White marble bust of Robert Burns, by Patrick Park

Description

This marble bust, possibly the earliest sculpture of the Poet, was made by Patric Park in 1845 and gifted to the Burns Monument Trustees as a feature for the chamber in Burns Monument on the banks of the Doon. The Aberdeen granite pedestal on which it stands was provided by the Trustees in 1847. Originally made for and displayed in the Monument chamber of the Burns Monument.

Patric Park, who had been a guest at the 1844 Festival in Alloway to honour the sons of Burns, noted that the recent Monument to Burns contained no figure of the Poet, and from this he undertook at his own expense to carve a bust in white marble.