 Sir John Lavery, (1856– 1941)
Biography
John Lavery was born in Belfast and attended the Haldane Academy, in Glasgow, and later at the Julian Academy in Paris in the 1880’s. In 1888 he painted Queen Victoria during one of her state visits to the Glasgow International Exhibition, which helped to initiate his career.Lavery’s wife died from tuberculosis in 1891, and in 1909 he remarried to Hazel Lavery, a beautiful Irish-American who was to feature in many of his paintings. Although appointed as an official war artist, ill-health and a serious car crash during a Zeppelin bombing raid prevented him from travelling to the Western Front. He spent his time in Britain painting planes, boats and airships. In 1921 he was knighted and elected to the Royal Academy, and later that decade made large donations of his work to the Ulster Museum and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery.
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