Portrait of R. I. Best

J Conan

fl. 1900 - 1970

1904 Pencil on paper

Richard Irvine Best, Litt. D. (1872-1959) was an avid collector of contemporary Irish Art and many of the artists whose paintings he purchased were known to him personally. He was Assistant Librarian at the National Library of Ireland from 1904, becoming Director from 1924 to 1949, and Senior Professor of Celtic Studies at the Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies from 1940 to 1947. Best died in 1959 but stipulated in his will that his Executors must divide his large collection of paintings among the galleries of Ireland. Drogheda received fourteen (14) of these artworks.