Slane artist Cassidy was a genius
TWO oil paintings which are well known to those who frequent the Chamber of Drogheda Corporation and have a special signifcance, were painted by Mr. John Cassidy, a native of Slane.
One of these “A Street Scene in Drogheda 1880,” which was presented to Drogheda Corporation by Mr. J. P. Connolly in memory of his brother, J. B. Connolly, Town Clerk of Drogheda, is particularly interesting.
It features Donegan, the poet or Hedge School Master; Delaney, concertino player; Mrs. McGrath, known as Kate the Navvy; Lady in Blue, Miss Plunkett ; Patrick Watters, postman, and John Whearty, White Horse Hotel bus driver.
The location of the painting is the end of Duke Street where Kate the Navvy, whose name was derived from the fact that her husband was a navvy employed on the building of the viaduct hawked goods. The story goes that some time afterwards when stores were being taken from the quarries at Killineer, the horse drawing the cart bolted and the shaft killed Kate. Some of the descendants of the people portrayed in this picture still reside around Drogheda.
The second picture is “The Wooden House,” which was donated by R. B. Davis, Esq., late of West Street. This depicts the house erected in 1570 on the corner of Shop Street and Laurence Street, where Mr. Freeman conducts his business.
Cassidy left his father’s small farm in Slane in 1876 to serve his apprenticeship in the White Horse Hotel as a bar assistant.
While serving his time he filled in his spare moments etching. The late Mr. R. B. Davis, a member of Drogheda’s oldest drapery business encouraged Cassidy to go to a position in Dublin, and attend art school. Later he went to Milan. Cassidy became an outstanding canvas painter of talent and taste and a sculptor of the highest order He died in 1939.
A Past President of the Artists Association in Manchester, where his paintings and splendid sculptor work are in view in the museums and Parks. They include a bust of Francis Lcdwidge.