The Scully Boys

The Scullys were a prominent Irish family with estates at Silverfort in Co. Tipperary and a town house in central Cork. Cork was also home to Frederick Buck who painted these portraits around 1818 and who may have been a family friend.

Born to James Darby Scully and his wife Barbara Hourigan, the boys are Denis James (1813-1890) in a black coat and wide-collared shirt and his younger brother Jerome James (1814-1879) in a blue skeleton suit with silver buttons. Records show that in the 1870s Jerome James was living at the family seat of Silverfort and owned 231 acres of land. He was also a Justice of the Peace. Silverfort is still a family home today.

The portraits are both in good condition. They are set in traditional papier-mâché frames though the frames differ in style: one has a decorative surround and a glossy finish, the smaller one has a plain surround and a matt finish and has an old chip to the top right corner. Both are inscribed on the backing paper with the sitters’ details.

The younger son of an Irish silversmith, Frederick Buck (1765-1840) was a prolific and resourceful artist working mostly in his native Cork where his sitters comprised the local gentry and the passing military. He married twice and had at least eight children.