Details of Sculptor

Surname

Jennings

Alternative Surname

First Name

Benjamin II, of Hereford

Initial of Surname

J

Year of Birth/Baptism

Flourished

Year of Death

- 1875

Biographical Details

The son of Benjamin Jennings I, he studied in Rome under John Gibson. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1849 and 1850 showing two busts and a statue of Cupid entitled The birth of the rose (4) This ideal work illustrates a poem by Sappho in which Cupid argues that the rose should be named the queen of flowers. It gained immediate popularity and was illustrated in the Art Journal and in books on contemporary sculpture. Jennings lent it to the exhibition of Art Treasures held at Manchester in 1857, and at a sale held after his death it was purchased by a gentleman from Gloucester, then acquired by Hereford Museum. The same Gloucester gentleman purchased a head of the Madonna, which may have been the bust which the sculptor sent to the RA in 1850 (6). Gunnis also notes that Jennings exhibited at the Great Exhibition.
Literary References: Gunnis 1968, 219