painter, showed nine works in the 1849 Society for the Promotion of the Fine Arts in Australia Exhibition at Sydney. His subjects were quite varied, ranging from two portraits of the poet Robert Burns and one of St Patrick to Diana and Endymion and a bird study. Another work, Fruit , displayed 'too great [a] sameness of colour, but [was] clearly painted’, according to the Sydney Morning Herald of 2 June 1849. The anonymous critic was even less complimentary about Devoy’s Child , describing it as 'a specimen of want of harmony and that necessary balance of parts which is the essence of a true picture. By the name, the child is looked for as the subject, but…the basket of flowers, the carpet, the sofa, and the looking glass, are equally prominent, and from five equally distinct studies. Of the five, the carpet or oil cloth decidedly predominates’.
Devoy was not listed as a practising artist in the catalogue and no further references have been located until 1864, when Sands Sydney Directory lists one Thomas Devoy, artist, of 5 Victoria Street, George Street South. Despite the lengthy gap this is undoubtedly the same person. His portrait of the late Father J.J. Therry was among those raffled at St Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church bazaar at Balmain in July 1870. Thomas Devoy, portrait painter of Ultimo, died on 9 October 1870, aged 78. His death certificate states that he had come from County Wexford, Ireland, and had been in the colony for 42 years. The informant was a neighbour; Devoy had no known family ties.
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- Writers:
- Staff Writer
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
