George Rennie (sculptor and politician)

George Rennie (1801 or 1802 – 22 March 1860) was a Scottish sculptor and politician. He entered politics to support the arts in Britain and helped achieve free access to public art and museums. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Ipswich, 1842-1847. That year he was appointed as governor of the Falkland Islands, off the coast of Argentina.

George Rennie was born to George Rennie, agriculturist, and his wife in Phantassie, East Lothian, Scotland. He was a nephew of John Rennie, the civil engineer. Interested in art from an early age, Rennie studied sculpture at Rome as a young man.

After his return to Britain, Rennie worked as a sculptor. He exhibited statues and busts at the Royal Academy from 1828 to 1837. He also exhibited three times at the Suffolk Street Gallery during the same period.

His most important works at the academy were: A Gleaner and Grecian Archer, 1828; Cupid and Hymen (depicting Cupid blowing on the torch of Hymen to rekindle its flame) and busts of Bertel Thorvaldsen and his uncle John Rennie, 1831. Also considered of merit are The Archer (which he afterwards presented to the Athenaeum Club) and a bust of the artist David Wilkie in 1833. He exhibited The Minstrel in 1834; and a group of four figures in marble, 1837.

Currently^[update]Cupid and Hymen is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. In 2005 it was temporarily removed from display during reorganisation of the museum's sculpture galleries. It was returned to display in the sculpture court adjoining the central courtyard.

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