[5] At the age of fourteen, Hogan was placed as clerk to an attorney, where he spent much of his time carving figures in wood.

For the next three years, Hogan attended lectures on anatomy, copied casts of classic statuary in the Gallery of the Cork Society of Arts, and made anatomical studies in wood of feet, hands, and legs.

[5] In 1821, Hogan carved twenty-seven statues in wood for the North Chapel in Cork for the reredos behind the high altar.

[citation needed] In 1823, the engraver William Paulet Carey visited Cork, and impressed with Hogan's talent began to publicise his work in order to raise subscriptions for him to study in Italy.

[citation needed] Hogan's best known work and masterpiece are the three versions of the statue of The Dead Christ or The Redeemer in Death.

Hogan assured his international reputation in 1829 with The Dead Christ; thereafter, his creations were snapped up by Irish bishops visiting his Rome studio.

The statue stands today at City Hall Dublin, the same spot where O'Connell gave his first speech against the Act of Union in 1800.

[7] In 1840, a monumental group in memory of Bishop Doyle, founder of Carlow Cathedral was brought to Dublin and exhibited at the Royal Exchange.

[1] With the revolutionary movement growing in Italy during the 1840s, and after spending twenty-four years in Rome, Hogan returned with his family to Ireland in 1848.