Margaret Clarke

Margaret Clarke RHA (née Crilley; 29 July 1881 – 31 October 1961) was an Irish portrait painter.

Life Margaret Crilley was born in Newry, County Down, Ireland, one of six children of Patrick Crilley. While, according to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, she was born in July 1881,

Having initially trained at Newry technical school with her sister Mary intending to become a teacher, There she studied under William Orpen, who regarded her as one of his most promising students. The couple moved into a flat at 33 North Frederick Street. They had three children, Michael, David and Ann.

Clarke became the director of the Harry Clarke Stained Glass Studios following the death of her husband in 1931.

Artistic work

Clarke first exhibited with the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1913, Amongst the portrait commissions Clarke received were ones for Dermod O'Brien, President Éamon de Valera, Archbishop McQuaid, and Lennox Robinson. from which she produced a number of landscapes and smaller studies.

Footnotes