Oscar Wilde (1854-1900), playwright, poet, and prose writer, was born in Dublin and spent his childhood living at 1 Merrion Square – not far from here. He attended Oxford University on a scholarship before gaining popularity as a critic, wit, and charming personality in London. His gothic novel The Picture of Dorian Gray features a magic portrait that ages and decays in place of its amoral protagonist. The novel contains coded references to homosexuality, and welcwas used as evidence against Wilde when he was tried for gross indecency in 1895. Wilde was found guilty, and was sentenced to two years’ penal servitude. Socially ostracised and physically broken, he moved to France after his release. He died in Paris in 1900, and was buried there in Père Lachaise Cemetery.
