IRVINE, JOHN (1805-88) was born at Lerwick, Shetland. As a boy he showed a taste for art, but being left an orphan at the age of 10 he had to go abroad before he was 21 in search of a livelihood. He studied in Edinburgh and in London at the Royal Academy (1826-28) where Herbert, Etty and Maclise were fellow students. In 1828 he received a medal for work in the antique school, and in 1834 he was elected an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, where he exhibited. At the Royal Academy he sold seven pictures in one year.

Irvine specialised in portraits, and finished some of the work of Thomas Lawrence. He came to Melbourne to join his son, and while in Adelaide made a portrait of Sturt, the explorer. In 1863 he settled in Dunedin, where he painted many portraits for the Provincial Council (including Dr Burns, Cargill, John McGlashan and Moses Wilson Gray). In 1865-66 he did some engraving and lithography for the Otago Witness. He was president of the Dunedin Art Society, to which he presented some books as the nucleus of a library. He died on 22 Jun 1888.

Otago Daily Times, 11 Jul 1888.

Reference: Volume 1, page 231

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