Editing Patrick MacDowell

{{Short description|Belfast-born British sculptor}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
[[File:Patrick_Macdowell.jpg|thumb|c. 1863]]
'''Patrick MacDowell''' {{Post-nominals|country=GBR|RA}} (12 August 1799 &ndash; 9 December 1870) was a [[Belfast]]-born British sculptor operating through the 19th century.<ref>W G Strickland, ''Dictionary of Irish Artists'', (1913); [[Rupert Gunnis]], ''[[Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660–1851]]'' (1953); Homan Potterton, ''Irish Church Monuments, 1570-1880'' (Belfast 1975).</ref>

==Life==
MacDowell was born in Belfast in 1799. His father died whilst he was young and the family lived in relative poverty.
[[Image:Daydream-Patrick-MacDowell.jpg|thumb|right|''Daydream'', 1853, [[Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek]], [[Copenhagen]]]]
[[File:Sir Edward Pellew by Patrick MacDowell, 1846, Greenwich Maritime Museum, London.jpg|thumb|Sir Edward Pellew by Patrick MacDowell, 1846, [[Greenwich Maritime Museum]], London (close-up)]]
[[File:Patrick MacDowell RA Wood Lane.jpg|thumb|Grave of Patrick MacDowell in [[Highgate Cemetery]]]]

From 1807 to 1811 he boarded at a school in Belfast, run by an engraver named Gordon, who encouraged his attempts at drawing, and from 1811 to 1813 he was under the tuition of a clergyman in Hampshire. {{sfn|Graves|1893}}

Around 1811 he moved with his mother to [[Hampshire]] in [[England]], where they had relatives. In 1813, aged 14 (the then standard age to begin apprenticeships), he was apprenticed to a coach-builder in [[London]]. However, his master went bankrupt and his training as a coach-builder ended abruptly.<ref>Dictionary of British Sculptors, 1660-1851, Rupert Gunnis</ref> During this time he was lodging in the house of [[Pierre Francois Chenu]], the sculptor. It is presumed that this engendered an interest in sculpture within the young MacDowell.

On the recommendation of [[John Constable]] the painter, he went to the [[Royal Academy]] Schools and he exhibited at the Academy from 1822 until his death.

He was elected a Member on 10 February 1846 and presented as his diploma work a "Nymph.".<ref>[http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXACTION_=file&_IXFILE_=templates/full/person.html&_IXTRAIL_=Academicians&person=5782 Royal Academy of Arts website]</ref>

== Death ==
MacDowell died at his home in Wood Lane, [[Highgate]], London on 9 December 1870 and was buried on the eastern side of [[Highgate Cemetery]]. His gravestone incorrectly records the year of his death as 1871, not 1870.{{sfn|Graves|1893}}

==Other works==
MacDowell's works include a statue of [[Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Astrop|Sir William Brown]] in the Great Hall of [[St George's Hall, Liverpool]].<ref>Sharples, Joseph; Pollard, Richard. ''Liverpool.'' In {{cite book | last =Pollard| first =Richard |author2=Nikolaus Pevsner |author2-link=Nikolaus Pevsner | title =The Buildings of England: Lancashire: Liverpool and the South-West | publisher =[[Yale University Press]] | year =2006 | location =New Haven & London | isbn =0-300-10910-5 | page =296 }}</ref>  His life-size memorial, in marble, to the young Earl of Belfast (died 1853) showing the deceased on his deathbed attended by his mother, was in Belfast Castle Chapel. It was moved to Belfast City Hall.

A statue of Sir [[Edward Pellew, 1st Viscount Exmouth]] by MacDowell stands in the centre of the [[Greenwich Maritime Museum]].

His last major work was the ''Europe'' allegorical group at the [[Albert Memorial]] in [[London]].

*Monument to Catherine Spurway at [[Milverton, Somerset]] (1845)
*Statue of the [[Earl of Warren]] in the [[House of Lords]] (1850)
*Statue of [[Almeric]] in the [[House of Lords]] (1850)
*Statue at the grave of [[J. M. W. Turner|William Turner]] in [[St Paul's Cathedral]] (1851)
*Monument to the Marchioness of Donegal in [[Belfast Castle]] Chapel (1855)
*Statue of the [[Earl of Belfast]] in Belfast Free Library (1855)
*Statue of [[William Pitt the Younger]] in the [[Palace of Westminster]] (1857)
*Statue of the [[Earl of Chatham]] in the [[Palace of Westminster]] (1857)
*Statue of [[John Fitzgibbon, 2nd Earl of Clare|Viscount Fitzgibbon]] in Limerick (1858) replaced in 1916 by a monument to the [[Easter Uprising]]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/21512012/limerick-1916-memorial-sarsfield-bridge-limerick-limerick-city | title=Limerick 1916 Memorial, Sarsfield Bridge, LIMERICK MUNICIPAL BOROUGH, Limerick, LIMERICK }}</ref>
*Statue of [[Sir William Brown, 1st Baronet, of Richmond Hill|Sir William Brown]] at [[St George's Hall, Liverpool]] (1858)
*Statue of [[Lord Plunket]] in the Four Courts, [[Dublin]] (1863)
*Statue of [[Earl of Eglinton]] for [[St Stephen's Green]] in [[Dublin]] (1866), blown up by the IRA in 1958<ref>{{cite web |title=CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST STEPHEN'S GREEN, STATUE OF EARL OF EGLINTON Dictionary of Irish Architects - |url=https://www.dia.ie/works/view/38631/building/CO.+DUBLIN%2C+DUBLIN%2C+ST+STEPHEN%27S+GREEN%2C+STATUE+OF+EARL+OF+EGLINTON |website=www.dia.ie |access-date=13 September 2023}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Northern Irish artists]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}
;Attribution
{{DNB|wstitle=MacDowell, Patrick |first=Robert Edmund|last=Graves|volume=35}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Patrick MacDowell}}

*[http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/speel/sculpt/mcdowell.htm Patrick MacDowell Info & Sculpture]
*[https://archive.org/stream/DictionaryOfNationalBiographyVolume35#page/n77/mode/2up '''MACDOWELL''', PATRICK] In: Dictionary of National Biography, 1893, volume= 35 - pages=pages 66–67

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdowell, Patrick}}
[[Category:1799 births]]
[[Category:1870 deaths]]
[[Category:Burials at Highgate Cemetery]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]
[[Category:British sculptors]]
[[Category:Artists from Belfast]]
[[Category:British male sculptors]]