JOSEPH ROBINSON KIRK RHA (1921-1894) Bust of a...
JOSEPH ROBINSON KIRK RHA (1921-1894)
Bust of a Gentleman
White statuary marble, 72cm high
Signed and dated 1865
The fifth child and eldest son of sculptor Thomas Kirk and his wife Eliza Robinson, James attended Trinity College Dublin in 1838 at the age of 17, graduating in 1843. During his time in Trinity he exhibited two busts at the 1840 annual exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy. In 1843 he was awarded a prize of five pounds from the Royal Irish Art Union for a study from life figure entitled ‘Andromeda’. Having been commissioned to execute the figure in marble he spent a year studying in Rome, on the generous proceeds.
Strickland notes that Kirk, during his long and productive career, executed not only a great number of portrait busts but also many important public statues and monuments including in Trinity College the four figures of ‘Divinity’, ‘Law’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Science’ on the Campanile. He is also responsible for the bronze bas-relief of the ‘Siege of Seringapatam’ which decorates the base of the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Many of his portrait busts are in institutions such as the Royal College of Surgeons and numerous monuments are in Mount Jerome Cemetery.
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JOSEPH ROBINSON KIRK RHA (1921-1894)
Bust of a Gentleman
White statuary marble, 72cm high
Signed and dated 1865
The fifth child and eldest son of sculptor Thomas Kirk and his wife Eliza Robinson, James attended Trinity College Dublin in 1838 at the age of 17, graduating in 1843. During his time in Trinity he exhibited two busts at the 1840 annual exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy. In 1843 he was awarded a prize of five pounds from the Royal Irish Art Union for a study from life figure entitled ‘Andromeda’. Having been commissioned to execute the figure in marble he spent a year studying in Rome, on the generous proceeds.
Strickland notes that Kirk, during his long and productive career, executed not only a great number of portrait busts but also many important public statues and monuments including in Trinity College the four figures of ‘Divinity’, ‘Law’, ‘Medicine’ and ‘Science’ on the Campanile. He is also responsible for the bronze bas-relief of the ‘Siege of Seringapatam’ which decorates the base of the Wellington Monument in the Phoenix Park in Dublin. Many of his portrait busts are in institutions such as the Royal College of Surgeons and numerous monuments are in Mount Jerome Cemetery.
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Time, Location
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