Margaret Clarke RHA (1888-1961)

Portraitist, figure painter and landscape painter, the Irish artist Margaret Clarke (nee Crilley) was born in County Down and won a scholarship to the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art where she studied under the great academic portrait artist William Orpen, becoming one of his top students.

In October 1914 she married fellow artist Harry Clarke with whom she spent several summers on the Aran Islands, along with the romantic nationalist portrait and figure painter Sean Keating.

In 1911, Margaret Clarke entered the BBE National Art Competition and won silver and bronze medals for her figure painting of female nudes. In 1913, she won bronze in the nude figure categ...