ireland
- ^ Niamh O’Sullivan, Irish Times 2 October 2010 and Conor O’Clery www. globalpost.com/dispatch/…/battleof-aughrim-john mulvany 12 Oct 2010
- ^ Robert Emmet, (N. O’Sullivan, ’The Lost Patriot’s Portrait’, The Irish Times, 13 Sept 2003; Gen. Francis Meagher,(New York Tribune 22 Nov 1897) Sitting Bull, (O’Sullivan correspondence with artist’s family) Joseph Pulitzer,(Dippie, Brian) H.J. Heinz, (O’Sullivan, N correspondence with Heinz family) Dr. Patrick Cronin, (‘Dr. Cronin, An Excellent Portrait’, Daily Inter Ocean 2 June 1889) Brigham Young,( Salt Lake Herald 30 Oct 1892) Dr. Robinson ("Lessons in Likeness: Portrait Painters in Kentucky and the Ohio River Valley" By Estill Curtis Pennington, 2011, ill, p. 75)
- ^ Bishop Thomas Mulvany genealogy
- ^ Tuite’s Gaelic American 3 part series in March/April 1909
- ^ Cusack, Danny. The Great Famine in County Meath. Meath County Council, Ireland, 1995
- ^ Brooklyn Star 17 Oct. 1900
- ^ National Academy of Design Registry
- ^ Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865. Volume 2, January 1-December 31, 1863. Washington Wednesday, January 7, 1863 and Alexander Gardner in 1865.Daily National Republican, Washington DC, 26 December 1865
- ^ Tuite 6 March 1909
- ^ 'Sheridan’s Famous Ride’ Baltimore American 5 December 1896,‘Sheridan’s Ride on Canvas’, Washington Post, 5 December 1896, Chicago Inter Ocean 6 December 1896
- ^ ‘McPherson and Revenge’ Chicago Citizen, 7 April 1888, Murphysboro American, 14 August 2008,
- ^ Gateway Heritage Magazine Index 10
- ^ New York Herald 22 Nov. 1897
- ^ 1867 Chicago City Directory
- ^ Smithsonian Archives of American Art Art Exhibition Catalogue Index Master List
- ^ Morrissey, "Paintings and Painters", Gateway Magazine 1998 pg 30 and Fuhrmeister, Kohle, Thielemans Eds. American Artists in Munich p. 85
- ^ http://matrikel.adbk.de - academy records of the Royal Munich Academy
- ^ Akademie der Bildenclen Kunste Munchen, http://matrikel.adbk.de.archiv.matrikelbucher[permanent dead link]
- ^ "(Art in Chicago", Daily Alta, California 4 Nov. 1871
- ^ Taft
- ^ National Academy of Design 1877 #461
- ^ "Cincinnati Enquirer" 10 Nov. 1878
- ^ Index of American Paintings, Smithsonian Institution #03860423 pg.5328
- ^ Omaha Daily Bee "The Last Rally of Custer" 30 Nov. 1890
- ^ Cincinnati Enquirer 10 Nov. 1878, Kansas City Daily Journal 2 March 1881, Denver Daily Tribune 23 February 18879
- ^ letter to Mulvany from Goodyear Rubber Hose and Packing Co. 21 November 1898 in the Alice Muldoon Garvey Collection and Stenzel, Franz & Kathryn, Research Files for Unpublished book on western art, Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT. Don Russell includes a very similar story about the sale of Cassily Adam’s painting to Anheuser-Busch p. 33 in ‘Custer’s Last’.
- ^ Bradfore Era, 3 July 1888
- ^ Dublin University Review August 1885 and The Nation 4 July 1885
- ^ O'Clery, Conor (12 October 2010). "Long-lost painting found on eBay". Global Post. Retrieved 9 January 2015.
- ^ Kentucky Irish-American May 1906
- ^ John Mulvany, Great Irish Painter, "Gaelic American" 3 April 1909
- ^ Tuite 1909 and 2010 Gorry Gallery Catalog
- ^ Salida Daily Mail 15 July 1890 and Denver Republican 23 September 1890
- ^ Marriage certificate and Omaha Daily Bee 28 Dec. 1890
- ^ Rocky Mt News 15 Nov. 1891 and 1 July 1892
- ^ Wealth and Love Eluded Aging Sacramentan, So She Lives Alone with Memories, Sacramento Union, 31 Oct 1943
- ^ "Model at Art Academy here was Cause of Noted Painter’s Suicide" undated Colorado Springs newspaper 1924
- ^ Morning Oregonian 28 Sept 1893, San Francisco The Morning Call, 15 Feb. 1894, Daily Mail 23 Oct. 1894, Kansas City Daily Journal 19 Feb 1895
- ^ Brooklyn Eagle 19 Jan 1896
- ^ Taft
- ^ Alice Muldoon Garvey Collection. address as 381 Leonard St.
- ^ Brooklyn Eagle 22 May 1906
- ^ The Striker 1904, NY Times 23 May 1906, The Anarchists 1904, NY Sun 23 May 1906, Alice Muldoon’s Horse, Boccocio 8 Jan 1903 JM letter to MacBeth Gallery, The Boer Scouts, NY Sun 23 May 1906 and British Artists & War by Peter Harrington, 1993
- ^ Greenpoint Star 17 October 1900
- ^ letter to Lieber Co of 5 Oct. 1904 and Mac Beth Gallery Jan 1903 Archives of American Art,
- ^ New York Times 23, May 1906
- ^ Brooklyn Star obit 23 May 1906
- ^ "Eccentric Artist a Suicide", New York Sun, 23 May 1906, 'Painter of ‘Last Rally’ drowned in East River…a waif…suicide…a drunken derelict, New York Times, 23 May 1906.
- ^ Alice Muldoon Garvey Collection Envelope from Dr Dwyer leading throat specialists and Brooklyn Eagle 22 May 1906
- ^ Gaelic American 2 June 1906
- ^ cemetery records and Greenpoint Star 26 May 1906
- ^ Roff, K. Metcalf, The Life and Art of William Merrit Chase, New York 1917
- ^ "Kansas City, Cradle of Remington’s Art", Kansas City Star, 3 May 1925
- ^ [Desperate and Glorious: John Mulvany's Custer's Last Rally in Art History at the Crossroads of Ireland and the United States (Cynthia Fowler and Paula Murphy, eds,) Routledge, 2022. All Native, all our own and all a fact; John Mulvany and the Irish American Dream, Field Day Review 7, 2011] [The Great Irish painting that turned up on eBay, Irish Times, 2 October 2010] [John Mulvany, The Battle of Aughrim, Gorry Gallery Dublin, catalog 2010]
- ^ Taft