John b. yeats, painter and father of william butler and jack b. yeats, is born in tullylish, co. down

John Butler Yeats (16 March 1839 – 3 February 1922) was an Irish artist and the father of W. B. Yeats, Lily Yeats, Elizabeth Corbett “Lolly” Yeats and Jack Butler Yeats. The National Gallery of Ireland holds a number of his portraits in oil and works on paper, including one of his portraits of his son William, painted in 1900.

His portrait of John O’Leary (1904) is considered his masterpiece (Raymond Keaveney 2002).