John Henning (2 May 1771 – 8 April 1851) was a Scottish sculptor who began his career as a carpenter. His masterpieces were the one-twentieth-scale models he created of the Parthenon and Bassae friezes. These took him twelve years to complete. Many others then copied this idea but he could not copyright the work of a long-dead artist, and could do nothing to prevent this. Biography Henning was born in Paisley the son of Samuel Henning a carpenter and builder. He trained in wood-carving under his father. He was noted for his ability as a sculptor when he created cameos of his friends and family. After marrying Catherine Sunter when aged 28 and encouraged by his early cameos he went into business in Glasgow and then Edinburgh attracting clients that included Sir Walter Scott. Josiah Wedgwood was impressed by his work and agreed to champion them for Henning. In 1810 he is listed as a "portrait modeller" living at 48 Rose Street in the First New Town in Edinburgh just north of Princes Street. In 1811, John and Catherine moved to London where Henning saw the newly arrived Elgin Marbles in Burlington House and persuaded Lord Elgin to allow him to draw and copy them. It was said that a commission from Princess Charlotte of a portrait medallion inspired Henning to realise that he could use his drawings to create slate moulds that could be used to reproduce the friezes in miniature. Henning also took advantage of his sittings with the Princess to introduce her to more radical reading. This task was to last twelve years although Henning decided to also add the Bassae frieze to his work, and this did not arrive in England until a few years into his work. One miniature version of the Parthenon frieze was just two inches high, but over twenty four feet long. By 1820, Henning was ready to sell his work and it was obvious that he had not copied the remains of the friezes, but recreated them. In the case of the Parthenon frieze he had used drawings taken by William Pars in 1765, the drawings commissioned from Feodor Ivanowitsch by Lord Elgin before they were moved to England and importantly drawings made by Jacques Carrey. The last drawings were not the most detailed, but importantly they were made thirteen years before the explosion that had damaged the Parthenon in 1687.