I.

BUST BY CHANTREY.

1820. (No. 1.)

In the Catalogue of the Second Public Exhibition, 16 York Place, 1809, No. 46 was a frame containing fifteen Medallion portraits, in enamel, by John Henning, the chief sculptor in Edinburgh at that time. One of the fifteen was WALTER SCOTT, Esq. There may have been other medallion heads; but it seems agreed on all hands that Sir Walter Scott first sat for a bust to Chantrey in 1820.

It was during Sir Walter Scott's visit to London in March 1820 to receive his Baronetcy, that, upon Chantrey's special request, he sat 'for that bust' (says Mr. Lockhart) 'which alone preserves for posterity the cast of expression most fondly remembered by all who mingled in his domestic circle.' Allan Cunningham's account of these sittings is well known. In No. II. we shall quote Sir Francis Chantrey's own statement contained in a letter to Sir Robert Peel in 1838. From this artist's letter it will be seen that Chantrey had also superintended a limited number of casts for Sir Walter's friends, when the original bust was finished. From one of these (said to be the first) the present Photograph has been taken. But the plaster cast fails in representing the beautiful texture of the marble. The bust itself from one of these casts has been often pirated, and copies of it dispersed in all quarters of the globe. The original marble bust of 1820 is now a principal ornament in the collection of Abbotsford. A duplicate of it, by Chantrey himself, was made for the Duke of Wellington, and sent to Apsley House in 1827. It was also cast in Bronze for Mr. Cadell. This fine bust formed No. 2 of the present Exhibition, but its dark colour rendered it unsuited for a Photograph. It is understood that a trial-cast of this bust in bronze was taken; and it was presented by the Artist to Allan Cunningham. It is now in the possession of his son, Colonel Francis Cunningham.

NO. I.]