St. Patrick’s Purgatory - Artistic Patronage by Clergy in the Twentieth Century

H. B. Colette Pegum
Trinity College Dublin
Department of History of Art and Architecture
2007
BA

Subject: Patronage
Country: Ireland
Period: 20th Century

10,000 words

This dissertation examines the clerical patronage of leading contemporary artists and architects on the Penitential island in Co. Donegal known as St. Patrick’s Purgatory. The author aims to illuminate the influence of the historical importance of the site on the work of the artists in question Two specific periods of patronage are examined, that of the building and decoration of the Basilica of St. Patrick (1925 - 31), and the changes made to the Basilica in the 1980s. The first section of this work discusses the history of the island prior to the twentieth century. The second section examines the work of leading Arts and Crafts Irish artists in the building and decoration of the Basilica, while the third chapter explores the work of contemporary artists in the 1980s within the Basilica.

Irish Georgian Society

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St. Patrick’s Purgatory - Artistic Patronage by Clergy in the Twentieth Century