Re: Re: bronze statues
Especially their ban on motorised traffic and all forms of cluttering life generally : )
Well Grattan and Moore have both been unveiled in a remarkably short space of time. Their hoarding was erected in mid-October, and not even two weeks later it was back down again as of last weekend. It’s great to see DCC being so proactive with the city’s monuments, even with secondary statues like Moore, and Sheehan on Burgh Quay. Though to be honest it seems more a case of urgency at this stage: it’s been noted by bronze conservators that these ought to have been done years ago, and should be constantly maintained on an annual basis, and indeed more often for bird detritus. Both this and the chemical build-up on bronze in particular is quite damaging, and needs to be regularly addressed. Hopefully DCC have comitted to this. Impressively O’Connell is certainly being tended to, so top marks on that front.
Anyway, Grattan in his cleaned glory.
Suffice to say this gracious statue was sculpted by John Henry Foley, and erected in 1876. Apparently this site was originally intended for the Prince Albert Memorial, but was later reserved for Grattan, with Albert ending up in the RDS grounds of Leinster House.
The execution of clothing and attention to facial detail is so characteristic of Foley’s work. Like the monuments of O’Connell Street, he now has a lusciously silky black finish.
The blue limestone plinth was also cleaned. Alas already it has already suffered the joys of urban ‘juice’.
Surely the most elegant plinth in the city – it’s beautifully proportioned and refinely detailed.
The cracking has been largely left as t was. This plinth was ambitiously built with an enormous single piece of solid limestone as the centrepiece (as was the capping stone). As a result the bedding layers are becoming more evident as time goes on. Not much that can be done.
The text was also repainted. I don’t think it was painted before the restoration, but it possibly was originally.
All of the joints have been finely repointed with lime mortar.
A fitting job.
Next let’s see the trees come down, lamppost reinstatement and restoration (this time not including CFL bulbs please), and oh, an entire regeneration of College Green please!
