John Henry Foley RA, RHA
Born 24 May 1818
Died 27 August 1874
Active: 1851 - 1874
Country of birth: Ireland
Country of death: England
Sculptor
Born in Dublin. He was the son of Jesse Foley, a grocer. Following in his brother Edward's footsteps, he was educated at the Royal Dublin Society's art schools (1831–4) and the Royal Academy Schools, London (1835–8), winning prizes at both institutions. His major achievement was the sculptures for the Albert Memorial (1864–76, Kensington Gardens, London). Foley also made several important works for his native city of Dublin, including the monument to Daniel O'Connell (1864–82, O'Connell Street, Dublin) and a bronze statue of Oliver Goldsmith (1864, Trinity College, Dublin). Died at his home, The Priory, Upper Terrace, Hampstead and was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral, London.
Wealth at death: £14,000 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 23 November 1875
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Marble bust of the Rev. Andrew Reed, DD
Grief
p.59
Equestrian Statue of the late Viscount Hardinge
Lieutenant General Sir J. Outram
Sketch Design for a Statue of Egeria
Equestrian Statue of Lord Hardinge
Group of Ino and the Infant Bacchus
1851
Innocence
1851
The Wanderer
1851
Ino and the infant Bacchus
1851
Innocence
1851
Carved Grief
1853
Innocence
1853
This Innocence exhibited at the Exhibition of Art-Industry in Dublin, in 1853, not at RHA in 1851, but system will not allow drop-down of the 1853 Dublin event.
Ino and Bacchus
1853
Model for statuette of the Hon. Mrs James Stuart Wortley
1855 (Presumed)
Model Statue of Goldsmith
1861
Marble Bust of a Young Girl
1863
Bust of General Sir James Outram
1863 (Circa)
Locations
Address 19 Osnaburgh Street Regent's Park London | View on map
1848 (Circa) - 1868
Address 17 Osnaburgh Street Regent's Park London | View on map
1861 (Circa) - 1863 (Circa)
Address 3 Arlington Street London | View on map
1868 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
'The Young Mother'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1861
'Model Statue of Goldsmith'
Exhibited at Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, 1863
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of Art-Industry in Dublin, 1853
'Innocence'
Exhibited at National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds, 1868
'The Young Brother in Comus'
Exhibited at Leeds Mechanics' Institution, Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Leeds, 1875
Multiple works
Exhibited at Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts (Leeds), 1853
'The Houseless Wanderer'
Exhibited at Art Union of London Competition, 1860
'Caractacus'
Exhibited at Exhibition of Works of Living Artists, The Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts, 1863
'Bust of General Sir James Outram'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
'Grief'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.52
Exhibited at International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Dublin, 1865
p. 112, no. 225. ' Bust of Barry Cornwall' - plaster.
p. 115, no. 279. 'A Parsee Merchant' - Plaster.
p. 115, no. 280. 'Two Angels bearing up the arms of St. Francis' - Terra-cotta group.
p. 115, no. 281. 'Pietro Delle Vigne' - Terra-cotta group.
Objects 279, 280 and 281 exhibited in the Transept.
Exhibited at The National Exhibition, Cork, 1852
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1839 - 1861
Exhibited 19 times (12 times from 1851, withdrew from exhibiting after 1861 in protest at the poor display conditions for sculpture), between 2-3 works per year. Three works were shown posthumously in 1875.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Exhibited at Dublin Exhibition of Arts, Industries and Manufactures (and Loan Museum of Works of Art), 1872
1872
Fine Arts, Sculpture.
p. 79, no. 8: 'Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Bart.'. Loaned by E. Cecil Guinness, Esq.
p. 81, no. 40: 'Edmund Burke' and
p. 81, no. 41: 'Oliver Goldsmith'. Both loaned by J. Norwood, Esq.
p. 84, no. 132: 'The Late Earl of Carlisle' and
p. 84, no. 133: 'Egeria Listening for the Footsteps of Numa (Vide "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Canto IV). Both owned by the artist.
Selection committee member of The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Ninety-Second, 1860
1860 (Presumed)
Sat on the 'arranging committee' for the exhibition. See the Royal Academy 'Annual Report', 1861, p. 12.
Institutional and Business Connections
Elected ARA Royal Academy of Arts
5 November 1849 - 13 January 1858
Elected RA in 1858.
Elected RA Royal Academy of Arts
13 January 1858 - 27 August 1874
Died in 1874.
Elected to membership of Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts of Painters, Sculptors, Architects and Engravers
1860
RHA in 1861.
