At age 17, he followed his brother in a career in sculpture, and in 1837 left for Italy where he belonged to the second generation of American expatriate artists.

Thereafter he divided his time between Europe and America, but spent most of his studio life in Rome.

[2] He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1855.

Greenough's best-known work is probably a statue of Benjamin Franklin which stood in front of the Old City Hall (Boston).

The statue on Boston's Freedom Trail, fell from its ten-foot pedestal in the early summer of 2016, but sustained almost no damage and is currently being repaired.