Statue of Historic Figure: Sir Walter Scott - Boston, MA

Sir Walter Scott

Boston, MA

N 42° 20.974 W 071° 04.644

Short Description:

A marble bust of Scottish poet, playwright, novelist, and author Sir Walter Scott is located in the Bates Reading Room of the McKim Building of the Boston Public Library at 700 Boylston St., Boston, MA.

Long Description:

The white marble bust of Sir Walter Scott by British sculptor John Hutchison. It is a replica of the sculpture by Sir Francis Chantrey that is located in the library at Abbotsford, Scotland. Walter Scott is depicted from mid-chest up. He is wearing a kilt wrapped around his upper body as a cape. He is looking towards his left. The bust rest on a circular plinth on top of a 5' high circular polished black granite pedestal

A sign on the wall next to the bust is inscribed:

SIR WALTER SCOTT
copy after Sir Francis Chantrey, 1896-1899

John Hutchison
British, 1841-1911
Marble
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GIFT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE SCOTT MEMORIAL
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, 1899

Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh, Scotland on August 15, 1771. He studied law at Edinburgh University. At age 25, while practicing law, he began writing poetry. He achieved recognition as a poet with the publication of the poem, "The Lay of the Minstrel", in 1805. One of his most popular poems "Lady of the Lake" was published in 1810.

Sir Walter Scott is considered to be the creator of the modern historical novel. He wrote the tale of the 1745 Jacobite rising in the Waverley Novels, which was first published anonymously in 1814. His most famous novels include Rob Roy (1817) and Ivanhoe (1820). Scott was also a playwright - MacDuff's Cross (1823) and non-fiction writer The Journal of Sir Walter Scott (1825–1832).

Sir Walter Scott died of typhus on September 21, 1832 and is interred in Dryburgh Abbey, Scotland.