Group, marble, Cupid kindling the torch of Hymen, by George Rennie, England, ca. 1831

Statue, group in marble. Hymen, a naked youth wearing a chaplet of roses, stands with a torch in his right hand. With his left he embraces Cupid who stands beside him. Cupid rests his left hand on his bow and places his right on the shoulder of Hymen. He inclines his head to blow on the torch. The group is supported from the back by drapery which falls from Hymen's left arm on to an altar. Signed.

Included in the sale of the collection of the sculptor held at Christies & Manson, London, in 1843. On loan to the Museum from 1868, and acquired in 1936.

Included in the sale of the collection of the sculptor held by Messrs Christie & Manson, King Street, London, on 9 June, lot 43. Originally on loan from W.H. Rennie Esq., 19 Victoria Street, Westminster, London from February 1868. From 1918 various attempts to contact the lender or its rightful successive owner failed; communication with a Brig. Gen. George A.P. Rennie during 1934 and 1936 suggested that no descendant could be found, and that the Museum should consider the group its own. The object was consequently registered by the Museum in 1936. Given by W.H Rennie, 1831.

This marble group 'Cupid kindling the torch on Hymen' is made by George Rennie (1802-1860) in England in ca. 1831. Cupid, the god of love, here holds the torch of Hymen, the god of marriage. This classical subject was typical of Rennie’s work; he studied under Bertel Thorvaldsen in Rome in the 1820s, and was much influenced by the Danish sculptor’s style, which echoed the sculpture of ancient Greece. Rennie supported the establishment of the Government School of Design in the 1840s, which was a forerunner of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A.22-1936