The year of his birth in
Lambeth in south London He was of Irish ancestry, the son of the minor poet
William Thomas Fitzgerald. In 1849 Fitzgerald married Mary Ann Barr and they raised at least four sons and two daughters. As an artist, Fitzgerald appears to have been largely self-taught. His work was first shown at the
Royal Academy of Arts, London, in 1845; he also exhibited at the British Institution, the
Society of British Artists, and the
Royal Watercolour Society. In the late 1850s he created a series of Christmas fairies for the
Illustrated London News. Fitzgerald gave his works titles that often gave little clear indication of their subjects; art dealers and collectors frequently renamed them, causing great confusion in his artistic canon. Some of Fitzgerald's titles, like
The Pipe Dream and
The Captive Dreamer, suggest that "Fitzgerald was familiar with the
opium dens which, with
chloral and
laudanum, represented the Victorian drug scene." His paintings often use brilliant colours, especially reds, blues, and purples, as in
The Captive Robin shown here. He produced a major series of paintings on the
Cock Robin theme—among others,
Who Killed Cock Robin?,
Cock Robin Defending his Nest, and ''Fairies Sleeping in a Bird's Nest'' (the last furnished with a frame made out of twigs). Reclusive by nature, Fitzgerald had limited connections with other artists. He existed mainly at his London club, the
Savage Club. Brought to public attention by the 1998 exhibition of Victorian fairy paintings at the Royal Academy of Arts his paintings have since sold for up to £500,000, although most sell at prices between £30,000 and £120,000. His younger daughter, Florence Harriet Fitzgerald (1857–1927), was a painter and sculptor. She married landscape artist Walter Follen Bishop (1856–1936) in 1889. == Gallery ==