John Cassidy (RBS)

Reginald Barber 8 Jan 1851 - 19 Dec 1928

Summary

A portrait of the sculptor John Cassidy, in an unusual horizontal format. The subject has a beard and wears a plain working jacket; he leans over a table top, head resting on his left hand, and right arm reaching out towards one of his pieces, a small model of a classical figure holding a staff. The model that Cassidy holds is a maquette for a memorial statue to the 15-20,000 people who died in the Irish Uprising of 1798, when the Irish rebelled against English rule. A campaign was led for a memorial statue to the leader of the rising, Wolfe Tone (1763-98), and although Cassidy, an Irish-born experienced sculptor of public works, offered his services, the memorial was not built due to lack of funds.

Display Label

John Cassidy 1900 Reginald Barber 1851-1928 Oil on canvas John Cassidy (1860-1939) was a well-known Manchester sculptor – but this portrait of him alludes to another aspect of his identity. Cassidy was born in County Meath, and had emigrated from Ireland at the age of 22. The model he contemplates is his design for a Dublin memorial to Irish radicals of 100 years earlier. An estimated 15,000 to 25,000 men lost their lives in the failed uprising of 1798. The memorial commission fell through due to political opposition. Ireland was ruled directly from London until 1922. Cassidy also sculpted the Bristol statue of slave trader Edward Colston (1636-1721), recently pulled down by Black Lives Matter protestors. Purchased 1928.83