Sir Frederic William Burton (1816 – 1900)
Portrait of Miss Mary Palliser
1871, Watercolour and Gouache on Paper

On loan from the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Canada, R-D2220

Sir Frederic William Burton was born in Wicklow and spent his early years in Clifden House,
Corofin, County Clare. He was taught painting by the Brocas brothers in Dublin and, like
them, he specialised in watercolours. He soon established himself as a portrait painter and
had many notable sitters in Dublin. Burton was elected Royal Hibernian Academician in
1839 at the age of twenty-three. In 1851 he settled in Munich, from where he made sketching
trips and visits to German art galleries. He subsequently settled in London, where he
continued to devote himself to the study of art history and to portrait painting, and later
became Director of the National Gallery, London. His most known work, ‘Hellelil and
Hildebrand, the Meeting on the Turret Stairs’ was voted by the Irish public as Ireland’s
favourite painting in 2012.

In 1868 Sir Frederic William Burton was commissioned to paint a portrait of Miss Mary
Palliser of Comeragh House, County Waterford, Ireland. Mary Palliser was from a wealthy
Anglo-Irish Family. She was the daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Wray Bury Palliser and
his wife Anne Gledstanes. She was also the sister of the famous explorer Sir John Palliser
who helped survey Western Canada in the 1850s. In the painting you can see that Mary
appears to be wearing an engagement ring. It is thought that this painting was initially gifted
as an engagement gift from Burton to Mary and her family. By the time the painting was
completed Burton would have been fifty-five while Mary was only thirty-seven.

Through the window a view of the gardens of Comeragh House can be seen. This is where
the painting was likely created and where the couple spent much of their time together.
Mary Palliser and Frederic William Burton were engaged for ten years though never
married. It is thought that the couple had decided to postpone marriage until Burton’s
financial circumstances improved. Unfortunately Mary, who suffered from poor health
throughout her life, died of pneumonia on June 26, 1879. She is buried at Comeragh
Cemetery, close to her family home. Burton never got engaged again. In his short poem,
‘Farewell to Mary’ his words, much like his painting, serve to immortalise his love – “I will
remember thee Mary wherever thou art!”

DUE TO THE FRAGILE NATURE OF THIS ART WORK,
VIEWING TAKES PLACE EVERY SATURDAY 11AM – 12 NOON