Mary Redmond

Who was Mary Redmond?

Mary Redmond was an Irish sculptor born in Nenagh, County Tipperary in 1863, and then raised in Ardclough, County Kildare, where her father came to work in the limestone quarries.

At school in Ardclough 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. According to Nora J Murray’s article in Capuchin Annual the male model for the Father Mathew statue took the concept of getting plastered a little too far, was dismissed for drunkenness and was later convicted for vandalising her work.

Amongst her other works were a bust of Gladstone, modelled at his home; a bust of Dwyer Grey a presentation shield to Lord Wolseley and a memorial bust of William Martin.

She moved to Italy and died in Florence on 16 January 1930.