Max Martin Archbishop Mannix

This portrait by Max Martin of Daniel Mannix (1864–1963) is now in the collection of State Library Victoria with the title Portrait of Archbishop Mannix.

Mannix was the Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne from 1917 to 1963 and one of Australia’s most famous ecclesiastics, who controversially mixed the volatile ingredients of religion and politics.

A gifted orator, the Irish-born clergyman arrived in Melbourne in 1913 and became one of the most influential public figures in 20th-century Australia. Mannix was staunchly anti-conscription, pro-Irish-republicanism and supported trade unionism, bringing him into direct conflict with Australia’s Protestant majority. He was an Archibald subject on six occasions, including portrayals by John Longstaff (1935), Clifton Pugh (1962) and this work by little-known artist James Patrick ‘Max’ Martin, painted a decade before Mannix’s death, aged 99.

Martin studied briefly in Melbourne before travelling to England in 1913 where he achieved remarkable success at London’s Royal Academy and the Paris Salon in the 1920s, then disappeared from the spotlight, becoming a music hall entertainer and scenery painter. Martin returned to Australia in 1948.

The reverse of this two-sided work depicts the flagellation of Christ at the hands of the Romans.