Brief Biography-Robert Fagan of London was a portraitist of Irish descent who studied at the Royal Academy from 1781. Although he was born in London, as his parents were Irish, he considered himself Irish.
Besides portraiture, he was also an archaeologist and art dealer. In 1783, after a brief stay in Paris, he emigrated to Italy, where he remained for the entirety of his life. He married in Italy, and when his wife died, he married for a second time to another Italian woman.
He became involved in several necessary excavations in Italy and dealt with various antiquities and paintings of old masters. He was known to have smuggled two Lorraine paintings from Italy to England. Throughout his life, he painted numerous portraits for wealthy clients. As a man of many talents, he entered the world of diplomacy and became Consul-General for Sicily and Malta in 1809.
In 1815 he made a trip to London to work on murals; however, it was an unsuccessful mission, and he returned to Italy. Unfortunately, he experienced financial difficulties through property dealings not long afterwards, and the French confiscated much of his art collection in Rome. He also suffered from bad health and sadly committed suicide by jumping from a high window in 1816.