Mary Redmond

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mary Redmond (1863 to 16 January 1930) was a sculptress, born in Nenagh County Tipperary in 1863 and raised in Ardclough County Kildare, Ireland where her father came to work in the limestone quarries. At school in Ardclough NS she showed talent in modelling the soft clay from a sinkhole near her home into clay figures. Her most famous work, a statue of Father Mathew in Dublin's O’Connell Street was inaugurated in 1893 (Feb 8). According to Nora J Ryder’s article in Capuchin Annual (1932) the model for the Father Mathew statue took the concept of getting plastered a little too far, was dismissed for drunkenness and was later convicted of vandalising her work. Amongst her other works were a bust of Gladstone, modelled at his home; a bust of Dwyer Grey (of which thirty repeats were made) a presentation shield to Lord Wolseley and a memorial bust of William Martin. She went to live in Italy and died in Florence on 16 January 1930.