Martin Archer Shee

For other people with similar names, seeArcher Shee (disambiguation).

Sir Martin Archer Shee PRAFRS
Self-portrait(1794)
President of the Royal Academy
In office January 1830 – 13 August 1850
Preceded by	Sir Thomas Lawrence
Succeeded by	Sir Charles Lock Eastlake
Personal details
Born	(1769-12-23)23 December 1769 Dublin,Ireland
Died	13 August 1850(1850-08-13)(aged 80) Brighton,Sussex,England
Known for	Portraiture

Sir Martin Archer SheePRAFRS(23 December 1769 – 13 August 1850) was an Irishportrait painter.He also served as thepresident of the Royal Academy.

Early life

He was born inDublin,of an old Irish Roman Catholic family, the son of Martin Shee, a merchant, who regarded the profession of a painter as an unsuitable occupation for a descendant of the Shees. His son Martin nevertheless studied art in theRoyal Dublin Societyand came to London. There, in 1788, he was introduced byEdmund BurketoJoshua Reynolds,on whose advice he studied in the schools of theRoyal Academy of Arts.

Career

In 1789, he exhibited his first two pictures, the "Head of an Old Man" and "Portrait of a Gentleman." Over the next ten years he steadily increased in practice. He was chosen an associate of the Royal Academy in 1798.

In 1789, he married Mary, eldest daughter of James Power ofYoughal,and in 1800 he was elected a Royal Academician. He moved toGeorge Romney's former house at 32Cavendish Square,and set up as his successor. In addition to his portraits he executed various subjects and historical works, such as Lavinia, Belisarius, his diploma picture "Prospero and Miranda", and the "Daughter of Jephthah".

Writing

Portrait of the Duke of Clarence.Portrait ofWilliam, Duke of Clarence,1800

Portrait of the Irish politicianHenry Grattan,a friend of Archer Shee.

In 1805 he published a poem consisting ofRhymes on Art,and a second part followed in 1809.Lord Byronspoke well of it in hisEnglish Bards and Scotch Reviewers.Shee published another small volume of verse in 1814, entitledThe Commemoration of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and other Poems,but this was less successful. He also produced atragedy,Alasco,set inPoland.The play was accepted atCovent Garden,but was refused a licence, on the grounds that it contained treasonable allusions, and Shee angrily resolved to make his appeal to the public. He carried out his threat in 1824, butAlascowas still on the list of unacted dramas in 1911. He also published two novels –Oldcourt(1829, in three volumes) andCecil Hyde(1834).

On the death ofSir Thomas Lawrencein 1830, Shee was chosen president of the Royal Academy in his stead and shortly afterwards received aknighthood.In 1831, he was elected aFellow of the Royal Society.

In an examination before the parliamentary committee of 1836 concerning the functions of the Royal Academy, he ably defended its rights. He continued to paint till 1845, when illness made him retire to Brighton. He was deputised for at the Academy byJ. M. W. Turner,who had appointed him a trustee of the projected Turner almshouse. From 1842 to 1849, he was the first president of theBirmingham Society of Artists.

Death

Shee died inBrightonin 1850 and was buried in the western extension toSt Nicholas' ChurchyardinBrighton.His headstone remains, but has been laid flat and moved to the perimeter of the site.

Personal life

Shee had three sons, who became successful barristers, and three daughters.

Descendants of one of the sons wasGeorge Archer-Shee,whose story inspiredThe Winslow Boy,a play written by SirTerence Rattiganand his older half-brother,Martin Archer-SheeMP.

Shee's descendant, Mary Archer-Shee, supports the campaign for the fulfilment of Turner's wishes for his bequests.

Written works by Shee (selected)

• Elements of art, a poem; in six cantos(1809)
• Rhymes on Art; Or, The Remonstrance of a Painter: in Two Parts(1809)
• The Commemoration of Reynolds: In Two Parts(1814)
• Oldcourt:Volume 1,Volume 2,Volume 3(London: H. Colburn, 1829)
• Alasco: A Tragedy, in Five Acts(Sherwood, Jones, and co., 1824).

Gallery

• 
  John Philip Kemble,c.1795
• 
  Duchess of Cumberland,c.1795
• 
  Anna Larpent,c.1800
• 
  Henry Vassall Webster,c.1814
• 
  William Roscoe,c.1815-17
• 
  Thomas Munro,1819
• 
  Lady Munro, 1819
• 
  Alexander Macdonell,1823
• 
  Lord Denman,1832
• 
  Marquess Wellesley,1832
• 
  Lord Brownlow,c.1835
• 
  Marquess of Anglesey,1836
• 
  Queen Adelaide,1836

Bibliography

• Martin Archer Shee,The Life of Sir Martin Archer Shee,Volume 1,Volume 2(London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860).

References

• Chisholm, Hugh,ed. (1911)."Shee, Sir Martin Archer".Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• 86 artworks by or after Martin Archer Sheeat theArt UKsite
• Sir Martin Archer Shee online(ArtCyclopedia)
• Biography of M. A. Shee(Encyclopedia of Irish and World Art)
• William Archer Shee, the artist's son(Oil on canvas, Ca. 1820 –Metropolitan Museum of Art)
• Portrait by Thomas Bridgford