The sublime and the beautiful by The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh

THE SUBLIME and the beautiful

THE SUBLIME

and the beautiful

The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh 6 Dundas Street Edinburgh EH3 6HZ +44 (0)131 557 4050 www.fasedinburgh.com art@fasedinburgh.com

Paintings are available to purchase on receipt of catalogue

31 may â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20 july 2019

THE SUBLIME and the beautiful 31 may â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 20 july 2019

The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh

William Gouw Ferguson, Still Life with game and song birds and implements of the chase on a stone ledge

Alexander Runciman, The Annunciation, a study for an altarpiece, after François Verdier

Alexander Nasmyth, Elcho Castle from the Tay

John Knox, Looking towards Rossdhu House from Inchtavannach Island, Loch Lomond

William Clark of Greenock, The Cloch lighthouse

Horatio McCulloch, Watermill in the Highlands

Sam Bough, Firing the rocket

William McTaggart, Bait gatherers – sunset

Joseph Farquharson, The rosy flush of dawn

10 Arthur Melville, Mosul at dawn

11 Sir David Young Cameron, Moonrise in Badenoch

12 John Duncan, Still waters

13 Sir Muirhead Bone, A Manhattan excavation

14 Albert Gordon Thomas, The magic o’ the Isles

15 William Wilson, Pietà

16 John Houston, Sunset over the sea, Harris

17 Alexander Stoddart, Ganymede

1 · WILLIAM GOUW FERGUSON 1632/3 - after 1695

Still life with game birds and implements of the chase on a draped stone ledge signed oil on canvas · 32 x 25½ inches

Gamepieces formed a small but coherent genre of work, popular in many northern European countries. William Gouw Ferguson may have specialised in them from the time of his training in Scotland; however, when he moved to Holland he discovered Dutch masters such as Jan Baptist Weenix (1621-1659) and Melchior d’Hondecoeter (1636-1695), who were expert in this field. He assimilated so much of their style and subject that he is often classed with Dutch gamepiece artists. In this picture Ferguson arranges nine birds, including grey partridge, lapwing, bullfinch and pigeon, with the equipment of falconry such as plumed hood, game box, horn and hunting bag. Ferguson was born in Scotland, leaving when young to settle in Holland. From 1648-51 he is recorded working as an artist in Utrecht, becoming a citizen in 1649. In the 1650s he travelled in France and Italy, and is then recorded in The Hague from 1660-68, in 1672, and – after a period in England – again from 1675-76. In 1681, aged 48, he married a Swedish woman in Amsterdam; he may then have returned to Scotland during the last years of his life. Examples of work by Ferguson can be found in the Louvre (Paris), Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), The Hermitage (St Petersburg) and the National Gallery of Scotland (Edinburgh).

Framed in an antique British 18th century Queen Anne carved pine bolection frame with centred gadrooning, leaf-&-flower band and original gilding.

2 · ALEXANDER RUNCIMAN 1736 - 1785

The Annunciation, a study for an altarpiece, after François Verdier (1651-1730) signed ‘A. Runciman Fect’ and inscribed ‘Verdier’ pencil and grey wash · 14 x 93/4 inches provenance: by descent from the artist; Viscount Runciman of Doxford, Eigg (1870-1949) exhibited: David Croal Thompson, Barbizon House, London; Scottish Fine Arts and Print Club, RSA, 1937

This drawing is thought to be based on a design by the French Baroque painter François Verdier. It describes the moment the angel Gabriel announces that Mary would conceive a child to be born the son of God. Verdier lived in Rome at Villa Medici 1668-1671 and attended the French Academy. Nearly a hundred years later, Edinburgh born Runciman also came to Rome (1767-1772) and it is probable that he visited Villa Medici and studied the drawings of Verdier. On his return from Rome, Runciman became a painter of landscapes and mythological subjects. He was commissioned to execute several wall decorations. The most notable being the large scale murals for Penicuik House depicting scenes from Ossian’s poems inspired by the Gaelic revival of James Macpherson’s poem. Amongst his lesser-known commissions was the altar ceiling and the walls of the Cowgate Episcopal Chapel, now St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, painted in 1774. Four of the wall murals withstood the changing ownership of the church. However, the fifth and most impressive mural above the altar, depicting the Ascension of Christ, has been hidden. When the church became the home of the Presbyterian community in 1818 the mural was painted over and in 1856 the building passed on to the Catholic Church. However, it was not until the 1960s that attention was brought to old documents describing what lay underneath. In 2018 work was begun to uncover and restore the lost work.

