GEORGE RENNIE (1802-1860) BUST OF SIR JOHN RENNIE inscribed SIR JOHN RENNIE G Rennie Sculptor 1831

GEORGE RENNIE (1802-1860) BUST OF SIR JOHN RENNIE inscribed SIR JOHN RENNIE G Rennie Sculptor 1831, statuary marble on turned socle, 74cm hExhibited: Royal Academy, 1831, No 1202. (presumably the present lot).Literature: Gunnis (R) Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851, revised edition 1968, p318, presumably where this particular bust is mentionedSir John Rennie (1794-1874) was the second so of the civil engineer John Rennie, FRS, FRSE (1761-1821) and brother of George Rennie (1791-1866) with whom he was in partnership as J & G Rennie. The firm was heavily involved in completing the many colossal schemes of the elder Rennie, heavy engineering and mechanical innovation. The younger Rennie's most notable work was the building of London Bridge to the designs of his father. It was opened in 1831, when he was knighted. This bust by his cousin George Rennie was shown at the RA the same year.George Rennie is believed to have been a student of Thorvaldsen in Rome during the 1820s. He exhibited classical subjects including his chef d'oeubre Grecian Archer (1828) and marble busts at the Royal Academy. By the mid 1830s he turned increasingly to politics, with a view to improving the low standard of artistic design and eduction. From 1842 he was MP for Ipswich until he was appointed Governor of the Falkland Islands in 1847, a position he occupied until his return in 1855. The bust is recorded in the RA 1831 Exhibition Catalogue as being of 'John Rennie'.