2-888-368 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Sir Martin Archer Shee, P.R.A., 1850. Portrait of Irish painter and '...venerable President of the Royal Academy [of Arts]...Sir Martin, whose celebrity as a portrait painter has rendered his name universally known, became an Associate of the Academy in 1798, was elected a Royal Academician in 1800...It was not only in painting that Sir Martin Shee gained distinction. As a poet, he achieved considerable reputation by his "Rhymes on Art", "Alasco", a tragedy, &c., and is immortalized by Byron: "And here let Shee and genius find a place, Whose pen and pencil yield an equal grace; To guide whose hand the sister .Arts combine, And trace the poet's or the painter's line; Whose magic touch can bid the canvas glow, Or pour the easy rhyme's harmonious flow; While honours, doubly merited, attend The poet's rival, but the painter's friend".' From "Illustrated London News", 1850.