![William John Hennessy - An Old Song [1874]](http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2897/14124236509_0bcb506727_o.jpg)
William John Hennessy (Thomastown, County Kilkenny, July 11, 1839 - Sussex, December 27, 1917) was an Irish artist. His father, John Hennessy, was forced to leave Ireland in 1848 as a result of his involvement in the Young Ireland movement. He landed in Canada and settled in New York. William, his mother Catherine, and brother joined their father there in 1849. He gained admittance to the National Academy of Design in 1854 and exhibited his first works there. In 1870 he moved to London where he became a member of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters in 1902.
[Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York - Watercolour, gum arabic, and gouache on off-white wove paper, 37.3 x 28.3 cm]