John Gallagher, Sculptor
(fl. 1832-1845)
Sculptor
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
He began his art career as a pupil in the Royal Dublin Society's Schools, where he obtained several prizes and showed such promise that in 1826, when William Behnes, the sculptor, who had himself been educated in the school , offered to take two boys and instruct them in his studio for two years, Gallagher and his fellow-pupil, Panormo (q.v.), were selected by the Society as the most promising pupils and were sent to London. Gallagher afterwards went to Rome, at the expense of the Society, for further study. He exhibited in the Royal Academy for the first time in 1832, and continued to do so at intervals until 1844. Among his contributions were a "Bust of Colonel Hodges," 1834; "Bas-relief of Count Ugolino and his sons in prison," 1837, and a marble bust of "Baron De Lagos," in 1837. He does not appear to have attained to any importance as a sculptor, or to have fulfilled the expectations of his early youth, and little is known of his career. In 1840 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the mastership of the Royal Dublin Society's Modelling School. After 1845, when he was still in London, there is no further account of him. In the Royal Dublin Society's House in Kildare Street is a "Prometheus chained to the Rock," by him.