Francis William Doyle-Jones British, 1873-1938

Philips & Macconnal;
Bought by Mr A. E. Francis in 1937 and thence by descent

Francis William Doyle-Jones studied in London under Edouard Lanteri, the influential French professor of sculpture at the South Kensington School. Doyle-Jones began exhibiting at the Royal Academy in 1905 with a relief entitled 'Fame and Patriotism' relating to the recent Boer War. He created several Boer War memorials including those at Gateshead and Penrith. Of Irish descent, Doyle-Jones also exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy and many of his large-scale monuments were erected in Ireland.

In 1926, the year of the present model, Doyle-Jones was described in The Studio as illustrating 'the tendency in modern sculpture towards an uncompromising realism.' As a portraitist his concern for keenly observed likeness is exemplified in the present figure of a glamorous royal sitter, the Prince of Wales, later Edward VIII. Doyle-Jones had the honour of a sitting with the Prince at York House, arranged by Sir Godfrey Thomas. The Prince approved the model and in 1932 Doyle-Jones exhibited a life-size study of the head at the Royal Academy. These portraits reflect the intense interest in the then Prince of Wales who was the most frequently photographed celebrity of the era. His extravagant lifestyle and royal destiny gave him the allure of a film star. His subsequent fall from grace, when he abdicated in 1936 in order to marry the American divorcée Wallis Simpson, makes it difficult to remember that as Prince of Wales and a First World War hero he was the popular darling of the Empire.

The present bronze appeared in the 1937 Ideal Home Exhibition when it was bought by Mr Francis, a Canadian millionaire ship owner. Although at least one other cast is known (that which was in the prince's own collection) the present bronze is rare. So much so that it is said Doyle-Jones at one stage attempted to buy the bronze back from Francis in order to reproduce the model, but  was refused.

The portrait, the only likeness of the Prince in riding gear, depicts Edward in his period of enthusiasm for point-to-point racing. It evokes the glamorous lifestyle and sartorial elegance for which the Prince was famous.

RELATED LITERATURE
Royal Academy exhibitors 1905-1970, vol. II, pp.153-154; Snoddy, pp.146-148; Stewart, vol II., Dublin 1986, pp.125-126; Ward-Jackson, p.459; Royal Society of British Sculptors, pp. 94, 95, 117 & 121