Renowned Cork Ireland artist, Samuel Forde, born 216 years ago today on 8 April 1805, died of tuberculosis on 28 July 1828, at only 23 years of age.

Samuel Forde, born at Cork on 8 April 1805, was the second son of Samuel Forde, a tradesman, who became involved in difficulties and went to America, deserting his family. The elder brother was a talented musician, and was able to earn sufficient to send young Samuel to school, where he learnt Latin and French. A friend, Mr. Aungier, taught him Latin, and he learnt Greek by his own perseverance. Forde very soon displayed a talent for art, and though Cork did not offer much to inspire a youthful artist, his taste for literature helped to nourish and foster the high aspirations which distinguished, even in his schoolboy days, the numerous sketches on which he employed himself.

He became a student in the Cork Academy, drawing from the collection of casts which Lord Listowel had obtained for that institution. The master, Chalmers, was also a scene painter, and taught Forde distemper painting, so that he was able to be employed at the theatre. He had an intention of becoming a mezzotint engraver, and taught himself the art with materials roughly made by his own hands, but soon relinquished any further practice, becoming an art teacher, and subsequently master in the Cork Mechanics' Institute.

Among his fellow-students and intimate friends was Daniel Maclise. As well as Maclise, Forde's contemporaries include John Hogan and George Petrie. Thomas Davis considered him the greatest artistic genius Ireland had ever produced. Daniel Maclise, a fellow student, declared that Ford's drawings were as vigorous and correct as Michelangelo's. Forde's notebooks indicate a great talent — Davis much admired the pen drawings. His major works included 'The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan', `Tragic Muse', and 'Genius of Tragedy'. 'Fall of the Angels', commenced in 1827, is regarded as his masterpiece.

Measuring almost three metres in height, this monumental canvas dynamically blends two opposing styles – Neoclassicism and Romanticism – to describe the climax to the War in Heaven. The rational order of God’s abode in the top right corner resembles a Classical ideal, while the tangled mass of bodies at the centre reflects subjectivity and the chaos of Hell. Defiantly leading the cast-out legions of fallen angels with is Satan (or Lucifer), his tousled, curly hair suggesting a perhaps relatable Byronic hero. Forde was already suffering from Tuberculosis when he began this painting. Over the ensuing months, and increasingly weak, he worked by candlelight well into the night. On his final birthday, in 1828, he found himself without money. He subsequently sold the canvas to William Edward Penrose for 30 guineas but would ultimately leave it unfinished at the end of his short life. Fall of the Rebel Angels  was later owned by horticulturist William Edward Gumbleton and has been in the Crawford collection for 110 years. It is currently displayed in their Sculpture Galleries. The fully illustrated catalogue Samuel Forde: Visions of Tragedy (2014) is available for €7 (+ P&P) from their online shop here.

Up to about twenty years of age, Forde was principally engaged on works of a decorative character painted in distemper. In 1826 he was able to execute works of his own invention, and give expression to the grand projects which his poetical mind conceived. His first picture was the Vision of Tragedy, the idea taken from John Milton, which was painted in distemper, in grey and white. A cartoon for this subject was in the possession of Mr. Justice Willes, and was presented by his nephew to the South Kensington Museum. Forde was continually occupied in projecting pictures of an ambitious nature. In November 1827 he painted in two days a Crucifixion for the chapel of Skibbereen. In October 1827 his lungs first became affected.

William Crawford established a fund to finance Ford while he prepared for an exhibition in London. Early in 1828 he commenced a large picture of the Fall of the Rebel Angels, but although he was able to dispose of the picture, he was not destined to complete it. John Francis Maguire, in his comments on the Fall of the Angels, contrasted Ford's work to that of James Barry: 'How different were Ford and Barry, the latter austere, daring, full of a grandeur stern and rugged; the former all tenderness and gentleness and love, who if he rose aloft soared on the pinions of an angel. Barry might well be termed the Michelangelo of modern art, whilst Ford was styled by his associates "The Young Raphael".'

Unfortunately Samuel Forde died of tuberculosis on 28 July 1828, at the age of 23. He is buried in an unmarked grave in St Finbarr's Cemetery. His works were exhibited at the Great Cork Exhibition of 1852.