Ciarán Rua O’Neill
banner
ciaranruaoneill.bsky.social
Ciarán Rua O’Neill
@ciaranruaoneill.bsky.social
Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at University College Dublin @ucddublin.bsky.social; art historian (C18, C19 art and architecture). Working on ‘Visualising Hibernia’ project.
Pinned
The 19th-cen. Currier & Ives print ‘Emmet’s Betrothed’ portrays Sarah Curran as Hibernia. As I discuss in Classics Ireland 31, this work reflects a wider trend in Irish visual culture to transform women into ‘living allegories’. (Image: Philadelphia Art Museum)
classicsireland.ie/wp-content/u...
Personifying Ireland, Hibernia - or the Maid of Erin - appears on Cork’s National Monument. Unveiled in 1906, the monument honours the Irish rebellions of the 1700s & 1800s. Carved by John F. Davis, Hibernia stands with classic symbols of Irish cultural nationalism: the Gaelic harp and Celtic cross.
November 20, 2025 at 12:29 PM
In 1849, Irish nationalist William Smith O’Brien (1803-64) was deported to Australia to serve a life sentence. After his 1854 pardon, the Irish community there commissioned a gold cup designed by Irish emigrant William Hackett, which shows Hibernia as Liberty crowning O’Brien with a laurel wreath.
November 6, 2025 at 11:45 AM
The 19th-cen. Currier & Ives print ‘Emmet’s Betrothed’ portrays Sarah Curran as Hibernia. As I discuss in Classics Ireland 31, this work reflects a wider trend in Irish visual culture to transform women into ‘living allegories’. (Image: Philadelphia Art Museum)
classicsireland.ie/wp-content/u...
October 30, 2025 at 10:45 AM
Reposted by Ciarán Rua O’Neill
Call for Papers: Association for Art History 2026 Annual Conference

Next year’s Art History conference will be held 8-10 April 2026 in collaboration with the History of Art department at the University of Cambridge. ⬇️
September 29, 2025 at 3:10 PM