James Butler Brenan, Portrait Painter
(b. 1825, d. 1889)
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Was born in 1825, the son of the Cork landscape painter, John Brenan (q.v.). He passed his life in Cork, where he practised his art, his work consisting almost entirely of portraits of local personages, good likenesses often vigorously and skilfully painted; but he hardly fulfilled the promise of excellence shown in his earlier work. He commenced to exhibit in the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1843, and until 1886 there were but few years in which he did not contribute. He was elected an Associate on the 18th July, 1861, and a Member on the 4th April, 1871. He died at his residence, 5 College View Terrace, Cork, on the 22nd April, 1889.
Hobart Nathaniel J., Esq MD, South Mall, Cork is listed as a member of the Kilkenny and South-East of Ireland Archaeological Society 1859/60