Framed in an antique British ebonised hollow with carved gilt wood slip.

3 · ALEXANDER NASMYTH hrsa 1758 - 1840

Elcho Castle from the Tay oil on canvas · 27 x 35 inches

This view of a somewhat exaggerated Elcho Castle is taken from beneath Kinnoull Hill looking south east down the river Tay. Built in 1560, Elcho Castle was built on land granted to the Wemyss family by James III in 1468. The family continued to own the castle and estate until 1929 when the 11th Earl entrusted it into state care. As was often the case, Nasmyth painted successful compositions more than once and we have handled another version of this painting. In the late 18th and 19th centuries artists and travellers began to appreciate the picturesque and sublime qualities of Scotland’s mountains, lochs and rivers. With a profound understanding of his native land, coupled with an Enlightenment vision, Nasmyth brought a new romantic and historical element to landscape painting. His was a vision in which man and nature coexist: a balance of civilisation and wilderness. The encouragement and advice Nasmyth freely gave to younger artists considerably strengthened his influence on the next generation. His pupils included, amongst others, Sir David Wilkie, William Allan, Andrew Geddes, Hugh ‘Grecian’ Williams, Andrew Wilson, John Knox and the Rev. John Thomson of Duddingston. Nasmyth’s vision of Scotland reaches far into the twentieth century and has come, in many ways, to define what constitutes Scottish painting.

In the original early 19th century neoclassical hollow with laurel top. Original gilding. With label verso: John and David Howison, carvers and gilders, Roxburgh’s Close, Luckenbooths, Edinburgh. Various members of the Howison family operated at or near this address during the period 1799-1825.

4 · JOHN KNOX 1778 - 1845

Looking towards Rossdhu House from Inchtavannach Island, Loch Lomond oil on canvas laid on panel · 20 x 28 inches

Loch Lomond and its islands were Knox’s favourite painting ground. The Trossachs became a popular destination for travellers during the 18th and 19th centuries and, in 1810, Walter Scott’s poem The Lady of the Lake, set on Loch Katrine, contributed greatly to the rise of interest in the area. Here, the view of Loch Lomond stretches towards the south west. The pink hues in the sky and the long shadows of the trees in the foreground indicate early evening. Painted from the south side of Inchtavvanach Island, Knox looks on to the islands of Inchmurrin on the left and the smaller Inchgalbraith in the centre, just visible are the ruins of Galbraith’s castle. On the right is Rossdhu House, the seat of Clan Colquhoun of Luss, who were also the owners of the island from which this is painted. The house was completed in 1773 by architect John Baxter and it remains the seat of Clan Colquhoun, although the property has housed Loch Lomond Golf Club since 1993. The romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited the island with Wordsworth in 1803 and rated the view north from the island as one of the five best things in Scotland. Given that the picture has been painted from the Colquhoun owned island and includes Rossdhu House it is possible that the picture was a commission by the family.

Framed in an early-19th century style gilded hollow with bunched reed top and cross ribbons, made for this exhibition.

5 · WILLIAM CLARK of greenock 1803 - 1883

The Cloch lighthouse c.1837 · signed and dated · inscribed by another hand on label verso oil on panel · 13 x 91/2 inches

on loan This superlative example by Clark shows a flat calm day on the Firth of Clyde with a ship sitting off the Cloch lighthouse. The river Clyde and its estuary were the subject of many of Clark’s paintings. He was born in Greenock in 1803, the son of a seaman, and worked there his entire life. He never travelled to London but in Greenock it is likely that he came into contact with painters who were living there at the time, like Robert Salmon and John Fleming. By the late 1820s Clark had set up a business as a marine painter. It coincided with the heyday of Clyde shipbuilding and he represented nearly every celebrated Clyde-built ship and latterly many famous steamers as well as memorable marine scenes and incidents. Clark had an intimate knowledge of ships and the sea and painted with exquisite precision, every detail minutely reproduced.

