Robert Burns

The statue of Robert Burns (also known as the Burns Monument) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is a work of public art by the Scottish artist William Grant Stevenson, RSA. The bronze statue, of the Scottish national poet Robert Burns, stands on a plinth of Nova Scotia pink granite with two bronze bas relief panels. The monument was donated to the City of Milwaukee by James A. Bryden. Sculptor William Grant Stevenson was a prolific Scottish sculptor and a member of the prestigious artists' collective the Royal Scottish Academy, to which he was elected in 1896. Stevenson first became world famous for his sculptures of Robert Burns in 1879, when his marble statue was selected from 21 competition entries as the best statue for the Burns Monument in Kay Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland. Stevenson worked out of the Dean Studio in Edinburgh with his brother and fellow sculptor, David Watson Stevenson, RSA. W. G. Stevenson is also recognized for his colossal bronze statue of Sir William Wallace in Aberdeen. While Stevenson's statues of Burns in Kilmarnock and Milwaukee are similar, under close inspection it can be seen that the two figures have distinctly different arm positions and hand gestures. Additionally, the Kilmarnock statue was chiseled from Sicilian marble whereas that in Milwaukee was cast in bronze. Statues of Burns created by Stevenson and the Dean Studio can also be found in Denver, Chicago, and Fredericton, New Brunswick.