| Collection Description | Hugh Lane and Sarah Cecilia Harrison were friends for a number of years. It is not known exactly when they met, but
they had similar Irish backgrounds and artistic friends. It is possible they knew of each other from 1901. They met and
corresponded frequently. Harrison was instrumental in helping Lane establish and run the Municipal Gallery of Modern
Art. She was on the committee for the gallery, wrote the 1908 catalogue for the Municipal Gallery for Modern Art,
offered to give money to help keep it open and updated Lane on what was happening in Dublin while he lived in
London. Sarah Cecilia Harrison (1863-1941) came from a political Protestant family background in Co Derry. She was
a talented portrait painter who studied under Alphonse Legros and was committed to social reform. She was the first
female councillor, and served in Dublin Corporation to help the unemployed and those living in tenements. She painted
many of the leading individuals in Irish society such as Michael Collins, George Moore, Alderman Kelly and Hugh
Lane. She was a suffragist and became close friends with Mr and Mrs Thomas Haslam who were key founders of the
women’s right to vote movement in the United Kingdom. Her epitaph reads, ‘Artist and Friend of the Poor’. This
collection is composed of two series: letters from Hugh Lane to Sarah Cecilia Harrison from 1905 to 1915, and
documentation compiled by Harrison after the death of Lane concerning his will and codicil. The original chronological
order has been kept [NGI]. |
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