This site celebrates the life and work of sculptor John
Cassidy (1860 - 1939).
The John Rylands Library in Deansgate, Manchester (seen above, when new) took nearly ten years to build, starting in 1890 and opening to readers in 1900.
Mrs Enriqueta Augustina Rylands conceived and paid for the Library as a memorial to her husband.
For other Cassidy works in the Library, see:
Enriqueta Rylands
Theology directing the labours of Science and Art.
John Rylands
The John Rylands Library, Manchester
Cassidy created two matching statues, in white Saravezza marble, of John Rylands and Mrs Rylands, which stand guard over the two ends of the Library's Historic Reading Room. John Rylands (1801 - 1888) occupies a prominent position at one end, and Mrs Rylands presides over the other, near to what used to be the Library's service counter. The picture above dates from 2003.
Although the statues appear to match, they were not conceived or commissioned together. John Rylands was commissioned by Mrs Rylands in 1894 as an integral part of the library dedicated to her late husband, and has had pride of place since the building opened in 1900, whilst her own likeness was commissioned by supporters of the Library, and unveiled in December 1907, a few months before her death in 1908.
John Rylands
John Rylands, born near St Helens, Lancashire in 1801, was a wealthy cotton merchant and millowner. He died on 14 December 1888 at his home, Longford Hall in Stretford, leaving his widow Enriqueta a fortune of over two million pounds. She determined to spend much of the money on a library to commemorate her husband and perpetuate his name, which is has done very succesfully.Mrs Rylands is said to have originally envisaged a bust of her husband, to be located in the apse at the end of the library reading room, but later changed her mind and commissioned Cassidy to create a full-length statue: he quoted a price of £1,325, the work to be complete in 15 months. The price would have included the not inconsiderable cost of buying a block of marble and having it transported from Italy. As is customary, a small plaster model was made for approval and amendment, and there was much discussion about the exact location of the statue, which brought forward out of the apse into the main space of the reading room, where it could be better seen and illuminated. It was installed in 1899, on a granite plinth supplied by Patteson's, a Manchester firm of monumental masons at a cost of £100.
The material on this page is included by kind permission of The John Rylands University Library's Publications Officer, Dr. D. Clayton (dorothy.clayton@manchester.ac.uk) and must not be reproduced without permission.