Editing Daniel Maclise (section)

==Career==
Maclise exhibited for the first time at the [[Royal Academy Exhibition of 1829]] at [[Somerset House]]. Gradually he began to confine himself more exclusively to subject and historical pictures, varied occasionally by portraits&nbsp;– such as those of [[John Campbell, 1st Lord Campbell|Lord Campbell]], novelist [[Letitia Elizabeth Landon|Letitia Landon]], [[Charles Dickens|Dickens]], and other of his literary friends.
In 1833, he exhibited two pictures which greatly increased his reputation, and in 1835 the ''Chivalric Vow of the Ladies'' and the ''Peacock'' procured his election as associate of the Academy, of which he became full member in 1840. {{sfn|Monkhouse|1885–1900}}
The years that followed were occupied with a long series of figure pictures, deriving their subjects from history and tradition and from the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[Oliver Goldsmith|Goldsmith]] and [[Alain René le Sage|Le Sage]].

He also designed illustrations for several of Dickens's Christmas books and other works. Between the years 1830 and 1836 he contributed to ''[[Fraser's Magazine]]'', under the pseudonym of Alfred Croquis, a remarkable series of portraits of the literary and other celebrities of the time&nbsp;– character studies, etched or lithographed in outline, and touched more or less with the emphasis of the caricaturist, which were afterwards published as the ''Maclise Portrait Gallery'' (1871).<ref>Maclise, Daniel & Bates, William. ''[https://archive.org/details/macliseportraitg00macl The Maclise portrait-gallery of "illustrious literary characters" etc.]'' (London: Chatto and Windus, 1883)</ref> During the rebuilding of the [[Palace of Westminster#Frescoes|Houses of Parliament]] in London in 1834–1850 by [[Charles Barry]], Maclise was commissioned in 1846 to paint murals in the [[House of Lords]] on such subjects as ''Justice'' and ''Chivalry''.<ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/daniel-maclise/the-spirit-of-chivalry--sketch-/2776 The spirit of chivalry] (Art in Parliament).</ref><ref>The complex history surrounding the decoration is best summarized by
[[T. S. R. Boase]], ''The Decorations of the New Palace of Westminster 1841–1863'', in: ''Journal of the [[Warburg Institute|Warburg]] and [[Courtauld Institute|Courtauld]] Institutes'' 17:1954, pp. 319–358.</ref>

In 1858, Maclise commenced one of the two great monumental works of his life, ''[[The Meeting of Wellington and Blücher after the Battle of Waterloo]]'', on the walls of [[Westminster Palace]].<ref>[http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/daniel-maclise/the-meeting-of-wellington-and-blucher-after-the-battle-of-waterloo/3246 The Meeting of Wellington and Blucher after the Battle of Waterloo] (Art in Parliament).</ref> It was begun in [[fresco]], a process which proved unmanageable. The artist wished to resign the task, but, encouraged by [[Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence|Prince Albert]], he studied in Berlin the new method of [[Silicate mineral paint|water-glass painting]], and carried out the subject and its companion, ''[[The Death of Nelson (Maclise painting)|The Death of Nelson]]'', in that medium, completing the latter painting in 1864.

Maclise's vast painting of ''[[The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife]]'' (1854) hangs in the [[National Gallery of Ireland]], Dublin.<ref>[http://www.askaboutireland.ie/reading-room/arts-literature/art-artists/daniel-maclise-%281806-1870/the-marriage-of-strongbow/ The Marriage of Strongbow and Aoife] ("Ask about Ireland").</ref> It portrays the marriage of the main Norman conqueror of Ireland "[[Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke|Strongbow]]" to the daughter of his Gaelic ally. The painting is said to relate Maclise's nationalist feelings and his knowledge of ancient, Irish, civilization.<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |author-link= |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |url= |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=148 |isbn=}}</ref> 

By the grand staircase of [[Halifax Town Hall]], which was completed in 1863, there is a wall painting by Maclise.<ref>[[commons:File:C19 interior 028.jpg|Wall painting by Maclise]] in Halifax Town Hall.</ref><ref>[https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1314024 English Heritage National Monuments Record: description of Halifax Town Hall, mentioning Maclise wall painting.]</ref>

The intense application which he gave to these great historic works, and various circumstances connected with the commission, had a serious effect on the artist's health. He began to shun the company in which he formerly delighted, his old buoyancy of spirits was gone, and when, in 1865, the presidency of the Royal Academy was offered to him he declined the honour. He died of acute [[pneumonia]] on 25 April 1870 at his home 4 Cheyne Walk, [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]].{{sfn|Monkhouse|1885–1900}}<ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102-106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp102-106 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 2004 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref>

His works are distinguished by powerful intellectual and imaginative qualities, but, in the opinion of [[William Cosmo Monkhouse|Monkhouse]], a late Victorian critic, somewhat marred by harsh and dull colouring, by metallic hardness of surface and texture, and by frequent touches of the theatrical in the action and attitudes of the figures. His fame rests most securely on his two greatest works at Westminster.{{sfn|Monkhouse|1885–1900}}

A memoir of Maclise, by his friend William Justin O'Driscoll, was published in 1871.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}