Lot 97: George Foggo

George Foggo
1793-1869
and
James Foggo
1790-1860
the conversion of st paul
oil on canvas
70 by 88 cm.,, 27 1/2 by 34 3/4 in.
James and George Foggo, though born in London, were brought up in Paris where their father had fled on account of his republican views and his strenuous campaigning for negro emancipation and where they were trained in the academy under Regnault. In 1815 James Foggo returned to London and was later joined by his brother, and for the next forty years they worked together mainly on historical compositions sometimes on a vast scale. They also painted numerous altar-pieces including The Pool of Bethesda for the Bordesley Church at Birmingham. They founded the society for obtaining free access to museums and public buildings, of which the Duke of Sussex was president. In 1844 George Foggo published a catalogue of the pictures at the National Gallery with critical remarks, the first attempt to make the collection more widely appreciated. For three years from 1852 they were in charge of the exhibition at the Pantheon in Oxford Street.