The Cloch lighthouse is one of the earliest lighthouses in Scotland and often featured in Clark’s paintings. It was built in 1797 and designed by Thomas Smith and Robert Stevenson. It would have been an impressive sight at 80 feet high with a light visible for 14 miles. Framed in an antique mid-19th century neo-classical fluted hollow with laurel top, acanthus mitre leaves and pearl inner. Bears maker’s label of Laurie & Fleming, Bank Street, Greenock.

6 · HORATIO McCULLOCH rsa 1805 - 1867

Watermill in the Highlands signed and dated 186[4?] oil on canvas · 12 x 181/4 inches exhibited: possibly RSA, 1864, no.484 as Mill in Glenfinlas, painted on the spot

This painting is possibly one McCulloch exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1864 titled ‘Mill in Glenfinlas, painted on the spot’ (no. 484). McCulloch did much to popularise Scottish landscape painting and so fashionable were his pictures during his lifetime that the engravings of his Highland subjects sold in great numbers. His paintings of the remote areas of Argyll and the West Coast were amongst the first depictions of what was then known as North Britain to be widely circulated. Like his contemporary and rival Sam Bough he did not have extensive artistic training. He worked for a short time in the 1820s with the Glasgow-based John Knox and during that decade his paintings show the influence of that artist. However, his mature work is distinctively his own and he became particularly adept at the aerial perspective of distant mountains. John Ruskin (1819–1900) and John Everett Millais (1829–1896) spent the summer of 1853 together at Glenfinlas. There Millais started painting the famous portrait of John Ruskin in front of a waterfall (now in the Ashmolean museum). It was Ruskin’s hope that this Scottish visit would introduce the young Pre-Raphaelite to the sublime natural landscapes of Turner, especially the mountain scenery. ‘Mountains’, Ruskin wrote, ‘are the beginning and the end of all natural scenery. They gave life to the air and the streams and had been created by God as a means of delighting and sanctifying the heart of man’. (E.T. Cook and A. Wedderburn, The Works of John Ruskin, Library edition, London, 1903-12, VI)

Framed in an antique mid-19th century hollow with oak leaf and acorn top, embellished ribbon and stick at base of hollow. Original gilding. Maker’s stamp on stretcher; made by Joseph Hogarth, Picture Frame maker to Her Majesty & The Prince of Wales, 96 Mount Street, London, 1866-1886.

7 · SAM BOUGH rsa rsw 1822 - 1878

Firing the rocket signed and dated 1868 watercolour heightened with white · 151/4 x 20 inches provenance: J B Bennett & Sons Ltd, 50 Gordon Street, Glasgow

Bough’s dramatic scene in watercolour depicts the use of the ‘Manby mortar’ by 19th century coastguards. A shot with a line attached was fired from the shore to a wrecked ship, allowing its crew to hoist themselves ashore and to safety. While an effective means of rescue, the mortar’s inaccuracy often required several time-consuming attempts to reach their target, allowing crowds time to gather. A substantial oil of this subject, The Rocket Cart, 1876 (Kirkcaldy Galleries) shows the rocket being wheeled out to a churning waterfront. The first recorded rescue use of the Manby apparatus was on 18 February 1808, with Captain Manby, the inventor, in charge. The crew of seven were brought to safety from the Plymouth Brig Elizabeth, stranded off the shore at Great Yarmouth.

The coastline depicted in this work isn’t identified. 20

It was estimated that by the time of Manby’s death in 1854 nearly 1,000 people had been rescued from stranded ships by means of his apparatus. There are at least two recorded occasions when the Manby mortar was used in 1876: once on the Isle of Man and another on the Kincardineshire coast. Framed in an early 20th century swept frame wiith pierced corners and shell centres, floral sprigs extending over panels with cross-hatched ground. Largely original gilding. Bears maker’s label of J B Bennett & Sons Ltd.

8 · WILLIAM McTAGGART rsa rsw 1835 - 1910

Bait gatherers – sunset c.1907 oil on canvas · 41 x 65 inches provenance: the artist’s family until c.1980; St Andrews Fine Art, 1987; private collection, Edinburgh literature: J L Caw, William McTaggart rsa, Glasgow, 1917, pg.277

