Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Elmore, Alfred
ELMORE, ALFRED (1815–1881), painter, was born at Clonakilty, co. Cork, in 1815. From his childhood he gave promise of distinction in art, and at the age of nineteen he exhibited his first picture at the Royal Academy. At the exhibition of the British Institution in 1838 his 'Crucifixion' occupied a prominent place, and in the succeeding year he made a second appearance at the Academy with 'The Martyrdom of Becket.' Both these pictures are now in one of the catholic churches in Dublin, the 'Becket' being a bequest to the church by Mr. O'Donnell, for whom it was painted. 'Rienzi in the Forum,' produced in 1844, and several Italian pictures exhibited at the British Institution, were the result of a visit paid by the artist to Italy. Elmore's Italian experiences and study accentuated his feeling for semi-historical subjects, and his representation of the 'Origin of the Guelph and Ghibelline Quarrel,' exhibited in 1845, established his reputation as an historical painter. The work was sold for 300l., and it also gained him his entrance as an associate into the Royal Academy. Among the late important works by this artist were: 'The Fainting of Hero,' from 'Much Ado about Nothing,' executed in 1846; 'The Invention of the Stocking Loom,' a picture which achieved great popularity, 1847; 'The Deathbed of Robert, King of Naples, the Wise and Good,' 1848; 'Religious Controversy in the Time of Louis XIV,' 1849; 'Griselda,' 1850; and 'Hotspur and the Fop,' 1851. Elmore was adequately represented at the International Exhibitions of London 1851 and 1862, and at the Paris Exhibitions of 1855 and 1878. Among the more popular of the works thus exhibited were 'Mary Queen of Scots,' 'After the Fall,' and 'Lucretia Borgia.' Elmore was elected an academician in 1877. He died in London, 24 Jan. 1881.
[Ann. Reg. 1881; Men of the Time. 10th edit.]