Sarah Henrietta Purser
, Irish, 1848-1943
Title
Cormac of Cashel, Saint Patrick's Cathedral, County DublinDatec.1906
MediumInk, graphite and watercolour on card
Dimensions
48.5 x 18 cm
Credit LinePresented, Mr P. Pollen, 1966
Object numberNGI.18462
DescriptionBy her own admission, Purser was not a stained glass artist. She had no formal instruction
in the craft and her designs were mostly
executed by other artists in the studio. Purser
herself claimed that her only output was St
Brendan (c.1904) ‘a tiny window in the porch
at Loughrea, something in the nature of a
curiosity’. The pale, decorative quarries and
pre-Raphaelite treatment of Cormac of Cashel
reveal the influence of A.E. Child, who painted
Purser’s design for St Patrick’s Cathedral.
Inscriptionlower centre: St Cormac of Cashel/ King Bishop of Warriors/ AD 908/ virtutes namul censu/ ? Proemium
Exhibition HistorySarah Purser: Artist, Activist, Collector, The Hugh Lane Gallery, Dublin, 10 July 2024 - 05 January 2025