The above photograph features the Robinson Crusoe statue on Lower Largo's Main Street, on the day of its unveiling. The evergreen branches around the edges of the image are some of the many decorations around the village on that momentous day - 11 December 1885. The base of the statue (see detail below) is inscribed with the words T Stuart Burnett A.R.S.A. Sc. 1885 to indicate that the sculptor was Thomas Stuart Burnett, an Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy, and that the piece was sculpted in 1885. Burnett was present on the day of the unveiling, along with his wife.
A full illustrated biography Thomas Stuart Burnett has recently been published online and can be found here. This blog biography provides a full account of all Burnett achieved in his relatively short lifetime. Many photographs of the man, his family and his works are included. A read through this record, which has been created by Burnett's great grandson William Walkington, is highly recommended.
https://williamwalkington.blogspot.com/p/thomas-weir-stuart-burnett-1853-1888.html
As well as learning about the creation of the Robinson Crusoe statue in the context of Burnett's other work, you can find out some fascinating facts such as his role in the creation of the Greyfriars Bobby statue at the junction of Candlemaker Row and George IV Bridge in Edinburgh.
It is especially interesting to note that the man who acted as best man at Burnett's wedding in 1882 was artist George Whitton Johnstone. A member of the Royal Scottish Academy, Johnstone produced multiple watercolour landscapes of the Largo are in the late nineteenth century, including of Viewforth and the Temple. Johnstone is also known to have acted as model for Burnett's statue of Rob Roy (1884). Is it possible he could also have modelled for the Crusoe statue? And if not, who did? Do you think there are similarities between the two pieces below (Rob Roy to the left and Crusoe to the right)? If you visit the biography, you can see a photograph of Johnstone and decide for yourself whether he bears some resemblance to the famous statue of Robinson Crusoe.
The day after the 1885 statue unveiling the Fife Free Press reported that...
"There has now been completed by Mr T. Stuart Burnett, A.R.S.A., a life-size statue, in bronze, of Robinson Crusoe. It is placed in a niche in the wall in front of the cottage where he is said to have been born, and stands about six feet high. It is spiritedly designed and perfectly executed, and it certainly tells its own story. There is no dubiety as to who the figure is intended to represent. To all who have read the romance of his first voyage, it looks like an old friend. Crusoe is clad in his rough coat of goat's skins, with torn and tattered breeches of the same material. His muscular legs are bare from knees down. His feet are enclosed in skin strapped down. His left hand is slightly pressed on an old rifle, while his right shades his eyes, which are looking expectantly to sea as if to snatch the glimpse of a passing sail. An old Scottish claymore hangs by the left side, while an old war axe hangs from his right side. The cap is also of skin. Altogether the figure is a satisfactory model, and a true representation of Robinson Crusoe".
William Walkington's blog biography celebrates the productive life Thomas Stuart Burnett, cut short by his untimely death at the age of 34 years in 1888. Largo is fortunate to be graced by an fine example of Burnett's work, which continues to gaze down from the same location of its unveiling some 140 years ago.