Godfrey Sykes

Born 1824
Died 28 February 1866

Active: 1840 - 1866

Country of birth and death: England

Designer, metal worker, sculptor, painter

Born in New Malton, Yorkshire. He was apprenticed to the Sheffield engraver, James Bell and then worked for himself designing showcards and silverware, mostly for the firm of Edward Atkin in Sheffield. From 1843 he studied at the newly founded Sheffield School of Design, where he won prizes two years in succession (1847-48) and then the Overend Prize for a design for bronze gates for a School of Art in 1853. On completion of his studies (date uncertain) Sykes became a teacher at the school and then, before 1857, the assistant master. In the same period he established himself as a painter. There are forty-two paintings by Sykes in UK public collections (see BBC Your Paintings), his early works were landscapes and genre paintings, the later works are designs for decorative schemes.

Sykes came under the influence of Alfred Stevens (1850-51) and is said to have worked for Hoole & Co for no pay in order to see his mentor at work. A rare example of Sykes' metal work from this period is a tobacco jar (among known examples of this, one is in Sheffield Museums and another is in the V&A). It appears this work was produced independently as Sykes has not been linked to any firm making metalwork.

In 1854 he received his first major commission for a decorative scheme - a sixty foot frieze allegorizing the arts and crafts for the front of the balcony of the lecture theatre at the Mechanics' Institute (now in Sheffield Museums). This was followed by a second commission for the ceiling of the Telegraphic News Room Ceiling, Sheffield, completed c.1856 (known from a drawing in Sheffield Museums).

Other projects followed. Then in October 1859, at the invitation of Henry Cole who had sought recommendations from the Master of Sheffield School of Art, Young Mitchell, Sykes moved to London to work on the Royal Horticultural Society's new buildings. Later, Cole appointed Sykes to work on the new South Kensington Museum under Francis Fowke. Sykes invited two fellow students from Sheffield, Reuben Townroe and James Gamble to works as his assistants. Over the next seven years, Sykes developed important decorative schemes, both pictorial and modelled, for the V&A. He also prepared a series of heraldic designs for terracotta embellishments to the Royal Albert Hall. He died, aged forty-one, at his home, 2 Richmond Terrace, Old Brompton, Middlesex before any of the schemes were completed.

This record includes information from '1850-1875: Art and Industry in Sheffield: Alfred Stevens and his School', essay by Michael Diamond, Sheffield City Art Galleries (now Sheffield Museums), Sheffield, 1976; from BBC Your Paintings: http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/artists/godfrey-sykes; and from the V&A Collections website, search term: 'Godfrey Sykes' (accessed 8 December 2012)

Wealth at death: £2,000 0s. 0d.
Effects under £2,000
Probate date: 29 March 1866

Citing this record

'Godfrey Sykes', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=ann_1279911174, accessed 08 Jun 2023]