Irish art alongside masterpieces in Florence
A SCULPTURE of a mother breastfeeding her baby will be the first Irish contemporary work acquired by one of the great museums in Florence, Italy.
It represents a remarkable achievement for its sculptor, Paddy Campbell, who is a former owner of Dublin’s famous Bewley’s Cafe.
The sculpture ‘Mother and Child’ depicts Mr Campbell’s family friend Emily Dawson nursing her newborn daughter Coco 17 years ago.
The work will be inaugurated at Italy’s historic Museo degli Innocenti, home to works by artists such as della Robbia, Botticelli and Ghirlandaio.
Mr Campbell, who began work on the sculpture in Dublin in 2005, said: ‘This is a tremendous honour and so fitting for the beautiful story of Emily and Coco as the Innocenti museum is unique in exhibiting art relating to children. It is part of the oldest public institution in Italy, originally a convento, which had been devoted to the protection of children and their rights for six centuries.’
Ms Dawson, who went to Florence with her daughter to see the sculpture, said: ‘We are immensely proud of this collaboration. Paddy captured our love and eternal bond that words cannot convey.
‘Paddy asked me while I was pregnant if I would be willing to sit for the sculpture once Coco was born. She was just five weeks old when we sat on a makeshift wooden revolving stand as Paddy moulded us over the course of six weeks into a wax model.’
Mr Campbell’s book about the sculpture, Mother and Child – A Secret Hidden In Stone, will be launched in Bewley’s Cafe on Grafton Street on Thursday. Proceeds will go to Unicef.