Notes
In July 1863, a large crowd gathered outside the front gates of Trinity College Dublin to watch as the Earl of Carlisle, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, pulled a green drape off a hidden entity and revealed an exquisitely chiselled 7ft 6-inch high statue of the poet, dramatist and essayist Oliver Goldsmith. It was Lord Carlisle who first proposed the idea of a Goldsmith statue and it was also his idea that it should stand outside of Trinity, where Goldsmith "studied" in the 1740s.
Goldsmith was no model student; he learned how to drink, dress smart, sing Irish airs, play cards and master the flute, shortly before he was suspended for participating in a riot in London in 1747.
John Henry Foley (1818-74), the sculptor of the work, ignored such trivia, depicting a pensive, dignified Goldsmith holding an open book, a pencil to hand, with a fine neckerchief. Foley, who was born across the Liffey on what is now known as Foley Street in his honour, had been familiar with Goldsmith's works since childhood when 'The Vicar of Wakefield' had been his favourite book.
A child prodigy, he mastered his craft under the brilliant Edward Smyth at the Royal Society Schools in Dublin. He arrived in London aged 18 on the eve of Queen Victoria's reign and gradually rose through the ranks to become one of the most celebrated members of the Royal Academy. There are more statues by Foley in Ireland than by any other sculptor, including the Daniel O'Connell monument on O'Connell Street and the statues of Edmund Burke and Henry Grattan that stand near Goldsmith on College Green.
The Goldsmith maquette on sale here is almost certainly the original bronze statuette that Foley first presented in 1860.1 It bears neither the stamp of the foundry where it was made, nor Foley's name, which marks it as an earlier cast to the Elkington and Co. bronzes.
This one-off piece was created to win the approval of the committee behind the Goldsmith Statue. This had been obtained by the time the statuette made its public debut at the Mansion House in London in November 1860. Shortly afterwards it crossed to Dublin where it went on show at the Royal Irish Academy. 2
In January 1861, 'in consequence of the universal admiration' it received, 'that eminent sculptor [was] directed to commence the execution of the large statute.' 3 He duly set to work at his London studio on Osnaburgh Street, off Regent's Park.
The finished version had some subtle differences to the statuette, including a darker patina; some consider this diminutive prototype to be the fairer of the two. The latter was put on show at Thomas Cranfield's Grafton Street gallery, and also went on show at the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts, as well as an exhibition hosted by the RDS. 4 It was also shown at the International Exhibition in 1862. 5
Turtle Bunbury
January 2019
ABOUT JOHN HENRY FOLEY
John Henry Foley (1818-1874) was probably the most influential sculptor in Irish history. Born in Dublin, his breath-taking statues and equestrian masterpieces strode across city squares and parklands from Dublin to Kolkata to Virginia. His best-known Irish works include the Daniel O'Connell monument on O'Connell Street and the Father Mathew statue in Cork. Queen Victoria personally requested Foley create the statue of her beloved husband for the Albert Memorial in London. When Foley died, the queen decreed that the gifted Irishman be buried in Westminster Abbey, an extraordinary honour for a man born into relative poverty in Dublin's northside.
A boy genius, he was educated at the Royal Dublin Society's Drawing Schools at Leinster House, where he won numerous prizes in modelling. He moved to the Royal Academy in London to develop his career. In 1844 he won a contest to sculpt two figures for the newly restored Houses of Parliament at Westminster. Thereafter he was never short of portrait commissions in Britain, Ireland and across the Empire.
Foley's works were fated to provoke controversy long after his death. His hat-trick of imperialist equestrian statues in Kolkatta were dismantled after Indian independence. Several of his Irish works were also destroyed -his statue of Lord Dunkellin was heaved into the River Corrib by the people of Galway in 1922; his Dublin monuments to Lord Carlisle and General Gough were blown sky-high in the 1950s. The debate continues. In February 2018, the Oireachtas Petitions Committee rejected a petition seeking the removal of Foley's statue of Prince Albert from Leinster Lawn by Dáil Éireann.
To mark the bicentenary of Foley's birth in 1818, filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle and historian Turtle Bunbury teamed up with the OPW to host 'Ireland Salutes John Henry Foley', an afternoon of film, talks and debate at Dublin Castle on Sunday 20 May 2018. The other speakers who gathered to consider Foley's life and times were Dr Patrick Wallace, Dr Paula Murphy, Jason Ellis and Ronan Sheehan.
