We next find Mr Hogan engaged on a second work for our city—the Pieta, or figures of the Virgin and the Redeemer, of colossal size, executed in plaster for the Rev. Dr Flanagan, Roman Catholic Rector of the chapel in Francis Street, which it now adorns. Of this work, an engraving, with a masterly description and eulogium from the pen of the Marchese Melchiori, a great authority in matters of critical taste in the fine arts, has been published in the Ape Italiana—a work of the highest authority, published monthly in Rome; and we should state for the honour of our country, that our own Hogan and the sculptor Gibson are the only British artists whose works have as yet found a place in it.
Mr Hogan’s subsequent works, exclusive of a number of busts, may now be briefly enumerated. First, a marble figure of the late Archbishop of Paris, about two and a half feet high, executed for the Lord de Clifford; second, the Judgment of Paris—two figures in marble about the same height as the last—for General Sir James Riall, an Irish baronet resident in Bath; third, a monumental alto relievo to the memory of Miss Farrell of Dublin, executed for her mother, and considered by Gibson as the best of all our sculptor’s works; fourth, a Genio on a sarcophagus, a monument for the family of the late Mr Murphy of Cork; and, lastly, the Monument to Dr Doyle, on which we have now to utter a few remarks.
Of the general design of this noble monument our prefixed illustration will afford a tolerably correct idea; but it would require more than one illustration of this kind to convey an adequate notion of its various beauties and merits, for there is scarcely a point in which it can be viewed in which it is not equally effective and striking. The subject, as a sculptural one should be, is of the most extreme simplicity, and yet of the most impressive interest—a Christian prelate in the act of offering up a last appeal to heaven for the regeneration of his country, which is personified by a beautiful female figure, who is represented in an attitude of dejection at his side. In this combination of the real and the allegorical there is nothing obscure or unintelligible even to the most illiterate mind. In the figure of the prostrate female we recognise at a glance the attributes of our country, and there existed no necessity for the name “Erin,” inserted in very questionable taste upon her zone, to determine her character. She is represented as resting on one knee, her body bent and humbled, yet in her majestic form retaining a fullness of beauty and dignity of character; her turret-crowned head resting on one arm, while the other, with an expression of melancholy abandonment, reclines on and sustains her ancient harp. In the male figure which stands beside her in an attitude of the most unaffected grace and dignity, we see a personification of the sublime in the Episcopal character. He stands erect, his enthusiastic and deeply intellectual countenance directed upwards imploringly, while with one hand he touches with delicate affection his earthly mistress, and with the other, stretched forth with passionate devotion, he appeals to heaven for her protection. This is true and enduring poetry; and, as expressive of the sentiment of religious patriotism unalloyed by any selfish consideration, is far superior to the thought which Moore has so exquisitely expressed in the well-known lines—
“In my last humble prayer to the spirit above,
Thy name shall be mingled with mine!”
Such is the touching poetical sentiment embodied in this work, which, considered merely as a work of art, has merits above all praise. In the beauty of its forms, its classical purity of design, its simplicity and freedom from affectation or mannerism, its exquisite finish and characteristic execution, and its pervading grace, truth, and naturalness, it is beyond question the finest production of art in monumental sculpture that Irish genius has hitherto achieved; and, taken all and all, is, as we honestly believe, without a rival in any work of the same class in the British empire.
We regret to have to state that Mr Hogan is, as we are informed, as yet unpaid for this great national work, or that at least there is more than a moiety of the sum agreed for, which was one thousand pounds, remaining due to him. But surely his country, which has the deepest interest in sustaining him in his career of glory, will not suffer him to depart from her shores without fulfilling her part of a compact with one who has so nobly completed his. We cannot believe it.
It will be seen by a retrospective glance at the details which we have given of Mr Hogan’s labours during the past seventeen years in which he has been toiling as a professional artist, that those labours have been any thing but commensurately rewarded; they have indeed been barely sufficient to enable him to sustain existence. But brighter prospects are opening upon him for the future. His character as a sculptor is now established beyond the possibility of controversy. His merits have been recently recognised and honoured by the highest tribunal in the City of the Arts with a tribute of approbation never before bestowed on a native of the British Isles: he has been elected unanimously, and without any solicitation or anticipation on his part, a member of the oldest Academy of the Fine Arts in Europe—that which enrolled amongst its members the divine Raphael, and all the other illustrious artists of the age of Leo, and which holds its meetings upon their graves—the Academy of the Virtuosi del Pantheon. His fellow-countrymen are also beginning to have a just appreciation of his merits, and are coming forward nobly to supply him with employment for future years; and when he returns to his Roman studio, it will be to labour on works worthy of his country’s liberality, and calculated to raise her fame amongst the civilized nations of the world. Need we add, that he has our most ardent wishes for his future success and happiness!
P.
For the satisfaction of our readers we are induced to append to the preceding notice of Mr Hogan the following list of some of the principal commissions which he has recently received in Ireland;—