Ian Brennan - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Ian G. Brennan is the official sculptor to the Most Noble Order of the Garter

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

and Honourable Order of the Bath

Order of the Bath

The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

. Brennan has received over ninety-five commissions for the Royal Household, these include over seventy-five carved and painted crowns, coronets and crests. Those of the Garter knights have been installed in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...

. Those of the Knights of the Bath have been installed in Henry VII Lady Chapel

Henry VII Lady Chapel

The Henry VII Lady Chapel, now more often known just as the Henry VII Chapel, is a large Lady chapel at the far eastern end of Westminster Abbey, paid for by the will of Henry VII. It is separated from the rest of the abbey by brass gates and a flight of stairs.The structure of the chapel is a...

at Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

Royal commissions

Brennan's commissions in both wood and bronze for the British Royal Household have drawn other patrons. In the nearly 30 years since his appointment as official sculptor to Britain's two most prestigious heraldic orders, the artist has completed commissions for King Juan Carlos of Spain

Juan Carlos I of Spain

Juan Carlos I |Italy]]) is the reigning King of Spain.On 22 November 1975, two days after the death of General Francisco Franco, Juan Carlos was designated king according to the law of succession promulgated by Franco. Spain had no monarch for 38 years in 1969 when Franco named Juan Carlos as the...

, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

Beatrix of the Netherlands

Beatrix is the Queen regnant of the Kingdom of the Netherlands comprising the Netherlands, Curaçao, Sint Maarten, and Aruba. She is the first daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. She studied law at Leiden University...

, King Harald V of Norway

Harald V of Norway

Harald V is the king of Norway. He succeeded to the throne of Norway upon the death of his father Olav V on 17 January 1991...

and Emperor Akihito of Japan

Akihito

is the current , the 125th emperor of his line according to Japan's traditional order of succession. He acceded to the throne in 1989.-Name:In Japan, the emperor is never referred to by his given name, but rather is referred to as "His Imperial Majesty the Emperor" which may be shortened to . In...

Order of the Garter

Over the course of decades, a number of newly created crest

Crest (heraldry)

A crest is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head....

s carved by Brennan have been positioned above the Knights choir stalls (seats) in St George's Chapel. These include the crests and coronet for three former British Prime Ministers: The Swan for Sir Edward Heath,the stag for Sir John Major and the coronet for Baroness Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Thatcher

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

The coronets for Princess Alexandra, Lavinia,Duchess of Norfolk and Lady Soames; daughter of Sir Winston Churchill. The wings for Sir Timothy Colman

Timothy Colman

Sir Timothy James Alan Colman KG is a British businessman and a previous Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk. He was appointed a Knight of the Order of the Garter in 1996. He is married to Lady Mary Colman , niece of HM Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and lives in Bixley Manor near Norwich.Sir Timothy is...

, the swan for Sir Edward Heath

Edward Heath

Sir Edward Richard George "Ted" Heath, KG, MBE, PC was a British Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as Leader of the Conservative Party ....

, the badger for Lord Butler of Brockwell, the lion for Field Marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

Lord Bramall, the griffin for Lord Bingham of Cornhill

Thomas Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill

Thomas Henry Bingham, Baron Bingham of Cornhill, KG PC QC FBA , was a British judge and jurist. He served in the highest judicial offices of the United Kingdom as Master of the Rolls, Lord Chief Justice and as Senior Law Lord before his retirement, when he focused his work as a teacher and lecturer...

, the stag for Sir John Major

John Major

Sir John Major, is a British Conservative politician, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990–1997...

, and the kiwi for Sir Edmund Hillary

Edmund Hillary

Sir Edmund Percival Hillary, KG, ONZ, KBE , was a New Zealand mountaineer, explorer and philanthropist. On 29 May 1953 at the age of 33, he and Sherpa mountaineer Tenzing Norgay became the first climbers known to have reached the summit of Mount Everest – see Timeline of climbing Mount Everest...

. The Coronet for the Princess Anne,The Princes Royal, the Royal crests for The Duke of Glocester, Prince Andrew The Duke of York, Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex and more recently the Royal crest for Prince William. The gilded Chrysanthemum crest

Imperial Seal of Japan

The Imperial Seal of Japan is a mon or crest used by members of the Japanese Imperial family. Under the Meiji Constitution, no one was permitted to use the Imperial Seal except the Emperor of Japan, who used a 16 petal chrysanthemum with sixteen tips of another row of petals showing behind the...

of HIM Emperor Akihito represented a somewhat different artistic challenge than is normally posed by the conventions of European heraldry. Brennan was also asked to replace damaged or missing carving on some of the older historic sculpture in the chapel. Among those restored Garter Crests and Royal Crowns which were originally made during the middle of the last century are King Frederick IX of Denmark

Frederick IX of Denmark

Frederick IX was King of Denmark from 20 April 1947 until his death on 14 January 1972....

, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden

Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden

Gustaf VI Adolf - Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf - was King of Sweden from October 29, 1950 until his death. His official title was King of Sweden, of the Goths and of the Wends. He was the eldest son of King Gustaf V and his wife Victoria of Baden...

and Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia.

Order of the Bath

Brennan carved the crest for HRH The Prince of Wales, The Great Master of the Order of the Bath. Other crests created by Brennan for Knights of the Bath include carving done for Sir Douglas Lowe

Douglas Lowe

Douglas Gordon Arthur Lowe was a British double Olympic Games champion, winning in 1924 and 1928. On both occasions he set British records of 1:52.4 and 1:51.8 respectively....

, Air Chief Marshal

Air Chief Marshal

Air chief marshal is a senior 4-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

Sir Neil Wheeler

Neil Wheeler

Air Chief Marshal Sir Henry Neil George Wheeler, GCB, CBE, DSO, DFC and bar, AFC was a British Royal Air Force officer.-Military career:...

and Admiral

Admiral

Admiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet . It is usually abbreviated to "Adm" or "ADM"...

Sir Anthony Griffin

Anthony Griffin (Royal Navy officer)

Admiral Sir Anthony Templer Frederick Griffith Griffin GCB was a Royal Navy officer who went on to be Controller of the Navy.-Naval career:...

Other commissions

Brennan carved a life-size lion figurehead and he also worked on the scrollwork around the entrance port on the middle gun-deck on Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory, which is currently in dry dock at Portsmouth's Royal Naval Dockyard. Today, HMS Victory serves as flagship of the United Kingdom's Second Sea Lord and the Royal Navy's Commander-in-Chief Naval Home Command. Brennan's sculptural work was part of an on-going restoration and maintenance programme for the oldest commissioned warship in the world.

Other marine sculpture includes creating the Cunard

Cunard Line

Cunard Line is a British-American owned shipping company based at Carnival House in Southampton, England and operated by Carnival UK. It has been a leading operator of passenger ships on the North Atlantic for over a century...

Crest which is on display in the Grand Lobby of the ocean liner MS Queen Victoria

MS Queen Victoria

MS Queen Victoria is a cruise ship in the Cunard Line fleet, named after Queen Victoria.Queen Victoria is the running mate to Queen Mary 2, and the new Queen Elizabeth. Until November 2008, she also operated alongside Queen Elizabeth 2...

External links

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