James Brenan

Career

Brenan was among the most popular painters of nineteenth-century Ireland. He travelled to London where he studied decorative arts under Ownen Jones and Matthew Digby Wyatt. He became headmaster of the Cork School of Art in 1860 and began working with the Royal Hibernian Academy a year later. Brenan was appointed headmaster of the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art in 1889. Among those he taught were Henry Jones Thaddeus and William Orpen. Brenan also introduced design classes to develop and advance the lace-making industry and other crafts.