Daniel Chester French: The John Boyle O'Reilly

"John Boyle O'Reilly Memorial" by Daniel Chester French

"One of those winters, Mr. French was making the John Boyle O'Reilly for the Back Bay in Boston. It was a large group, and he had already devoted himself to it for a couple of years, but he called me into the studio one day and said with a few anxious wrinkles in his forehead:

'Mary, I left this group here last spring on purpose so that I shouldn't see it for six months and could come back to it with a fresh eye, and now what should you think' - he gazed at me with a still more troubled expression - 'if I told you that I was going to pull it to pieces and make it over, more like the original sketch? We may not have much to eat for a while' - which was, of course, only a figure of speech - 'but I know I can better it, and I really don't see what else I can do.'

So we studied it carefully - I had always liked the sketch better myself - and that winter was devoted to getting into something that he felt he had missed in his previous year's work. Of course, all artists do that kind of thing, and having an artist for a husband and cousin, I was quite used to the idea.'"*

"John Boyle O'Reilly was an Irishman, who had agitated, sometimes violently, for Irish independence in the old country. He had been captured, tried for treason, and exiled to remote Western Australia. From there he had escaped and come to Boston, where he resumed his campaign for a free Ireland. He also quickly rose to prominence, writing for, and later running, the Catholic Newspaper, the 'Pilot,' and published half a dozen books of fiction and poetry. Sadly, he died young in 1890 after accidentally ingesting an overdose of his ailing wife's sleeping potion, and quickly became a legend. His passing unleashed an outpouring of grief which resulted in a campaign to raise fifty thousand dollars to fund a statue in his honor. His admirers invited French to design and execute 'a suitable memorial to the genius and manhood of John Boyle O'Reilly.'

"French proposed a larger-than-life bronze bust of the thickly mustachioed O'Reilly set against a richly carved granite stele. For the opposite side, against a similar backdrop, he would install a trio of allegorical statues in tribute to O'Reilly's virtues. A draped, hooded, and enthroned central figure would represent Erin, the personification of Ireland, her head downcast in mourning, weaving a wreath of shamrock for the fallen hero. She would be surrounded by statues representing 'Patriotism,' a Celtic warrior clutching a sword in one hand and an oak leaf - the symbol of strength - in the other; and the seminude, winged figure of 'Poetry' offering laurel - the ancient reward to poets. 

 Dedication day for the finished bronze was scheduled for June 20, 1896. With outgoing Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson I in attendance and Daniel Chester French looking on, the presentation exercises drew a large throng to witness a program of prayers, orations, and music. Toward the conclusion of the ceremonies, a male chorus sang out the words of 'Forever,' one of O'Reilly's beloved poems, aptly beginning with: 'Those we love truly never, never die.' As its final verse floated into the air, the Irish martyr's daughter tugged at a cord, releasing the veils, and revealing the striking memorial to the appreciative crowd."**

To be continued

(*Excerpts from "Memories of a Sculptor's Wife" by Mary Adams French.
**Excerpts from "Monument Man: The Life & Art of Daniel Chester French" by Harold Holzer.)