Oscar Wilde Dublin

Oscar Wilde Dublin

Merrion Sq West, Dublin, Co. Dublin, Ireland

The Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture is a collection of three statues in Merrion Square in Dublin, Ireland, commemorating Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde. The sculptures were unveiled in 1997 and were designed and made by Danny Osborne.  English sculptor Danny Osborne was commissioned by the Guinness Ireland Group to create a statue commemorating Oscar Wilde, which was unveiled in 1997, by Wilde’s grandson Merlin Holland. Since marble alone was deemed inadequate, the statue was formed from different coloured stones from three continents.  Wilde’s wedding ring and two scarabs, one for good luck, the other for bad luck. The statue is mounted with Wilde reclining on a large quartz boulder obtained by Osborne himself from the Wicklow Mountains The inscriptions of the quotes copy the personal handwriting of figures including Seamus Heaney, John B. Keane and Michael D. Higgins. Three people, living at the time near to the artist’s West Cork studio, posed as models for the three sculptures. When the statue was unveiled in 1997, it was the first statue commemorating Wilde, who had died 97 years earlier. It received near unanimous praise for the materials used and for its location near his childhood home at 1, Merrion Square. In 2010, the porcelain head of Wilde had to be replaced because cracks were forming on it. The porcelain head was replaced by a new one made of white jadeite.

Actor: Andrew Scott
Written by: John Banville
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