19th Century Irish School Portrait of Archbishop Thomas G....

Hammer

€3,600

19th Century Irish School

Portrait of Archbishop Thomas G. Croke 1824-1902. O.O.C., 92cms x 76cms (36" x 30") (1)

Set against a grey background, Archbishop Thomas William Croke is depicted dressed in clerical ‘choir dress’— a black wool cassock, trimmed with purple silk. Grey-haired, his expression is severe but not unkindly. The identity of the artist is not known, but this portrait probably dates from the 1880’s, when Croke was Archbishop of Cashel and Emly.

Born in Castlecor, near Kanturk in County Cork, Thomas William Croke was the son of William Croke, agent for the Freeman Estate, and Isabella Plummer. Although William was Catholic, his wife Plummer was Protestant, a descendant of the Knights of Glin, and in 1817 when she married Croke, her parents disowned her. When William died, his brother Thomas took on responsibility for educating the couple’s eight children. Three of the boys entered the priesthood, while two of the girls became nuns. After attending school at Charleville, Thomas William went to Paris to further his studies, and then to the Irish College in Rome, where he was awarded a Doctorate of Divinity. In 1847 he was ordained at Cloyne, Co. Cork, and shortly afterwards was appointed a professor at Carlow College. Eleven years later Croke was made President of St. Colman’s College in Fermoy, and he also served as parish priest of Doneraile. He attended the First Vatican Council in 1870 and that same year was appointed Catholic Bishop of Auckland in New Zealand. Four years later Croke was back in Ireland, serving as Archbishop of Cashel and Emly, and becoming an ardent supporter of the Irish Nationalist movement. However, he was summoned to Rome to be given a dressing-down for his support for Charles Stewart Parnell, and thereafter became less directly involved in politics. He died at the Archbishop’s Palace at Thurles in 1902. A keen supporter of the Gaelic Athletic Association from the outset, Croke Park is named after him.
Dr. Peter Murray, 2023