Sir Walter Scott, 1771 - 1832. Novelist
About this artwork
Polio left Scott permanently lame in the right leg at the age of eighteen months. His parents sent him to recover at his grandfather's farm near Kelso in the Borders. Here he came to know and love the ballads which later inspired his literary career. Scott's novels were read and admired throughout Europe. Those which have Scottish themes, like Old Mortality and Heart of Midlothian, have had a major impact on how Scots view their own past. After retiring in 1830, his health ruined through overwork, Scott travelled to Italy. Here he met the Danish neo-classical sculptor, Thorvaldsen. The bust which resulted from their meeting presents the writer as a noble genius rather than as an exhausted old man.
Updated before 2020
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artist:Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770 - 1844) Danish
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title:Sir Walter Scott, 1771 - 1832. Novelist
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date created:1833/4
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materials:Marble
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measurements:58.00 cm (height)
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object type:
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credit line:Purchased with help from the National Heritage Memorial Fund and Art Fund, 1993
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accession number:PG 2933
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subject:
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artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Bertel Thorvaldsen
Thorvaldsen, the son of a wood carver, showed an early talent for drawing and was admitted to the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, aged eleven. In 1796 he set off for Rome where he was to remain until 1838. He was praised by the great Italian neoclassical sculptor Canova and excelled...