George Frederick Folingsby (23 August 1828 – 4 January 1891) was an Irish-born Australian painter and art educator. Folingsby was born in the County of

Wicklow Wicklow ( ; ga, Cill Mhantáin , meaning 'church of the toothless one'; non, Víkingaló) is the county town of County Wicklow in Ireland. It is located south of Dublin on the east coast of the island. According to the 2016 census, it has ...

, Ireland. At the age of 18 he emigrated to Canada. Later he went to New York Cit studied drawing and contributed illustrations to magazines of the day, including ''

Harper's Magazine ''Harper's Magazine'' is a monthly magazine of literature, politics, culture, finance, and the arts. Launched in New York City in June 1850, it is the oldest continuously published monthly magazine in the U.S. (''Scientific American'' is older, b ...

''. In 1852 he went to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and spent two years at the drawing school of the Royal Academy. He then went to Paris and for a few months was a pupil of

Thomas Couture Thomas Couture (21 December 1815 – 30 March 1879) was a French history painter and teacher. He taught such later luminaries of the art world as Édouard Manet, Henri Fantin-Latour, John La Farge,Wilkinson, Burke. ''The Life and Works of A ...

. Returning to Munich he worked for five years under

Carl von Piloty Karl Theodor von Piloty (1 October 1826 – 21 July 1886) was a German painter, noted for his historical subjects, and recognised as the foremost representative of the realistic school in Germany. Life and work Piloty was born in Munich. His fat ...

. In 1864, Folingsby's picture ''Bunyan in prison'', was purchased by the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum. The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...

. He continued to live in Munich but occasionally exhibited in Ireland and England; his ''The first lesson'' was hung in the Royal Academy in 1869 and ''Lady Jane's victory over Bishop Gardener'' in 1871. He was awarded medals for historical paintings at the exhibitions held at Vienna in 1871 and Philadelphia in 1873. Folingsby arrived in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia with his ten-year-old daughter, on 1 July 1879. His reputation as a figure painter preceded him and he was quickly sought after as a portraitist, making a living from commissions of eminent members of Melbourne society. Folingsby was offered the position of Master in the School of Painting at the gallery and was appointed on 1 June 1882. In September of that year, he was appointed as the first Director of the National Gallery of Victoria and reorganized the painting school. The practice of making copies of pictures ceased and every encouragement was given to working from life. Among his pupils were

John Longstaff Sir John Campbell Longstaff (10 March 1861 – 1 October 1941) was an Australian painter, war artist and a five-time winner of the Archibald Prize for portraiture. His cousin Will Longstaff was also a painter and war artist. Longstaff was known ...

and

Aby Altson Aby or ABY may refer to: Places * Aby, Ivory Coast * Aby Lagoon, a lagoon in Ivory Coast * Abyy or Aby, Sakha Republic, Russia ** Aby Lowland * Aby, Lincolnshire, a village in England, UK * Åby, Norrköping Municipality, Sweden * Åby, Växjö Mun ...

, the winners of the first and second travelling scholarships, and

Iso Rae Isobel Rae (18 August 1860 – 16 March 1940) was an Australian impressionist painter. After training at Melbourne's National Gallery of Victoria Art School, where she studied alongside Frederick McCubbin and Jane Sutherland, Rae travel ...

. After the death of Folingsby,

Lindsay Bernard Hall Lindsay Bernard Hall (28 December 1859 – 14 February 1935) was an English-born Australian artist, teacher and art gallery director. Early life and career Hall was born at Garston, Liverpool, England, the son of a broker of the same famil ...

was appointed Director of the National Gallery of Victoria.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Folingsby, George Frederick 1828 births 1891 deaths Australian people of Irish descent Australian people of Anglo-Irish descent 19th-century Australian artists