Contact Artefacts
please if you have any comments or more information regarding this record.
MenuHomeUpfront Now Up Books Towns Structures People Firms Lexicon | WILLIAMSON, Francis JohnBorn:Artist | ||||
British Sculptor. Reputedly Queen Victoria's favourite sculptor, Francis John Williamson was born in Camden Town in 1833, the older son of Frank Edward and Mary Betsey Williamson. On his mother's side he was related to Admiral Nelson. Williamson was educated at a private school in Hampstead where he decided that he wanted to become a sculptor and was fortunate to come to the attention of John Bell (1811-1895) the sculptor of the Crimean War Guards' memorial (Waterloo Place, London, 1861) who took him on as a student at Somerset House, then the home of the Royal Academy (R.A.). Whilst there he met the Irish sculptor, John Henry Foley R.A. (1818-1874) to whom he was apprenticed for seven years. He was Foley's only apprentice and assistant and worked with him for fourteen years after completing his training. Williamson exhibited at the R.A. at the age of twenty but did not win favour with the academicians because he found it difficult to meet Exhibition deadlines! It was his connection with Foley, which brought him to Queen Victoria's notice when she personally commissioned Foley to sculpt the statue of the Prince Consort for the Albert Memorial. The Queen unexpectedly visited Foley's studio when he was not there and formed an instant rapport with his assistant that was to be of great benefit to him. (Peter Hills and Anne Wright The Elmbridge Hundred, accessed 2016-06-09) Responsible for the statue for the Queen Victoria Diamond Jubilee Memorial at King William's Town, Eastern Cape. List of projects With photographs With notes
| |||||