John O'Keeffe

Who was John O'Keeffe?

John O'Keeffe was an Irish portrait and figure painter.

Born in Fermoy, County Cork of humble parentage, O'Keeffe began painting at an early age and was apprenticed to a coach painter. He began painting scenes for local theatres, working his way up to religious pictures for local Roman Catholic churches. In 1831 he sent a Portrait of a Lady and Crucifixion to the Royal Hibernian Academy. He left Cork in 1834 for Dublin and continued to exhibit portrait and subject paintings. A painting from this period, A Sibyl, 1835, now stands in the Museum of Cork. He exhibited a painting of the British army Field Marshal Edward Blakeney at the RHA in 1837. Just as his career was on the rise he died while on a visit to Limerick in April, 1838.