His Life

Born in 1836 in Belfast Ireland, Henry McArdle began studying the arts at a very young age.  By 1851 McArdle and his aunt moved to Baltimore, Maryland and he continued his studies at the Maryland Institute for the Promotion of the Mechanical Arts.  By the time of his graduation in 1860, McArdle had already won the Peabody Award, a much sought after prize for art students.

Henry McArdle joined the Confederate Army during the Civil War and served as an engineer, draughtsman, and cartographer.  After the war, in 1868, McArdle and his wife Jennie Smith moved to Independence, Texas.  They had hoped the warmer climate would aid Jennie’s health but she unfortunately died in 1870.  Later McArdle would marry again and he and his wife, Isophene Dunnington, would have a daughter and four sons.

In 1871 McArdle joined the faculty at Baylor University in Independence, Texas.  In the Faculty listing McArdle appears as a professor of Drawing in the 1870s and as a Professor of Art in the 1880s.   McArdle stayed in Independence after Baylor University moved to Waco in 1886 but by 1895 he had moved to San Antonio to be closer to family.  He  continued to research and paint, focused mainly on the history and heroes of his beloved Texas.

 

 

 

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