Sarah Cecilia Harrison

Sarah Cecilia Harrison studied at Slade School of Fine Art. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Work by Sarah Cecilia Harrison is recorded in the collections of National Gallery of Ireland, National Galleries Scotland and Ulster Museum.

• Name — Sarah Cecilia Harrison • Born — 21 June 1863 • Birthplace — Holywood, County Down, Ireland • Place of death — Drumcondra, Dublin, Ireland • Resting Place — Mount Jerome, Dublin • Movement — Modernism • Education — Slade School of Fine Art • Years Active — 1886–1933 • Known for — Painting, Portraits • Family — Henry Harrison (brother) • Illustration — 1890 self-portrait, currently on display in the Hugh Lane Gallery.

Harrison, who went by the name Cecilia, was born to an affluent family in Holywood House, in Holywood, County Down. She was the third child of Letitia (nee Tennent) and landowner Henry Harrison JP (d. 1873). One of her brothers was politician and writer Henry Harrison, a supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell. Her maternal grandfather was Robert James Tennent, a liberal MP for Belfast. She was the great grand-niece of United Irishman and industrialist Henry Joy McCracken and the social reformer and anti-slavery campaigner Mary Ann McCracken. At the age of ten her father died and she and her family relocated to London. Harrison studied at Queen's College, London where she was awarded a silver medal by University College, London, for painting from the antique style. She studied under Alphonse Legros at the Slade School of Fine Art from 1878 to 1885 and won the Slade scholarship. She travelled widely on the continent as part of her studies including Paris, Italy and Amsterdam.

In 1889 Harrison moved to Dublin and established herself as one of Ireland's foremost portrait artists. She submitted 60 paintings to the Royal Hibernian Academy's annual exhibition and numerous other works to the Royal Academy in London during her career. She was an honorary academician of the Royal Ulster Academy of Fine Arts. Harrison's brother, Henry, was a supporter of Charles Stewart Parnell and a Member of Parliament for Mid Tipperary. Harrison herself became the first female city councillor for Dublin Corporation in 1912. She campaigned to have poor relief extended to the able-bodied unemployed and worked to promote women's rights. She was closely involved in Hugh Lane's efforts to establish a gallery of modern art in Dublin. Following Lane's death on the Lusitania in 1915, she claimed that they had been engaged to be married. Her 1914 portrait of Lane is one of her best-known works. Harrison never married. • Illustration — Portrait of Harrison by Antonio Mancini, 1909

For some 30 years Sarah was part of social reform and women's rights in Ireland. In 1912 she was the first woman to be elected to the Dublin City Council. Here she worked closely with Alderman Alfie Byrne. Sarah is also recognised for her prominent place in the suffrage victory procession and escorting Anna Haslam to vote in the Williams Street Courthouse, Dublin, in the 1918 general election

Portrait of Henry Joy McCracken which is shown in the Ulster Museum. Portrait of Hugh Lane. Portrait of Scottish Writer 1897.