Hugh Lane

Sir Hugh Percy Lane (9 November 1875 – 7 May 1915) was an Irish art dealer, collector and gallery director. He is best known for establishing Dublin's Municipal Gallery of Modern Art (the first known public gallery of modern art in the world) and for his contribution to the visual arts in Ireland, including the Lane Bequest. Hugh Lane died on board the RMS Lusitania. Family Hugh Percy Lane was born in County Cork, Ireland, on 9 November 1875. He was the son of a rector father, James William Lane. His mother, Frances Adelaide (Persse) Lane, was a daughter of Dudley Persse, of Roxborough, County Galway. Her sister, Augusta, was the noted dramatist Lady Gregory, of Coole, County Galway. He was brought up in Cornwall, England, and began his career as an apprentice painting restorer with Martin Henry Colnaghi in London, then worked as an art dealer at the Colnaghi's Marlborough Gallery for some years, before becoming a dealer in his own right and opening a gallery in Dublin in 1908. Through regular visits to Coole (near Gort), County Galway, the home of his aunt, Lady Gregory, Lane remained in contact with Ireland. He soon counted among his family, friends and social circle those who collectively formed the core of the Irish cultural renaissance in the early decades of the 20th century that was a part of the Celtic Revival.