Mary Redmond (1863 – 16 January 1930) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

born in

Nenagh Nenagh (, ; or simply ''An tAonach'') meaning “The Fair of Ormond” or simply "The Fair", is the county town and second largest town in County Tipperary in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Nenagh used to be a market town, and the site of the ...

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

in 1863, and then raised in

Ardclough Ardclough, officially Ardclogh (; ), is a village and community in the parish of Kill, County Kildare, Ireland. It is two miles (3 km) off the N7 national primary road. It is the burial place and probable birthplace of Arthur Guinness, w ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, where her father came to work in the limestone quarries. Father Mathew Statue O'Connell Street

Early life

At school in Ardclough she modelled the soft clay from a sinkhole near her home into clay figures. At the age of nine she was sent to live in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

to attend Primary school. While there she worked in the studio of Thomas Farrell where she created her first work ‘a hand on a cushion’. She was accepted into the

Dublin Metropolitan School of Art The National College of Art and Design (NCAD) is Ireland's oldest art institution, offering the largest range of art and design degrees at undergraduate and postgraduate level in the country. Originating as a drawing school in 1746, many of th ...

where she studied drawing and painting, though she was drawn to working with clay.

Career

Her most famous work, a statue of

Father Mathew Theobald Mathew (10 October 1790 – 8 December 1856) was an Irish Catholic priest and teetotalist reformer, popularly known as Father Mathew. He was born at Thomastown, near Golden, County Tipperary, on 10 October 1790, to James Mathew and his ...

in Dublin's O’Connell Street was inaugurated in 1893 (or 1891 ) (8 February). She won a contest to create the sculpture, an achievement for a woman artist at the time. According to

Nora J Murray Nora J Murray (1888–1955) was an Irish poet and school teacher at the heart of the Ardclough Sedition Case, when her teaching of Irish history was the subject of a complaint by a Unionist landlord Bertram Hugh Barton (1858–1927) in the after ...

’s article in Capuchin Annual (1932) the male model for the Father Mathew statue took the concept of getting plastered a little too far, was dismissed for drunkenness and was later convicted for vandalising her work.

Works

Amongst her other works were a bust of

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...

, modelled at his home; a bust of Edmund Dwyer Gray (of which thirty repeats were made) a presentation shield to Lord Wolseley and a memorial bust of William Martin.

Later life and death

Redmond married Dr W Dunn, from Florence, in London in 1893. They moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and lived near Galileo’s tower in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. She died there on 16 January 1930.Irish Independent 17/01/1930

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Redmond, Mary 1863 births 1930 deaths People from Nenagh People from County Kildare 20th-century Irish sculptors 19th-century Irish sculptors 19th-century Irish women artists 20th-century Irish women artists