1. John Lavery was born in inner North Belfast, on 20 March 1856 and baptised at St Patrick's Church, Belfast.
15 Facts About John Lavery
1. 2.
John Lavery returned to Glasgow and was associated with the Glasgow School.
3.
John Lavery painted a number of naval pictures of the fleet at Scapa Flow, which he presented to the Imperial War Museum.
4.
In London, John Lavery became friendly with James McNeill Whistler and was clearly influenced by him.
5.
John Lavery remained in Britain and mostly painted boats, aeroplanes and airships.
6.
John Lavery's work was part of the art competitions at the 1924 Summer Olympics, the 1928 Summer Olympics, and the 1932 Summer Olympics.
7.
In 1923 John Lavery was commissioned by the newly established Irish Free State to design its new paper currency.
8.
In 1929, John Lavery made substantial donations of his work to both The Ulster Museum and the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery and in the 1930s he returned to Ireland.
9.
John Lavery received honorary degrees from the University of Dublin and Queen's University Belfast.
10.
John Lavery was made a freeman of both Dublin and Belfast.
11.
John Lavery was an orphan raised by relatives in Moira, County Down.
12.
In 1909 John Lavery remarried, to Hazel Martyn, an Irish-American known for her beauty and poise, who had a daughter, Alice Trudeau from a previous marriage.
13.
Hazel John Lavery was depicted in more than 400 of her husband's paintings.
14.
Hazel John Lavery modelled for the allegorical figure of Ireland he painted on commission from the Irish government, reproduced on Irish banknotes from 1928 until 1975 and then as a watermark until the introduction of the Euro in 2002.
15.
Sir John Lavery died in Rossenarra House, Kilmoganny, County Kilkenny on 10 January 1941, aged 84, from natural causes, and was interred in Putney Vale Cemetery.