Edward Hodges Baily
| Edward Hodges Baily | |
|---|---|
Caricature of Baily in his studio, by an unknown artist, in the National Portrait Gallery
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| Born |
10 March 1788 Bristol |
| Died |
22 May 1867 (aged 79) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Sculpture |
| Notable work | Nelson's Column, |
| Awards | FRS, Turner Gold Medal |
Edward Hodges Baily RA FRS (18 March 1788 in Bristol – 22 May 1867 in London; sometimes misspelled Bailey) was an English sculptor who was born in Downend in Bristol.
Baily's father, who was a celebrated carver of figureheads for ships, destined him for a commercial life, but even at school the boy showed his natural taste and talents by producing numerous wax models and busts of his schoolfellows. At the age of fourteen Baily was placed in a mercantile house, where he worked for the next two years, though he still felt a strong leaning towards his artistic abilities. At the age of sixteen he abandoned his commercial career and began executing portraits in wax. Two Homeric studies, executed for a friend, were shown to John Flaxman, who bestowed on them such high commendation that in 1807 Baily came to London and placed himself as a pupil under the great sculptor. In 1809 he entered the Royal Academy Schools.
In 1811 he gained the Royal Academy gold medal for a model of Hercules restoring Alcestis to Admetus, and soon after exhibited Apollo discharging his Arrows against the Greeks and Hercules casting Lichas into the Sea. He was elected ARA in 1817 and RA in 1821 when he exhibited one of his best pieces, Eve at the Fountain. He was entrusted with the carving of the bas-reliefs on the south side of the Marble Arch in Hyde Park, and executed numerous busts and statues of public figures, including the prominent, well-known statue of Nelson, at the top of Nelson's Column, in Trafalgar Square. In 1857, the year of his retirement from the Royal Academy, he also designed a Turner Gold Medal for Landscape Painting.
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