Launt Thompson (February 8, 1833 - September 26, 1894), American sculptor, born in Abbeyleix, Ireland. Due to the potato famine occurring in Ireland at the time, he emigrated to the United States in 1847 with his widowed mother, and they settled in Albany, New York. There, he found work as a handyman. After studying anatomy in the office of a physician, Dr. James H. Armsby, he spent nine years as the studio boy of the sculptor, E. D. Palmer. In 1858 he moved to New York where he opened a studio. There he shared an apartment with James Pinchot. In 1862 he was elected academician at the National Academy due to his work "Trapper", a marble portrait of James "Grizzly" Adams. He visited Rome in 1868-1869, and married Maria Louisa Potter...
