Irish painter (b Dublin, 7 July 1844; d Purbrook, Hants, 28 Oct 1925). The brother of the sculptor Albert Bruce Joy (1842–1924), he studied in London at the South Kensington School of Art and later at the Royal Academy Schools under John Everett Millais, Frederic Leighton and G. F. Watts. From 1868 his education continued in Paris under Charles-François Jalabert (1819–1901) and Léon Bonnat. Joy’s mature work is largely concerned with the depiction of the human form in narrative and allegorical subjects from historical, Classical, literary and religious sources. His light-hearted but elaborate works on the theme of childhood, such as Thirty Years before Trafalgar: Young Nelson and his Grandmother (1883; untraced, photograph in U. London, Courtauld Inst.), gained a wide popularity. Among his outstanding paintings is the Death of General Gordon, Khartoum, 26 January 1885 (exh. RA 1894; Leeds, C.A.G.), which represents Joy’s patriotic attempt to ‘awaken the conscience of the nation’ (autobiography, p. 22); it was one of the few Royal Academy exhibits on the subject. Bayswater Omnibus (1895; London, Mus. London), a modern-life painting, displays his powers of observation at their keenest. Joy’s output consisted principally of oil paintings, and a detailed account of his methods is included in his autobiography. He exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1872 and 1914, and his work was well received at the Salon in Paris.

Biography courtesy 'The Grove Dictionary of Art'

Example of George Joy's signature