Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/187

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GAN
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Free Society of Artists. Soon after, he proposed to publish a continuation of Campbell's 'Vitruvius Britannicus,' and associating himself with Mr. Woolfe, of the Board of Works, he undertook the greater part of the labour, engraving many of the plates himself. He contributed to the Spring Gardens Exhibitions in 1765 and the succeeding years. On the foundation of the Royal Academy he entered as a student, and was a successful competitor for the first gold medal awarded in architecture (1769), and from 1774 to 1780 was a contributor to the Academy Exhibitions. He sent in designs in 1769 for the Dublin Royal Exchange, and gained the second premium; and in 1776 the first premium for a lunatic asylum in London, but to his great disappointment he was not employed in its erection. He continued to labour in his profession in London up to 1781, when he went to Dublin on an invitation to erect the new Custom House and docks, relinquishing an offer of Court employment in Russia; and under many difficulties and vexatious interruptions, he at once commenced his extensive undertaking, which occupied him during 10 years. At the same time he was engaged upon a new gaol and court-house at Waterford, and upon the erection of the east portico and ornamental circular screen to the Parliament House. In 1788 he commenced the Dublin law courts, still harassed by an opposition, which was carried into the Irish Parliament. Continuing to reside in Dublin, he commenced his last great work in that city, laying the first stone of the King's Inns, 1795.

In 1797 he came to London, warned by the treasonable dangers which were then impending, and did not return till 1799 to complete his Inns of Court. He did not find less difficulties than before, and about 1806, Lord Chancellor Redesdale expressing dissatisfaction at the progress of these works, he wrote a justificatory letter of explanation, and resigning his employments he retired, in 1808, after an arduous career of nearly 60 years, to Lucan, near Dublin, where he had purchased some property, and passed the remainder of his days. He was a martyr to gout, and died December 24, 1823. He was buried in Drumcondra Churchyard, it is said, in the same grave with his friend Grose, the antiquary. His great public buildings and the street improvements which he carried out in Dublin with great skill and ability, will always perpetuate his name in that city. He etched several plates, after landscapes by Wilson, R.A., and wrote an 'Essay on the Progress of Architecture in Ireland' and 'Hints for erecting Testimonials.' His 'Life,' by his son, was edited by T. J. Mulvany, R.H.A., 1846. GANDY, James, portrait painter. Bora at Exeter in 1619. He received some instruction from Vandyck, made many copies from his works, and imitated his manner. His portraits possessed much merit. He was retained in the service of the Duke of Ormond, whom he accompanied to Ireland, where many of his portraits are much prized. Sir Joshua Reynolds owned that, at the commencement of his career, Gandy's works made a great impression on him. He died in Ireland in 1689. His chief works will be found in that country; a few in the West of England.

GANDY, William, portrait painter. Son of the foregoing. Said to have been instructed by 'Magdalen Smith,' He settled in Exeter about 1700, and travelled in Devonshire and Cornwall, painting portraits. Some good portraits by him exist in these counties, but there are many more which are very loosely finished. He rarely indeed finished more than the head and the hands. His best works possessed great force and power, and have been deemed like Reynolds's. He was of a proud, intractable disposition, careless of his reputation, in his latter days only painting when pressed by necessity. He was at Plymouth in 1714. He affected to be too deep in the confidence of the Duke of Ormond, who was implicated in the rebellion of 1715, to render it safe to venture up to London. He is supposed to have died at Exeter, but the date is unknown.

GANDY, Joseph M., A.R.A., architect. Born in 1771. Was a student of the Royal Academy and a pupil of James Wyatt. He gained the Academy gold medal in 1790 for his design for a triumphal arch. He went to Rome in 1794, and the following year received the Pope's medal in the first class for architecture. He was a frequent exhibitor at the Academy, and was much employed by Sir John Soane; a man of great imagination and genius, and an excellent draftsman, he was elected an associate of the Academy in 1803. He made the drawings for Britton's architectural publications, and some others, and built the Assembly Rooms at Liverpool and some mansions. He published 'Designs for Cottages, Fanns, and other rural Buildings,' 1805; 'The Rural Architect,' 1806; and was connected with Sir William Gell in his 'Pompeiana,' published 1817. He was brother to Gandy Deering. Odd and impracticable in disposition, his life was one of disappointment and poverty, and is said to have ended in insanity. He died in December 1843.

  1. Gandy, Michael##

GANDY, Michael, architect. Was born in 1778, and was the younger brother, and for some time the pupil, of Joseph M. Gandy. Afterwards he was employed in James Wyatt's office, which he' left to enter 166