4
Irish Jesuit Province John Hogan: Greatest of Irish Sculptors Author(s): Maura Prunty Source: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 78, No. 919 (Jan., 1950), pp. 41-43 Published by: Irish Jesuit Province Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20516108 . Accessed: 15/06/2014 03:29 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. . Irish Jesuit Province is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Irish Monthly. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:29:51 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

John Hogan: Greatest of Irish Sculptors

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Irish Jesuit Province

John Hogan: Greatest of Irish SculptorsAuthor(s): Maura PruntySource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 78, No. 919 (Jan., 1950), pp. 41-43Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20516108 .

Accessed: 15/06/2014 03:29

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

Irish Jesuit Province is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Irish Monthly.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:29:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

JOHN HOGAN?GREATEST OF IRISH SCULPTORS

By MAURA PRUNTY

THE City of Cork is very proud of the fact that it cradled almost from infancy John Hogan, the world-famous Irish

sculptor. Hogan was born in Waterford in 1800, but his

parents migrated to Cork a few months after his birth. His father was in the building trade and it was while employed on a contract at Dunmanway that he met his future wife, Frances Cox, grand

daughter of Sir Richard Cox?one-time Lord Chancellor of Ireland. Her people did not approve of the marriage and she therefore was

deprived of a very handsome fortune; however, her married Ufe was

a very happy one. John, the eldest child and future sculptor, was

first apprenticed in a lawyer's office, but found this very irksome and

left. He was then employed by Thomas Deane, a, well-known

architect. He was only a short time in his employment when Deane,

recognizing his talent, encouraged him to apply himself to sculpture. This he did and began by carving in wood. One of his first carvings was the head of an apostle and a copy of Michael Angelo's Mask of

Moses and a very beautiful copy of Leonardo da Vinci's Last

Supper, now over the-high altar in the North Chapel in Cork. It

was in or about the year 1823 that Paulet Carey, a famous engraver of that period, happened to be in the Art Gallery in Cork and came

across a torso. So impressed was he by it that he immediately sought an introduction to Hogan, and recognizing what a future lay in store

for him, put him in touch with Lord de Tabley and the "Dublin

Society of Art ". They were instrumental in paying for his tuition

in Rome, where he attended the great art schools and studied in the

Vatican Galleries; but he was not able to afford a studio and the

purchase of marble was so expensive he found it a great struggle to

carry on. Again his benefactors came to his rescue, enabling him to

take a studio, and here most of his famous works were executed.

One of his first productions was his Italian Shepherd Boy, but his

most generally recognized masterpiece is his Dead Christ. Some

prefer his Drunken Faun, which was proclaimed by a very eminent

41

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:29:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

IRISH MONTHLY

Danish sculptor as a "

miracle of art "

and would have been suffi

cient to immortalize his name. It tfas in recognition of the originality and genius of this particular work that the Virtuosi del Pantheon

elected him a member, an honour never before conferred on any Irish or British artist. Hogan, however, considered his Dead Christ

his greatest achievement, and so highly did he treasure it that he

accompanied it to Ireland, and many eminent artists came to admire

this sacred production of his genius, which has been proclaimed as

one of the finest works ever known in sculpture. The Carmelite Fathers in Clarendon Street are the possessors of

this sacred figure. I am sure those who have viewed Michael Angelo's majestic Moses

or Raphael's famous Transfiguration would say that Hogan could

hold a similar reputation with his Dead Christ.

Hogan's great talent was recognized by all the famous artists in

Rome, so much so that one of the greatest Italian sculptors said of

him, " When I am gone, Hogan is the best sculptor Rome possesses."

There is rather an interesting item concerning Hogan which many

may not know. This is in connection with Amelia Curran, daughter of John Philpot Curran, one-time Master of the Rolls. Amelia died

in Rome, and over her tomb in the Church of St. Isidore there is a

beautiful monument in white marble designed and executed by Hogan at the request of Lord Cloncurry, a family friend of the Currans, as

a tribute to Amelia's musical, literary and artistic talents. Hogan has portrayed on the monument a harp, an open book, and a palette.

And now to come to our own city where one would find it hard

to enumerate all the beautiful works of sculpture and all by the chisel

of Hogan. Many of our public buildings and churches have in their

possession some of his art. For instance, he modelled the Pieta in

Francis Street Church, which is done in plaster. Then in the City Hall we have two very fine specimens, that of Thomas Drummond, one-time Under-Secretary of Ireland, and Daniel O'Connell. For

this particular statue of O'Connell, Hogan left Rome and went up the mountains in Saravezza, the far side of the Tiber, in search of a

special white marble only to be had in this particular region. In

Loreto Abbey, Rathfarnham, there are two little angels kneeling either side of the high altar. One is struck by their expression, show

ing great tenderness and simplicity of mind on the part of Hogan and

most symbolic of what they represent?adoration and praise. Tradi

42

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:29:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

JOHN HOGAN?GREATEST OF IRISH SCULPTORS

tion has it that Hogan's daughter, who afterwards became a nun in

Rathfarnham, when a small child posed for the angels. These are

but a few of the many works executed by Hogan and all portraying his fine artistic and cultured mind.

About the year 1849, Hogan returned to Ireland. It was a very bad time as the country had not recovered from the effects of the

dreadful famine. As a result he found it hard to get work. However,

things improved and he received orders for statues of Father Mathew, Thomas Davis, and also many busts.

The year 1868 saw Hogan a sick man and his last work, The

Transfiguration, was uncompleted but was later finished by his son, John V. Hogan, and is now in the Royal Hibernian Academy. Had

Hogan spent more time in his own country and given us more of his works of art, we might have had what they have in the Vatican art

galleries, where there is a room given over to the works of Raphael and known as the Raphael Room, So we might have had likewise in our Art Gallery a room known as the Hogan Room.

Practically all Hogan's works were exhibited in the R.H.A., and it is sad to think that this great sculptor, who by his talent has raised so many beautiful memorials to his fellow men, now rests under a

plain slab in Glasnevin Cemetery. May his monument be not of marble or bronze, but rather that of veneration and gratitude for all he has bestowed not only on his own country but also on those of

foreign lands.

>???*??4Hl?4ME*?***???*??????????^???????y????4MMMMMMMMt

for Catholic boohs go to

Dutkcil the Catholic booh centre

140 STRAND, LONDON, W.C.2 Telephone : Temple Bar 3008

Telegrams ; Gallows, Ettrmnd, London

new and i

second-hand

Catholic books in all langtutaes

sent all over

the world FOR NEWS AND VIEWS OF

CATHOLIC BOOKS READ *' ducxktt's REGISTE* " MONTHLY 3?.

*********************#*************i?**********ik***********************ik***tH>*

43

This content downloaded from 185.44.77.146 on Sun, 15 Jun 2014 03:29:51 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions