Antonio Mancini
, Italian, 1852-1930
Title
Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941), ArtistDate1907
MediumCharcoal and red conté with white highlights on paper
Dimensions
61 × 47.7 cm
Credit LinePurchased, 1981
Object numberNGI.7933
DescriptionIn 1907, Antonio Mancini, an Italian painter and friend of Hugh Lane, visited Ireland. Thanks to Lane, a prominent art dealer, Mancini was soon enveloped into Dublin’s cultural milieu. He attended performances at the Abbey Theatre and rubbed shoulders with fellow artists. Mancini portrays Sarah Cecilia Harrison, painter and social campaigner, in vivid sweeps of pastel with spirited spontaneity. He must have felt some kinship with Harrison as he selfdeprecatingly notes on the upper left: ‘a bad drawing done on the sly – with the kind Miss Harrison…’(Katie Buckley, Curatorial Fellow - Prints and Drawings, An Artist's Presence, 2025, Print Gallery)
Inscriptionupper right: un brutto disegno fatto sotto sotto - con la gentile Miss Harrison//Dublin 1909 - Mancini
ProvenancePurchased, Private Collection, 1981 Exhibition History1981 Dublin Gorry Gallery Exhibition, May - June 1981
Recent Acquisitions 1980-1981, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, 5 August - 27 September 1981