Kelly, John senior (1739-1764)
Kelly, John senior
Dublin, Ireland; carver and gilder (fl.1739-d.1764)
Freeman of the City of Dublin as a Carver by Grace Especial, Michaelmas 1748.
Recorded in Essex Street, 1745-64.
In 1739 John Kelly, senior and John Houghton, senior, were paid £60 by the Earl of Kildare for stone carving on the pediment at Carton.
In 1749 Kelly carved the capitals for the newel posts on the staircase at Doneraile House, Kildare Street, Dublin, as well as doorcases for some of the principal rooms. Thomas Oldham also executed carved work in the house at the same time.
Kelly’s most celebrated commission was to carve a bed for Dr Bartholomew Mosse, for which the bill dated 15 September 1759 survives. The cost was £19 8s 6d. and the bill is extraordinarily detailed (illus. Glin & Peill (2007), figs 112-14). However, the surviving bed which has been attributed to Kelly is different in many respects from that described in the bill, not least in having Ionic rather than Corinthian capitals. Therefore, although the bed may well be by Kelly it is not the one documented. In fact, the bill for the bed post-dates Dr Mosse’s death (his will was proved on 2 April 1759) which raises the possibility that the bed was never delivered.
Stylistic analogies with the surviving Mosse bed, which descended in his family, have led to the attribution to Kelly of a bed at Florence Court, Co. Fermanagh (illus. Glin & Peill (2007), fig.115). Like many carvers Kelly worked on houses as well as furniture and was responsible for work which survives at Dr Mosse’s house at 9 Cavendish Row, Dublin. Carving at No. 85 St Stephen’s Green, and 20 Lower Dominick Street, Dublin, is also attributed to him. Kelly’s death in May 1764 was reported in Faulkner’s Dublin Journal, 12-15 May 1764.
He was succeeded in business by his son, John Kelly junior.
Source: Glin & Peill, Irish Furniture (2007), pp. 88-94 & 293.
Occupation
Object