Samuel Forde was a brilliant young Cork artist whose drawings were praised by Maclise:-
            "his drawings were as vigorous and correct as Michaelangelo's"
and by Sir David Wilkie as being worthy of the Old Masters; but tragically his career was cut short by his early death. He was born in Cork on 5th April, 1805, second son of a poor tradesman Samuel Forde. His upbringing was bleak and his father abandoned his family for America. Forde's elder brother William attempted to support the family and educate Samuel, who devoted himself to art at an early age. First he copied prints, but upon the opening of the School of Art in 1818, he became a pupil there, aged only thirteen and studied under the scene-painter Chalmers. He worked from the collection of Antique casts which had been presented by the Prince Regent. He gained good knowledge of anatomy, architecture and perspective. He began to teach, and assisted Chalmers with the scenery and decoration of the Cork Theatre. This experience led to commissions for decoration in houses.

When he was about twenty he embarked on his own imaginative compositions,for example working on studies for The Vision of Tragedy (based on Milton). This large finished painting in distemper was completed in 1826. He executed several other pictures in distemper for the architect Pain. Forde also painted portraits in c.1826, but with little success. He worked on a design for the Cork Theatre and in 1827 on a Crucifixion for the church in Skibbereen. In February 1828 he embarked upon The Fall of the Angels (based on the Book of Ezekiel and on Milton), which was to be his major painting and which, he hoped, would bring him fame. The architect Deane supported him with a weekly allowance of thirty shillings and Edward Penrose bought the painting for thirty guineas. But due to ill-health, Forde was unable to complete the picture, and he died on 29th June, 1828 aged only twenty-three. He was buried at St. Finbarr's Cathedral.

Fall of the Angels was exhibited posthumously at the RHA in 1830, and at the Cork Exhibition of 1852. (It was later bequeathed to the School of Art in 1911 and is now in the Crawford Gallery). A watercolour study for a figure of The Veiled Prophet was exhibited at the RHA in 1851. A monochrome drawing for The Vision of Tragedy is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Ref: A Dictionary of Irish Artists by W.G. Strickland, Vol.1
A Record of Authors, Artists and Musical Composers born in the County of Cork by John Gilbert, Cork Historical and Archaeological Journal, Vol.XIX, p.175
Gleanings on Old Cork Artists by R.D., Cork Historical and Archaeological Journal, Vol.VI, p.109-111