Page:Dictionary of Artists of the English School (1878).djvu/322

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of taste, and about 1820 he began a series of Irish medals, of which he finished six — Usher, Swift, Charlemont, Sheridan, Grat- tan, Moore. On the visit of George IV. to Ireland he published a medal, the reverse a figure of Hibernia, and though finely exe- cuted, it did not remunerate nini. He was a partisan, and party stood in his way. He soon after began a medal of 'Hercules slaying the Hydra,' whose heads repre- sented those of three prominent political agitators in Dublin; but the work never got beyond the model. He died in the early part of 1827, aged 39.

MOUNTAGUE, William, architect and surveyor. He was a pupil of George Dance, R.A., and for many years his chief assistant. In 1812 he was appointed sur- veyor to the Improvement Committee, and was charged with the formation of the Pavement. Finsbury, and also with the erection of the Debtors' Prison in White- cross Street. He had continued Mr. Dance's assistant, and on his resignation of the office of ' clerk of City's works,' he succeeded him in 1816. He was also one of the district surveyors of the City, and had besides an extensive private practice. He died April 12, 1843, aged 70, and was buried in the Bunhill-fields Burial-ground. His employment was more that of surveyor than architect. Among his chief works, in addition to the above, are the Guildhall Courts of Law, 1821 ; Farringdon Market, 1824; the library, Guildhall, 1825, since removed; the committee-rooms and lobbies, Guildhall. 1841.

MOUNTSTEPHEN, E. G., wax model- ler. Was born in the county of Meath. He came to London about 1781, and set- tling in the Metropolis, commenced prac- tice as a portrait modeller in wax, and arrived at great excellence. He was an exhibitor at the Royal Academy from 1782 to 1791 .in 1789 exhibiting a very fine head of the Duke of Orleans. He afterwards went to the Continent, where he died.

MULLER, William James, landscape and figure painter. Born at Bristol in 1812. His father, a German clergyman, was the curator of the Bristol Museum, and published some scientific works. He was an apt scholar, and had a taste for botany and natural history. He was in- tended for an engineer, out gave early indications of a genius for drawing and adopted art. He received his first instruc- tions in art from J. B. Pyne, a fellow- townsman, but he soon turned to nature as his guide. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, for the first time in 1833, * The Destruction of Old London Bridge, Morn- ing.' In 1833-34 he visited Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, and returning to Bristol, he commenced his professional career there, without finding much encour-

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agement. In 1836 he exhibited both at the Royal Academy and in the Suffolk Street Gallery ; at the former his * Peasants on the Rhine waiting for the Ferry Boat,' and at the latter he continued to exhibit in the two following years. In 1838 he visited Greece and Egypt, and again re- turned to Bristol. About the end of 1839 he came to reside in London, and his works soon found purchasers. He sent his pic- tures again to the exhibitions, and exhi- bited yearly at the Academy till his death. On the Government expedition to Lycia in 1841, he asked and obtained permission to join it, and that he might freely follow his own art, he defrayed his own expenses. He made a valuable collection of sketches, from which his * Burial-ground, Smyrna, exhibited at the Academy, 1844, and his ' Tent Scene, Xanthus,' were painted. His merits were now fully recognised. He received many commissions, but he was unequal to the task. His heart was dis- eased ; he was greatly reduced in strength by a continued haemorrhage from the nose ; he returned to Bristol, seeking rest and advice, and though he continued to paint occasionally, he gradually succumbed to his disease, and died there September 8, 1845. His manner was original. He painted in a simple and broad style, rich and glittering in colour; his figures were characteristic and well introduced, and his Eastern land- scapes well studied and true to nature, yet his art somewhat approached scene painting. He published, in 1841, ' Pictur- esque Sketches of the Reign of francis I.' At a three days' sale of his works at Chris- tie's, in May 1846, they realised 46001. A memoir of his life by IS. N." Soley was pub- lished in 1875.

MULLER, John Sebastian, engraver. Was born in 1720. He engraved Hay- man's designs for Milton's ' Paradise Lost/ and was living in 1760.

MULLINS, George, landscape painter. He was born in Ireland, and studied in the Dublin Schools under James Manning. He found employment in a manufactory at Waterford, Where he painted snuff-boxes and trays in imitation of the Birmingham ware. He came to London, where he prac- tised landscape painting for several years. His works are spoken of as excelling in tone and colour, and showing much painter- like feeling. He is stated to have died in Dublin about 1771, but it seems probable he was living in London several years later. • MULREADY, William, R. A., subject painter. Was born at Ennis, Co. Clare, April 30, 1786. His father was a master leather-breeches maker, and soon after the birth of his son removed to Dublin with his family, and carried on his business there for two or three years, and then came to London, and resiaed in Compton Street

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