Patrick Cunningham, Irish, d.1774
Title: Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Satirist and Dean of Saint Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin
Date: c.1766
Medium: Marble
Dimensions:
60 x 21.5 x 22 cm
Credit Line: Purchased, 1901
Object Number: NGI.8026
DescriptionDublin-born Jonathan Swift was the most celebrated dean of the city’s St Patrick’s Cathedral but is perhaps better known as a poet, satirist and political writer. He held highly controversial views on Irish issues, notably advocating, by means of pamphlets, a boycott of English goods. Elsewhere, he attacked English misgovernment of Ireland and exploitative and absentee landlordism. His best known publication remains Gulliver’s Travels (1726), in which he satirises contemporary politics, religion and literature.
It is a testament to Swift’s standing in Irish cultural history and to the distinctiveness of his features that he remains such a recognisable figure in art. The absence of wig or slouch cap (in which he more commonly appears in paintings) does not render his face in Cunningham’s strikingly naturalistic bust any less familiar. Cunningham himself would have relied on pictorial, verbal and literary descriptions when executing this posthumous likeness.
March 2016
It is a testament to Swift’s standing in Irish cultural history and to the distinctiveness of his features that he remains such a recognisable figure in art. The absence of wig or slouch cap (in which he more commonly appears in paintings) does not render his face in Cunningham’s strikingly naturalistic bust any less familiar. Cunningham himself would have relied on pictorial, verbal and literary descriptions when executing this posthumous likeness.
March 2016
ProvenancePurchased, Miss A.L. Cousins, London, 1901
Exhibition HistorySociety of Artists 1766-1780, Irish Georgian Society, Dublin, 16 June - 29 July 2018
Label TextDublin-born Jonathan Swift was the most celebrated dean of the city's St Patrick's Cathedral, but is perhaps better known as a poet, satirist and political writer. He held controversial views on Irish issues, advocating a boycott of English goods, and attacking English misgovernment of Ireland and absentee landlordism. In his best known publication Gulliver's Travels (1726), he satirises contemporary politics, religion and literature. It is a testament to Swift’s standing in Irish cultural history and to the distinctiveness of his features that his face in Cunningham’s strikingly naturalistic, but posthumous, bust is so familiar.