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Left and right profiles of the Robert Burns Plaster Cast
Plaster cast head of Robert Burns. Produced in a limited edition of 9, this is edition No. 4. Please allow up to 6 weeks for this cast to be made and patinated.  Mounted on a 6 x 6 x 4' block of oiled hardwood, this is a life-sized portrait of the poet.

The first three casts are in private collections with Burns fans/societies in the UK and US.  The piece was created originally as a result of collaborative research with Prof. David Purdie, co-editor of the Burns Encyclopedia, who has a comprehensive website. The other two copies are in private collections in London and Edinburgh.
Three contemporary portraits were used to glean information about Burns physiognomy, in addition to descriptions - especially the criticism that he wore a pony tail to appear more poetic. The portraits used were the famous oil painting by Nasmyth (1787), the miniature water colour by Alexander Reid (1795-6), and the silhouette by John Miers (1787).  These portraits are all on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and can be seen on their website.
A description by Allan Cunningham (1834) gives Burns' height as 5'10, so together with the information from the SNPG portraits  I was able to work out the size of Burns's skull and an accurate profile. I then worked on the 3/4 views by using the Nasmyth portrait, and finally create Burns' portrait in clay. This was then cast in both bronze and plaster. 
Please note that the images and prices here are for a plaster cast only.  For a copy in bronze, the timings are longer, the weight is 18 kilos & the price is higher.  Please contact the artist for further information. 
The original bronze was exhibited in 2012 at Summerhall, Edinburgh, then at 2015 at the Robert Burns Museum as part of a show entitled  'The Real Face of Burns'.  It is now in a private collection in the US.
Plaster cast head of Robert Burns. Produced in a limited edition of 9, this is edition No. 4. Please allow up to 6 weeks for this cast to be made and patinated.  Mounted on a 6 x 6 x 4' block of oiled hardwood, this is a life-sized portrait of the poet.

The first three casts are in private collections with Burns fans/societies in the UK and US.  The piece was created originally as a result of collaborative research with Prof. David Purdie, co-editor of the Burns Encyclopedia, who has a comprehensive website. The other two copies are in private collections in London and Edinburgh.
Three contemporary portraits were used to glean information about Burns physiognomy, in addition to descriptions - especially the criticism that he wore a pony tail to appear more poetic. The portraits used were the famous oil painting by Nasmyth (1787), the miniature water colour by Alexander Reid (1795-6), and the silhouette by John Miers (1787).  These portraits are all on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and can be seen on their website.
A description by Allan Cunningham (1834) gives Burns' height as 5'10, so together with the information from the SNPG portraits  I was able to work out the size of Burns's skull and an accurate profile. I then worked on the 3/4 views by using the Nasmyth portrait, and finally create Burns' portrait in clay. This was then cast in both bronze and plaster. 
Please note that the images and prices here are for a plaster cast only.  For a copy in bronze, the timings are longer, the weight is 18 kilos & the price is higher.  Please contact the artist for further information. 
The original bronze was exhibited in 2012 at Summerhall, Edinburgh, then at 2015 at the Robert Burns Museum as part of a show entitled  'The Real Face of Burns'.  It is now in a private collection in the US.
age of the original clay model, which was destroyed during the casting porcess
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Robert Burns, portrait head, plaster cast, limited edition No. 4 of 9 Sculpture

Deirdre Nicholls

United Kingdom

Sculpture, Plaster on Other

Size: 7.9 W x 16.5 H x 9.8 D in

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About The Artwork

Plaster cast head of Robert Burns. Produced in a limited edition of 9, this is edition No. 4. Please allow up to 6 weeks for this cast to be made and patinated. Mounted on a 6 x 6 x 4' block of oiled hardwood, this is a life-sized portrait of the poet. The first three casts are in private collections with Burns fans/societies in the UK and US. The piece was created originally as a result of collaborative research with Prof. David Purdie, co-editor of the Burns Encyclopedia, who has a comprehensive website. The other two copies are in private collections in London and Edinburgh. Three contemporary portraits were used to glean information about Burns physiognomy, in addition to descriptions - especially the criticism that he wore a pony tail to appear more poetic. The portraits used were the famous oil painting by Nasmyth (1787), the miniature water colour by Alexander Reid (1795-6), and the silhouette by John Miers (1787). These portraits are all on display in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery and can be seen on their website. A description by Allan Cunningham (1834) gives Burns' height as 5'10, so together with the information from the SNPG portraits I was able to work out the size of Burns's skull and an accurate profile. I then worked on the 3/4 views by using the Nasmyth portrait, and finally create Burns' portrait in clay. This was then cast in both bronze and plaster. Please note that the images and prices here are for a plaster cast only. For a copy in bronze, the timings are longer, the weight is 18 kilos & the price is higher. Please contact the artist for further information. The original bronze was exhibited in 2012 at Summerhall, Edinburgh, then at 2015 at the Robert Burns Museum as part of a show entitled 'The Real Face of Burns'. It is now in a private collection in the US.

Details & Dimensions

Sculpture:Plaster on Other

Original:One-of-a-kind Artwork

Size:7.9 W x 16.5 H x 9.8 D in

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Working from my studio in Selkirkshire in the Scottish Borders. I specialise in landscape painting and figurative sculpture. My pink resin Poll Dorset sheep sculpture 'Hello Dolly' was on show at the 2023 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in London. My three bronze sheep are currently in the sculpture garden of The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh (Originally shown at the Cookham Sculpture Festival sponsored by John Lewis 2022). Recent portrait works focus on women writers and include busts of Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison and ongoing work on a bust of Hannah Arendt. Work in progress can be seen on this YouTube channel, https://bit.ly/2TWDAlH Autumn 2019 completed a private commission for a statuette in bronze of a pioneer of women’s golf for the R&A Golf Museum in St Andrews. Last solo exhibition pre-lockdown was a series of paintings shown at the John Radcliffe in Oxford, based on time spent on the Cote d'Azur. A series of drawings and paintings of Dorset landscapes and sheep paintings was shown at Aspects Gallery in Dorchester, summer 2018. Portrait sculpture work is in public and private collections in the UK, with several in the University of Edinburgh's collection. Other works are in France and the US. Born in Edinburgh, daughter of a sculptor and stonemason, I was trained in traditional methods at Liverpool and Winchester Schools of Art in the 1970’s and was an early winner of the Northern Young Contemporaries Prize , awarded by the Whitworth Gallery in Manchester in1975. Winchester had suberb visiting and in-house lecturers in the 1970's, benefitted from teaching by William Pye, Norman Ackroyd, Patrick Heron, John Bellany and many others who were both great artists and good teachers. My most notable work to date is a large bronze portrait of Nelson Mandela, for Glasgow City Council. A specialist in portraits from both live sitters and reconstructions, and also a classicist,I created a reconstruction of Alexander the Great in 2018, after a period of extensive research undertaken for an MA in Classics with the OU.

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