Lavery, Sir John (1856-1941), an Irish painter, became well known for his portraits, especially pictures of women. Lavery was selected to paint a portrait of Queen Victoria in 1888, and the commission established him as the most fashionable portrait painter of his generation.
Lavery was born on March 20, 1856, in Belfast, Ireland (now in Northern Ireland). He was apprenticed to a painter and photographer in Glasgow, Scotland. Later, he studied art in Glasgow, London, and Paris in the 1870’s and early 1880’s. Lavery lived primarily in Glasgow from 1885 to 1896, when he moved to London. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1921. He wrote an autobiography, The Life of a Painter (1940). Lavery died on Jan. 10, 1941.
