Brief Biography-George Frederick Folingsby was born in Co Wicklow, Ireland, in 1828, where he lived until he was eighteen. Then, he moved to New York, where he entered the National Academy of Design and worked as an illustrator. His travels took him back to Europe, where he studied under Thomas Couture in Paris and Karl von Piloty in Munich. Folingsby married the German artist Clara Wagner, and they had a daughter Eleanor Clara in 1868. He found renown as a history painter and portraitist in Europe and America before moving to Australia in 1879. He became successful as a portraitist in Melbourne, where his prominence was already known. He received the post of master in the School of Painting at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1882 and later became Director of the Gallery. Frederick McCubbin, Emanuel Phillips Fox and John Longstaff were three eminent students of Folingsby. He died in Melbourne in 1891.