A loud crash within the house caused the writer of this post to leap out of bed. The cause of the seismic shock was found to be the above large framed panoramic print of Dunedin 1888 , in the NZ South Island , by Irish architect and painter George O'Brien . Foxed, mounted,framed and under glass which had smashed into many pieces , removal of the shards resulted in a cut finger .
O'Brien , born Dromoland Castle , County Clare, in l821, was the fifth son of Admiral Robert O'Brien, who was a younger son of Sir Lucius O'Brien,3rd Baronet.
George O'Brien was a first cousin of William Smith O'Brien (1803-1864) who was deported to Tasmania for his part in the l848 Young Ireland uprising , and a cousin to James FitzGerald , a one time superintendent of the Canterbury Province in New Zealand .
At a very young age , George O'Brien , whose parents had both died, was in Melbourne , where he married, and became involved with the Victorian Fine Arts Society, producing several watercolours of Saint Kilda and other nearby places .
It seems he was attracted to NZ by the Otago goldrush where he worked as a civil engineer . Some of his watercolours were included in the 1865 NZ Industrial Exhibition .
When his wife died in l879, he had five daughters to raise , so embarked on a career as a professional artist . Wikipedia states he was versatile and energetic and travelled around southern New Zealand. However, he had " bohemian habits, " was a heavy drinker and immensely fat.
His eldest daughter married and removed her younger siblings. O'Brien continued lodging with a sailor and his wife in a poor part of the city . .After a year in Auckland, he returned to Dunedin where he died in August 1888, his residual collection inherited by his landlady. He was buried in an unmarked grave.
