George A. Brenan (fl.1869-1883)A Sly Thief Oil on board, 23 x 30.5cm (9 x 12)Titled and signed in red 'A Sly Thief. / Geo A. Brenan', lower-leftExhibited: Dublin, Royal Hibernian Academy, 1882, no. 199, £5 5.George A. Brenan was born in Dublin, the younger brother of James Brenan, RHA (1837-1907). George was a student of the Cork School of Art and alongside his classmate, Thomas Hovenden (1840-1895) was awarded a medal in 1862. Living at 51, Camden St., Brenan won first prize, a silver medal, for a drawing from a nude living model at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1875. Brenan exhibited 'A Sly Thief' and 'Recreation' at the Royal Hibernian Academy in 1882, and 'Mount St. Bernard Dog' and 'A Quiet Pipe' at the Cork Industrial Exhibition in 1883. In his 1913 Dictionary of Irish Artists, Walter Strickland notes that Brenan died soon after 1883.