FROM THE ARCHIVES:Plans to erect a statue to Daniel O'Connell in what later became Dublin's O'Connell Street were, as usual, surrounded by controversy, not least over suggestions that it be done by the Irish-born but London-based John Henry Foley, a leading sculptor of the day who eventually sculpted the monument. In this editorial The Irish Times sided with those who questioned the choice. – JOE JOYCE
A STATUE, or indeed any memorial, ought to serve, not only as a monument to the dead, but as a proof of what the men of the generation in which it was raised could effect in art. It should be, if possible, designed, modelled, chiselled, polished in the city which it is to decorate. We could otherwise proceed to Italy, visit the sculptors’ studios, select that artist who could best express our idea, and import his work, and call that an Irish statue raised to an Irishman. St Patrick’s Cathedral was stone by stone renewed by the hands of Irish masons. After ages will estimate what our native artizans could do. We would look upon the structure with different feelings if it had been rebuilt by English masons, or even by Irishmen who, domiciled and working in England, merely visited the country to occupy a field which should be open to the resident. A sort of fatality seems, in general, to attend proposals for the erection of statues in Dublin. It was designed to erect a memorial to the Earl of Eglinton, and some thousands were collected for the purpose. We have frequently endeavoured to elicit some information respecting this statue, but a dead silence reigns about the project now. This, indeed, cannot be said respecting the statue to O’Connell, for every step taken towards its erection is attended with considerable uproar. A very wide difference of opinion appears to prevail not only within the Committee itself, but among the admirers of O’Connell outside. Some name as the sculptor a native of Ireland of unquestioned talent, but naturalized in London. Others desire that the memorial should be entrusted to the hands of native artists living in Ireland, deriving their inspiration from its air and scenery, and spending in their country what their country is proud to give them. It is clear that if the sculpture of every important public statue is assigned to a resident in London, the sculptors who have their homes here will never have opportunity to display the talents they possess. The chief object of the Committee appointed to erect the statue to O’Connell ought to be to procure the very best and finest statue possible, and that this should be a specimen of the highest art existing in the country where the statue is to be erected. It is not correct to suppose that there is but one Irishman capable of creating a magnificent statue, and that he resides in London. If O’Connell himself could express his opinion on the subject, he would surely prefer that a monument worthy of the place he bears in his country’s history should be entrusted to native artists resident in Ireland.
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