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Chantrey's bust of Sir Walter Scott was much admired. Unusually for its time, it shows the much-loved author with his head inclined to the right, and wearing a Scottish Lowland plaid (as distinct from a Highland tartan). The bust appeared in several versions, and, as happened when such a likeness became celebrated, was often copied — for the kinds of replication possible in these case, see Read 65. Some copies were rather crudely finished, and had blank eyes, although Chantrey himself made a particular point of carving in the pupils where he felt that his sitter's eyes "took the lead" in his expression (Stevens). But this fine copy is” by a Scottish sculptor who was responsible for several public monuments in Edinburgh, including some of the work on the Scott monument. According to Paul Barnaby, Project Officer of the Walter Scott Digital Archive at the Edinburgh University Library: "The Hutchison bust is a copy of the marble replica at Abbotsford of Chantrey's plaster original. It appears to have been the victor in a competition to produce the best copy of the Abbotsford bust." Attribution is a problem in such cases, but should perhaps be to the sculptor whose conception governed the piece. Dr Barnaby writes in support of "assigning primary responsibility to Chantrey."

Bibliography

"The Scott Monument." Edinburgh City site; this has a brief biography of Hutchinson. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.

"Sir Francis Leggatt Chantrey's Bust of Sir Walter Scott (1820)." Edinburgh University Library Digital Archive. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.

"Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet." National Portrait Gallery. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.

Stevens, Timothy. "Chantrey, Sir Francis Leggatt (1781-1841)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed. Web. 17 Jan. 2011.

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Last modified 24 January 2011