Muriel Murphy was a nationalist activist. She married Terence MacSwiney, who died on a hunger strike in 1920 as a protest against the validity of the British courts in Ireland. Muriel visited him in Brixton Prison, drawing international attention to his plight. After her husband’s death, she campaigned against the Treaty but eventually left Ireland to pursue her socialist and atheist beliefs. The Widow (Mrs. Terence MacSwiney, Lady Mayoress of Cork, 1920), 1921 Collection Crawford Art Gallery, Cork