FURTHER NOTES RELEVANT TO THE STATUETTE
The statuette was subsequently purchased by Se Merry Doyle, director of the film 'John Henry Foley - Sculptor of the Empire', and co-curator, with Turtle Bunbury, of 'Ireland Salutes John Henry Foley', an event held at Dublin Castle last year to mark the bicentenary of Foley's death birth
It was engraved by George J. Stodart for the Art Journal in 1865. See attached.
Foley's Goldsmith was commissioned in 1859, erected in July 1863 and unveiled by the Earl of Carlisle, the Lord Lieutenant, on 3 January 1864.
In January 1861, it went on show at Mr Cranfield's Gallery, 115 Grafton Street, Dublin, in part to drum up more subscribers, earning much praise from Saunder's Newsletter. (See their glowing report Saunders's News-Letter, 30 January 1861, p.2) Queen Victoria and Prince Albert subscribed £100 to fund the work, as did Lord Carlisle. The total cost of the work was estimated at £1000. Among other subscribers was the polar explorer Sir Leopold McClintock. Two years earlier, he had led the party that discovered the fate of the Franklin Expedition. Among the scattered debris his men found on the ice were two books, a Bible and a copy of 'The Vicar of Wakefield.'
The original plaster model was held by the Birmingham City Art Gallery, later incorporated into Birmingham Museum. Badly damaged during a German air raid in 1940, it was subsequently destroyed.
1858: Thomas Moore statue unveiled by Earl of Carlisle, who takes the opportunity to recommend that a statue of Oliver Goldsmith go up outside Trinity. Within a year, Foley had the commission. And when the time came for him to launch Goldsmith, he seized the opportunity to propose a statue of Burke to accompany him!
1859: 'Statute to Oliver Goldsmith. -The proposal the Earl of Carlisle to erect a statue to the memory of Oliver Goldsmith, Dublin, has met with a hearty response, and sufficient funds have now been subscribed to authorise the committee to give the commission for the work to Mr Foley, R.A. It is an essential part of the proposal of the Earl of Carlisle that the statue to be erected should be on such a site as would serve to connect the memory of the poet in a particular manner with the university in which he received his education, while at the same time it should be open to the view of the inhabitants of Dublin. The site which has been selected perfectly fulfils these requirements. It is within the wall in front of the college, and is within view of the public.' (Western Daily Press, 13 December 1859, p. 4)
1. Foley's statuette of Goldsmith was exhibited in the Alderman's Court of the Mansion House, London, for the Lord Mayor's Banquet in November 1860. London Daily News, 9 November 1860, p.2. Foley's 'beautiful statue' of Goldsmith was also placed in a niche of the new hall at the Mudie's Circulating Library on New Oxford Street in London in December 1860. London Evening Standard, 18 December 1860, p.3.
2. 'The Goldsmith Statue. - It may be interesting to state, that in one of the museum rooms of the Academy is placed the model approved by the committee for the statue of Oliver Goldsmith. The model, which is by Mr. Foley, an Irishman, represents the poet standing in easy and graceful attitude, with an open book, supported by his left hand, whilst in his right, which is placed by his side, is a pencil. The statue, which is to be about seven feet in height, is to occupy a pedestal in front of Trinity College, within the railings opposite College-green. It is understood that the committee want about 400/. to complete the amount which the statue will cost.' The Evening Freeman, 13 November 1860, p.1.
3. Dublin Evening Mail - Wednesday 23 January 1861, p. 4.
4. Irish Times - Thursday 25 July 1861, p. 2.
5. Of its appearance at the International Exhibition, or Great London Exposition, the Morning Post of 27 June 1861 observed, 'Among the smaller works we may mention as specially deserving of notice the bronze of "Oliver Goldsmith" by Foley to be erected in Dublin'.
'In obedience to his Excellency's command, the green drapery that concealed the statue was withdrawn, and the figure was displayed on its handsome pedestal, and in all its artistic beauty, amid enthusiastic applause. The pose of the figure, the elegance of outline, and the dignity of expression so wonderfully expressed in the statue, whether viewed in its entirety or criticised in detail, commanded the admiration of all. The most fastidious taste failed discover a blemish.' [Nottingham Journal - Friday 08 January 1864, p. 3]
