Sarah Cecilia Harrison

Born in County Down, Sarah Cecilia Harrison spent much of her youth and twenties in London, where from 1878 to 1885 she studied at the Slade Art School under the French academic artist Alphonse Legros. She retained her links with Ireland and in the 1880s she made Dublin her home. In 1890 she spent some time in France, first at the artists' colony at Ètaples and then in Brittany where she painted Breton children "en plain air". In Dublin she had a successful portrait practice and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Hibernian Academy from 1889 until 1933. Harrison was a close friend of Hugh Lane whose portrait she painted. She was involved in attempts to buy works from the Staats Forbes Collection for Dublin and compiled the notes for the first catalogue of the Municipal Collection in 1908. In 1912 she was appointed secretary to the committee formed to find a home for the collection and was also involved in fundraising to supplement the Dublin Corporation grant towards the building.

In 1912 she became the first woman to serve on Dublin City Council, devoting much of her time to improving the conditions of the poor. An ardent nationalist and champion of women's rights, she was a regular visitor to Dàil Éireann until about 1960, a year before she died.