Matthew Lawless

Matthew Lawless I Clongowes 1843-1844

Matthew Lawless (1837-64), painter and illustrator, was a native of Dublin who attended Clongowes in 1843-4. He moved with his family to England in 1845, where he completed his education at Bath before studying art at various London institutions and also under the painter, Henry O’Neill. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1857 and continued to do so annually thereafter. His subjects were generally historical or literary (especially Shakespearian), and his work was noted for its finish and its accuracy. The Sick Call (1863), now in the National Gallery of Ireland, is probably his best oil, revealing his understanding of 17th-century Dutch painting, and placing him in the context of the pre-Raphaelite art. He excelled as a graphic artist. His sharp line and clean draftsmanship owe much to the illustrator Charles Keene, who in turn was heavily influenced by the German school. Many of his finest wood-engraved designs appeared in periodicals, such as Once a week, London Society and Punch. His book illustrations, while less numerous, are amongst his most accomplished works. Especially regarded is his single design of a woman weeping in Lyra Germanica (1861). Drawings and wood engravings by him are in the collections of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Much lamented, he died of consumption at the early age of twenty-seven. He was an ardent Catholic, and the future Cardinal Manning is believed to have penned his obituary in The Tablet. The critic Edmund Gosse wrote in 1877 that by his death, ‘English art sustained one of the sharpest losses it ever had to mourn’.