Patrick MacDowell RA
Other names: M'Dowell
Born 12 August 1799
Died 9 December 1870
Active: 1830 - 1870
Country of birth: Ireland
Country of death: England
Sculptor
Born in Belfast. In 1807 MacDowell studied at a school run by an engraver called Gordon in Belfast who encouraged his interest in drawing. Forced to take up a trade by his family, MacDowell served over four years of an apprenticeship as a coach builder.
He later became a pupil of Frances Chenu where he began to practise modelling. In (1830-32) he entered the Royal Academy Schools on the recommendation of John Constable.
MacDowell established a flourishing practice completing many ideal works and portrait busts (see Roscoe, 2009, for detailed list). His most eminent patrons were Sir James Emmerson Tennant, MP for Belfast and Sir Thomas Wentworth Beaumont, MP for Northumberland. MacDowell died at his home in Wood Lane, Highgate, London.
Wealth at death: £300 0s. 0d.
Effects under this amount
Probate date: 21 January 1871
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Sketch Design for a Statue of Leah
Early Sorrow
1851
Early Sorrow
1853
Exhibited 'Early Sorrow' at the Exhibition of Art-Industry in Ireland, 1853.
Locations
Address 75A Margaret Street Cavendish Square London | View on map
1838 (Circa) - 1870 (Circa)
Address Wood Lane Hornsey London | View on map
1851 - 1870
Living on his own in a genteel neighborhood with professional neighbours.
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1863
'Marble Statue of the late Lord Plunket'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of Art-Industry in Dublin, 1853
Multiple works
Exhibited at National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868
'Nymph'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.54
Exhibited at The National Exhibition, Cork, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1822 - 1870
Exhibited 39 times (18 times from 1851), 79 works in all.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Exhibition committee member for The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Ninety-Seventh, 1865
1865 (Presumed)
Appointed to the Committee of Arrangement for sculpture. See Royal Academy 'Annual Report', 1967, p. 14.
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
1 November 1841 - 10 February 1846
Elected RA in 1846.
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
10 February 1846 - 11 November 1870
Retired in 1870.
Member of Leeds Academy of Arts
Macdowell was an honorary member
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
1852 - 1861 (Circa)
Founder member
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
1864 - 1865
Served as a Member of the Council in 1864 and retired at the end of 1865. See the Royal Academy 'Annual Reports'.
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
14 June 1830 - 1841
Elected A.R.A. in 1841. Start date is given in Popp and Valentine, 'Royal Academy of Arts Directory of Membership', (1996), p. 78.
Visitor at Royal Academy Schools
1863 - 1868
Listed as a sculptor visitor to the Life School in the years 1863 and 1868. See the Royal Academy 'Annual Reports'.
Personal and Professional Connections
Employed as studio assistant Samuel Ferres Lynn
Employed as studio assistant Joseph Edwards
1838
Edwards assisted MacDowell in making the ‘Triumph of Love’ and ‘Virginius’
Nominator of John Lawlor
24 May 1867
For RA; unsuccessful.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
p. 1365
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Sculptor'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Sculptor'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 781-5
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
p. 4
Catalogue of the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds 1868
1868
Cat. No. 626, p. 204
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2004
Class: HO107; Piece: 1702; Folio: 162; Page: 17; GSU roll: 193610
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2004
Class: RG 9; Piece: 792; Folio: 106; Page: 15; GSU roll: 542701
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Patrick Mac Dowell
Probate Date: 21 Jan 1871
Death Date: 9 Dec 1870
Death Place: Middlesex, England
Registry: Principal Registry
Illustrated Catalogue of the Exhibition of Art Industry in Dublin, 1853.
1853
Exhibited 'Early Sorrow' at the Exhibition of Art-Industry in Ireland, 1853.
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1851
p. 1365
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1868.
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Catalogue of the Thirty-Fifth Exhibition, 1863
1863
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv
The Builder, Vol. XI, No. 531, 9 April 1853
9 April 1853
p. 228
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
p. 64
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
1852
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.54
Citing this record
'Patrick MacDowell RA', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib2_1202171401, accessed 25 Mar 2023]
