Of all the monuments I saw at Kensal Green Cemetery, the decoration of one in particular appealed to the art historian in me, it was showy, ostentatious and very Victorian. Carved at each corner the tools of the mans trade, palettes, brushes, palette knives, rolled canvas and mahl sticks all screamed look at me I’m an artist. Atop the stone catafalque beneath a canopy bedecked in wreaths and garlands a recumbent William Mulready sleeps, reminding all who care to look of his work.
It is the pretty sgraffito panels that decorate the lower sections of the catafalque that provide a wealth of information about the artist, I was in truth unfamiliar with his paintings but having spied the carved artists paraphernalia from a distance ventured closer.
To my delight having discovered the sgraffito decoration, what I now know and suspected then is that they are renderings of the artists more famous works. Mulready’s funerary monument is future proof, it’s decoration is not mired in esoteric symbolism.
Without any prior knowledge I left his graveside with a fair image of his art, from the composition and style of dress I intuited he was a genre painter. The ostentation of his funerary monument told me that he had been successful and the constant references to his craft told me he was proud of his acheivements.
William Mulready born in Ennis County Clare, Ireland in 1786, entered the Royal Academy in London aged fourteen. Mulready was a painter, illustrator and designer, he died in London in 1863 aged 77.