Member of Leeds Academy of Arts
Foley was an honorary member
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
1852 - 1863 (Circa)
Founder member
Member of council Royal Academy of Arts
May 1860
Listed as a council member in the Royal Academy's 'Annual Report' in 1860 (published in 1861).
Member of council Institute of British Sculptors
1861 (Circa) - 1863 (Circa)
In 1863 listed as Chair, present at a meeting in Sackville Street on 27 January 1863
Studied at Royal Academy Schools
30 April 1835
See Popp and Valentine, 'Directory of Membership', (1996), p. 43.
Visitor at Royal Academy Schools
1860 - 1868
Listed as a visitor to the Life School in 1860 and 1862. Note that Foley was not a visitor in 1861. From 1863 Foley is listed as a visitor in sculpture to the Life School. See the Royal Academy 'Annual Reports'.
Worked with Art Union of London
1847 (Circa) - 1850 (Circa)
To reproduce 'Innocence' in parian ware (issued first in 1847, further edition in 1850)
Personal and Professional Connections
Assistant was Richard Claude Belt
1869 - 1870
Employed as studio assistant Albert Bruce Joy
1874
On Foley’s death in 1874 Joy inherited his employer's commission for statue of ‘Robert James Graves’ for the Royal College of Physicians, Dublin. 1877.
Employed as studio assistant Neville Northey Burnard
Employed as studio assistant Samuel Ferres Lynn
1862 - 1863
Nominator of Thomas Thornycroft
14 December 1866
'Name erased [from nominations book] at the request of the candidate'[handwritten note in Royal Academy Nominations Book; name has been struck out].
Pupils included Charles Bell Birch
Pupils included Mary Grant
Pupils included Francis John Williamson
Articled to Foley [see Who was Who (1920-2008)]
Pupils included Thomas Brock
1866 - 1874
At the time of Foley's death Brock was his principal studio assistant and completed most of his unfinished works.
Sister/sibling of Edward Arlington Foley
Edward Arlington was the older brother
Studio assistant to William Behnes
1835 (Circa) - 1838 (Circa)
Either assistant or pupil
Taught Robert Sidney Catterson-Smith
1874
Catterson-Smith studied briefly under Foley until the latter's death in 1874. See an article in the Birmingham Daily Mail, 26 May, 1903, in 'Birmingham Biography', vol. 4, p. 58A.
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 467-73
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
Cat. Nos. 526, 530, 547, pp. 4, 23, 24, 27
Catalogue of the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds 1868
1868
Cat. No. 628a, p. 204
Catalogue of the Yorkshire Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, Leeds, 1875
1875
Cat. No. F14, p. 98
Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations, 1851
Official Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue
1851
p. 711 (2)
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Official Catalogue of Dublin International Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures 1865
1865
p. 112, no. 225. ' Bust of Barry Cornwall' - plaster.
p. 115, no. 279. 'A Parsee Merchant' - Plaster.
p. 115, no. 280. 'Two Angels bearing up the arms of St. Francis' - Terra-cotta group.
p. 115, no. 281. 'Pietro Delle Vigne' - Terra-cotta group.
Objects 279, 280 and 281 exhibited in the Transept.
Official Catalogue of the Dublin Exhibition of Arts, Industries and Manufactures and Loan Museum of Works of Art, 1872
1872
Fine Arts, Sculpture.
p. 79, no. 8: 'Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Bart.'. Loaned by E. Cecil Guinness, Esq.
p. 81, no. 40: 'Edmund Burke' and
p. 81, no. 41: 'Oliver Goldsmith'. Both loaned by J. Norwood, Esq.
p. 84, no. 132: 'The Late Earl of Carlisle' and
p. 84, no. 133: 'Egeria Listening for the Footsteps of Numa (Vide "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", Canto IV). Both owned by the artist.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Mark Stocker, ‘Foley, John Henry (1818–1874)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9786, accessed 28 Jan 2009]
Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1851
p. 1365
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Royal Academy of Arts Nominations for Associateship, 1866-1906
1906
See entries for 1866.
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Catalogue of the Thirty-Fifth Exhibition, 1863
1863
Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, Catalogue of the Thirty-Third Exhibition, 1861 RHA Annual Exhibition Catalogues
1861
p. 24 (599)
Royal Society of British Sculptors. Minutes of Council Meetings No. 1, 1905-1913
19 May 1913
13 January 1908.
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv
The Builder, Vol. 18, 11 August 1860
11 August 1860
p. 510
The Builder, Vol. XI, No. 531, 9 April 1853
9 April 1853
p. 228
The Builder, Vol. XV, 24 October 1857
24 October 1857
p. 616
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.52
Citing this record
'John Henry Foley RA, RHA', 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=msib2_1202170072, accessed 08 Jun 2023]
