CAG.0695 Michael Thomas Murphy, Denny Lane, 1897, marble, 61 x 46 x 22 cm.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

Denny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes… Not quite The Beatles lyric we remember, but apt for this marble portrait of the Irish nationalist, writer, and businessman who was born in Cork on this day in 1818.

Denny Lane (1897) by Michael Thomas Murphy captures some of ‘the frank, hearty, honest air’ which, according to the writer Thomas Carlyle, characterised this posthumous portrait’s subject. The sculptor also describes Lane’s genial expression and rather fine ‘flapwings’ beard, complete with bare chin, which was highly fashionable amongst men of the period.

Denny Lane (1818-1895) is best known today as the writer of the song “Carrigdhoun (The Lament of the Irish Maiden)”. A Catholic, he graduated from Trinity College Dublin where he befriended Thomas Davis and Charles Gavan Duffy. His writings were published in The Nation and, following the Young Irelander Rebellion (1848), he was interned at Cork City Gaol. He was also an industrialist and involved in the railways of Cork, as well as the city’s various societies. He lived at 72 South Mall, where he died on 29 November 1895.

Born in Bantry, Michael Thomas Murphy (1857-1936) studied at Crawford Municipal School of Art when it operated at Emmet Place. In 1887, having received a grant of £50, he moved to London and subsequently exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts. Emigrating to Chicago in 1912, he was to exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago on five occasions. During his career, he made portraits of Queen Mary, Timothy Daniel Sullivan, and Archbishop George W. Mundelein.

For his 205th anniversary, come face to face with Denny Lane (1897) by Michael Thomas Murphy in our Sculpture Galleries.

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. You can listen back to this week’s chat here:

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