| Robert Burns | |
|---|---|
 The sculpture in London in 2006 | |
| Artist | John Steell |
| Type | Sculpture |
| Medium | Bronze |
| Subject | Robert Burns |
| Location | Dundee, Dunedin, London, New York City |
Robert Burns is a bronze portrait statue of Robert Burns by John Steell. Four versions exist, in New York City (United States), Dundee (Scotland), London (England), and Dunedin (New Zealand).
The memorial sculpture in Manhattan's Central Park was cast c. 1880 and dedicated on 2 October 1880. [1] [2] It was the first statue of Burns to be erected outside Scotland and was a gift to the City of New York from Saint Andrew's Society of the State of New York and the Scottish-American community. For this sculpture Steell closely followed the portrait of Burns painted by Alexander Nasmyth in 1787. Seated on a tree stump with a quill pen in one hand, Burns looks up to heaven. He is thinking of his true love Mary Campbell, who died at an early age. It was to her that he had written the poem "To Mary in Heaven" inscribed on the scroll at his feet.
The statue is located at 40°46′12.5″N73°58′21.0″W / 40.770139°N 73.972500°W .
The Dundee statue was unveiled only two weeks after the one in New York in 1880 and the third cast was erected on the Thames Embankment in London in 1884. The Dundee statue is located at 56°27′44.5″N02°58′19.0″W / 56.462361°N 2.971944°W and the London statue is located at 51°30′30.5″N00°07′18.5″W / 51.508472°N 0.121806°W .
The Dunedin statue was the last of the set to be unveiled, on 24 May 1887. [3] A statue of Burns was deemed relevant to the city, both because of the city's Scottish roots (it was founded by the Free Church of Scotland in 1848), and also because one of the city's founding fathers was Rev. Thomas Burns, a nephew of the poet.
In likeness, it is closest to the London statue. There had been discussion whether to place the statue in front of the railway station, but an elevated placement in The Octagon, the central plaza of Dunedin, was eventually chosen. [4] The statue was unveiled by Miss Burns, a great-grand niece of Robert Burns. Speeches were given by former Governor and Premier of New Zealand Sir George Grey, and Richard Henry Leary, the Mayor of Dunedin. [3] Cyril Croker, a solicitor who spent his teenage years in Dunedin, would say of the statue that: [5]
It was situated between the Cathedral and two hotels, and, true to his reputation, Burns had his back to the Cathedral, and his face to the pub.
Because of its placement on what is now known as the McMillan terrace, the statue is the backdrop to many public speeches. On 27 July 1988, the statue was registered by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust as a Category I heritage structure with reference number 2208. [4] The statue is located at 45°52′26.5″S170°30′11.5″E / 45.874028°S 170.503194°E .
Sir John Robert Steell was a Scottish sculptor. He modelled many of the leading figures of Scottish history and culture, and is best known for a number of sculptures displayed in Edinburgh, including the statue of Sir Walter Scott at the base of the Scott Monument.
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George Edwin Bissell was an American sculptor.
First Church is a prominent church in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located in the heart of the city on Moray Place, 100 metres to the south of the city centre. The church is the city's primary Presbyterian church. The building is regarded as the most impressive of New Zealand's nineteenth-century churches, and is listed by Heritage New Zealand as a Category I structure.
The Octagon is the city centre of Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is an eight-sided plaza with a circular one-way carriageway, bisected by the city's main street, and is also the central terminus of two other main thoroughfares. The Octagon is predominantly a pedestrian reserve, with grass and paved features, and is surmounted by a statue of the Scottish poet Robert Burns. Several of Dunedin's significant buildings and institutions adjoin the plaza, which is also a major hub for public transport in Dunedin, primarily taxi services.
Moray Place is an octagonal street which surrounds the city centre of Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. The street is intersected by Stuart Street, Princes Street and George Street. Like many streets in Dunedin, it is named for a street in the Scottish capital Edinburgh.
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The statue of Robert Burns in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a work of public art by the Scottish artist William Grant Stevenson, RSA. The bronze statue, of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns, stands on a plinth of Nova Scotia pink granite with two bronze bas relief panels. The monument was donated to the City of Milwaukee by James A. Bryden.
Scottish art in the nineteenth century is the body of visual art made in Scotland, by Scots, or about Scottish subjects. This period saw the increasing professionalisation and organisation of art in Scotland. Major institutions founded in this period included the Institution for the Encouragement of the Fine Arts in Scotland, the Royal Scottish Academy of Art, the National Gallery of Scotland, the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and the Glasgow Institute. Art education in Edinburgh focused on the Trustees Drawing Academy of Edinburgh. Glasgow School of Art was founded in 1845 and Grays School of Art in Aberdeen in 1885.
Sir Walter Scott is an outdoor bronze portrait statue of Walter Scott and the writer's favorite dog Maida by John Steell, located in Central Park in Manhattan, New York. The memorial sculpture, a replica of the 1845 original in Edinburgh's Scott Monument, was cast in 1871 and dedicated on November 27, 1872. It was donated by resident Scottish-Americans.
The Dunedin Law Courts is a notable historic building in central Dunedin, in the South Island of New Zealand. They are located at the corner of Lower Stuart Street and Anzac Square, directly opposite the city's historic railway station. Since 1902, the building has been used as the city's law courts, and contains four court rooms, including the ornate High Court, as well as housing the offices and library of the Law Society.
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The Warehouse Precinct is an urban area of the New Zealand city of Dunedin. Sited on reclaimed land at the northernmost tip of the Southern Endowment, it lies between 1 and 2 kilometres south of The Octagon, the city's centre.
The Stuart Memorial is a statue of clergyman Donald McNaughton Stuart located in central Dunedin, New Zealand, adjacent to Queens Gardens. The memorial features a bronze statue of Stuart seated in a solemn pose, atop a large concrete, granite, and andesite plinth. Stuart was a locally renowned minister, educationalist, and community leader, and shortly after his death in 1894 a memorial committee was established. After several months of community fundraising, the committee contracted Wellington-based artist William Leslie Morison to model the statue, the first major civic commission given to a New Zealand artist. With a plaster model by Morison used as the base, the statue was cast at the W. Moore foundry in London. Unveiled in June 1898, the memorial was soon subject to various proposals for relocation, either to the Early Settlers' Hall or Knox Church, due to the highly trafficked location and obstruction by surrounding lamp posts. It was ultimately placed atop a taller plinth in 1922, following a temporary removal during the instillation of electric tram lines. A proposal circulated in the late 2010s to move the statue to the grounds of the University of Otago, where Stuart served as chancellor. The statue was again kept at its Queens Gardens location, and underwent cleaning and restoration work in 2020.
Media related to Robert Burns by John Steell at Wikimedia Commons
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Key: † No longer extant, on public display or in London (see List of public art formerly in London) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
