Description:
Theobald Mathew or Father Matthew (1790-1856) was a Catholic teetotal campaigner, whose missionary work in the 1840s was particularly influential in Ireland. However, it has been speculated that this print was created around the time of his trip to London in 1843, where, as an adherent of the ‘Temperance Movement,’ he preached abstinence to thousands of followers, and was granted a pension by Queen Victoria. In 1849 he traveled to the United States, and in 1851 he returned to Ireland, where he had enjoyed his greatest (if impermanent) success. Staffordshire porcelain figure of Father[Theobald] Matthew, circa 1843-45. With cropped black hair, wearing a white shirt, a gilt-edged dark green greatcoat and black boots, modeled with his right hand raised in blessing, and his left on his left hip, standing on a circular base enriched at the front with a gilt line. 5 in. h. See also HD 2021.33.12 for a Father Matthew children's plate. Condition: Some enamel chips on his boots, and the footrim of the with a small firing crack and a small spot of discoloration.
Tags:
priests; activists; temperance; historical figures Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+2021.33.13 |
