After receiving his education at Charleston College, John B. Irving took over the management of his family's estate. Young Irving was also interested in art; he made a brief trip to New York in 1847 to study and then continued his artistic education in Charleston. By 1851, he was back in New York registered in the National Academy Schools (Antique, 1852-3; Life, 1851-3). Shortly thereafter, he left for Dsseldorf where he was the pupil of Emanuel Leutze. Returning to Charleston in 1858, he set up a semi-professional portrait practice and married Mary Hamilton in 1859.
The Civil War resulted in the loss of the Irving fortune and forced the artist to move to New York in 1865. There he became known for his meticulous genre and history paintings, the hardened color and finish of which reminded critics of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier. After becoming an Academician, Irving seems to have been an enthusiastic member of the NAD. He contributed $100 to pay off the mortgage on the Academy building in 1876. Two years earlier, however, he had caused some dissention within the ranks of Academicians when he, David Johnson, and Carl Ludwig Brandt, the 1874 Hanging Committee, rejected several works by John La Farge for the Annual Exhibition. A sharp dialogue resulted in which the guaranteed rights of Academicians to exhibit were discussed. The decision of Irving's committee ultimately led to the 1877 adoption of the short-lived but controversial "eight-foot rule" which reserved space on the line for each Academician, prompting in part the founding of the rival Society of American Artists (NAD minutes, April 20 & 27 and May 13, 1874; Clark, 96-9; Fink, 73-9).
By 1875, Irving had eight children to support and was in a troubled financial state. It was therefore seen as a great tragedy when he died unexpectedly two years later. A benefit viewing of the art collection of August Belmont, a patron of Irving, was held on 23-6 May 1877 to aid the artist's family. Daniel Huntington, grieved by the loss of the artist whom many considered America's foremost genre painter, took the opportunity to read a partisan memorial into the Minutes of the Annual Meeting (May 9, 1877): "He was one of those who did not hesitate to enter the lists for the contest with foreign art, selecting his subjects in fields where the most eminent European artists have won their laurels. This courage we cannot but admire and regret the fate which cut him off in the heat of the fight and while the shouts of his adherents were ringing in his ears. This battle must be maintained. There will be no truce. Let us be true to ourselves. Foreign art will continue to pour in its forces and we shall triumph, not by imitating or decrying it but by surpassing it."
