Cecil Maquire was born in Lurgan and graduated from The Queen's University, Belfast in 1951. In 1981 he resigned his post as Senior English Master at Lurgan College in order to paint and travel full-time. He now lives and works for most of the year in the West of Ireland in Roundstone, Connemara where he feels very much at home in an area which has always been an inspiration for his work.

Collections include:
The United Nations Headquarters, New York
The Department of the Environment, Northern Ireland
The Ulster Museum
Aer Rainta, Dublin
The Haverty Trust
Provincial Bank of Ireland
Ulster Television plc
The National Self Portrait Collection of Ireland
Peat Marwick McClintock