Adam's IRISH OLD MASTERS 5th November 2024

80 50 JOHN COMERFORD (C. 1770-1832) Portrait of Dr Francis White (1787-1859) Oil on original unlined canvas, 68.5 x 58cm On reverse of frame label of Bregazzi & Sons of 10 Merrion Row, Dublin And also bears an undated label of James Adam and Sons (lot 80) Literature: Walter Strickland, Dictionary of Irish Artists, 2 Vols (Dublin and London, 1913) Vol. 1, p. 201 (for the replica of the portrait in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin); Eoin O’Brien and Anne Crookshank, A Portrait of Irish Medicine, an Illus- trated History of Medicine in Ireland (Dublin, 1984), p. 9, fig 11 4,000 - 6,000 This rare portrait shows the leading Irish doctor and medical and social reformer Francis White. White was born in Carrick-on-Suir, son of Francis White of Carrickbeg, County Waterford; Comerford, too had connections with the Tipperary town. Having learnt to paint by copying portraits in Kilkenny Castle and practiced in his native city, he also worked in Carrick-on Suir before moving to Dublin in 1797, initially for a short visit, but with critical ac - claim following when he exhibited two miniatures at Allen’s in Dame Street in 1800: ‘our astonishment at his pic - tures must excuse this note of admiration’. Comerford thereafter enjoyed a successful career initially combining oil portraiture with the production of miniatures, before specialising in the latter. ‘For many years’, writes Walter Strickland, ‘he was at the head of his profession in this particular field of art’. White equally rose swiftly to success in his profession. He was indentured on St Patrick’s Day 1807 at Dr Steevens’ Hospital, also studying at the Royal College of Surgeons, of which he was elected a member in May 1815. Initially specialising in ocular surgery, he established St Mary’s Hospital and Dublin Eye and Ear Infirmary at 36 Lower Ormond Quay and was later instrumental in the foundation of the City of Dublin Hospital on Baggot Street. As a progressive surgeon at the Richmond asylum, White pioneered medical rather than punitive treatment for his patients and has been described as ‘a truly caring reformer and administrator ahead of his time’ ( Dictionary of Irish Biography ). After his appointments as Inspector-General of Prisons, and subsequently as the first Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, he greatly ameliorated the harsh conditions in which the mentally ill were detained. In 1836 White was elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland where a replica of this portrait hangs. Comerford, by contrast was less adept at navigating institutional politics, vehemently opposing the formation of the Royal Hibernian Academy and being side-lined from the artistic mainstream in the last decade of his life. Dr White meanwhile suffered severe injuries in a railway accident at Dunkitt near Waterford in 1857, dying two years later.