From 1876 McTaggart returned annually to his native Kintyre in the west of Scotland. Exposed to the full force of the Atlantic, Machrihanish Bay offers the longest continuous stretch of sand in Argyll. Its everchanging light and the sense of vastness produced by the unbroken horizon gave McTaggart endless material to draw on. Caw describes this picture and others painted that same summer as having ‘attained very wonderful effects of light and colour and atmosphere by an economy of means and subtlety of handling greater even than he had hitherto used.’ Late in his life, his figures became so absorbed into their landscape settings that they are often invisible at first glance. According to Caw this sizeable work was one of the last McTaggart did in oil. In June 1907, at Machrihanish, he painted three or four pictures ‘which in freshness and energy stand near the very top of his achievement’. They were the last important pictures painted by McTaggart there. The following year was to be his last visit to the place. In words used for another picture, Mist and Rain, Machrihanish, Caw describes the essence of this picture too: “Vital with all the knowledge of nature gathered in a lifetime of loving study, [it] is a wonderful and fascinating creation. There is nothing in the picture but a welter of waves beneath a misty sun-suffused rainy sky, and they are suggested rather than realised. Yet the whole baffling mystery and ethereal beauty of the wide sea and of the living air seem to breathe in the few pregnant touches which give the vision permanence. It is the very soul of Machrihanish that is painted here.” (pg.187) 22

Framed in a replica of the type of frame made for McTaggart by Doig, McKechnie and Davies; later Doig, Wilson and Wheatley; using a profile copied from an original frame and boxwood moulds stamped with the business initials.

9 · JOSEPH FARQUHARSON ra 1846 - 1935

The rosy flush of dawn signed oil on canvas · 391/2 x 59 inches provenance: The Fine Art Society, London, 1988; private collection, Hong Kong

Joseph Farquharson was renowned for his snowscapes and countryside scenes. He travelled as far afield as Egypt; however, many of his paintings depict the rigours of his native Scotland, often in winter. Though remarkably realistic, Farquharson’s paintings are highly poetic and often take their titles from Milton and Shakespeare. In particular, he was adept at capturing the warmth and light of sunrises and twilight. Farquharson combined a career as a painter with his inherited role as laird of Finzean (Aberdeenshire). At Finzean he adapted French plein-air techniques to the Scottish climate. He designed a painting hut on wheels, fitted with large windows and a stove. From this hut, he painted the wooded landscapes surrounding the estate. Farquharson’s considerable commercial success was based on the snow scenes he exhibited almost annually at the Royal Academy from 1894 until 1925, earning him the nickname ‘Frozen Mutton’ Farquharson.

In the original antique British 19th century reverse profile with cushioned top, centred scrolling foliage and flowers on a hazzeled ground, and a demi-flower ornament on the back edge.

10 Âˇ ARTHUR MELVILLE arsa rsw 1855 - 1904

Mosul at dawn signed watercolour Âˇ 121/4 x 181/4 inches provenance: private collection, England

This watercolour is likely to have been executed in 1888 along with another similar work, Arabs returning from a raid, Mosul, 1888 (private collection). Both watercolours show riders, identified by their scarlet banner, crossing the Tigris in the shadow of the walled city. The skyline of mosques and minarets is set against a sun not yet risen. It is possible that the adventure stories and travel writing of an earlier generation lured Melville to more remote lands than his less daring contemporaries. He passed through Mosul en route to Constantinople in May 1882. It was a treacherous journey on horseback, during which the artist was pursued by bandits, dodged bullets and endured a spell in prison.

Melville revisited his watercolours of Cairo, Baghdad and all places in between throughout the 1880s and 90s. His technique is something to marvel at. Apparently simple, it is composed of layer upon layer of watercolour applied and removed; scuffed paper, invisible to the naked eye, deepens the effect, creating body. The more one looks, the more the watercolour reveals. In the original antique late-19th century British gilt wood Whistler frame.

11 · SIR DAVID YOUNG CAMERON ra rsa hrsw re 1865 - 1945

Moonrise in Badenoch signed; signed and titled verso oil on canvas · 251/2 x 30 inches provenance: Ian MacNicol, Glasgow

Cameron’s focus turned to the austere beauty of Scotland’s wilderness in the early 20th century. His style was individual and altered little during his life. Palette was the only element that changed quite radically: from sober and muted greys and browns early in the twentieth century to vivid blues, reds and gold by the 1930s. From the beginning of his painting career, however, he eliminated extraneous detail, which gave his landscapes an ascetic splendour and drama. The choice of a rising moon and not a setting sun allowed Cameron to bathe the scene in a silvery, other-worldly light. Although both titled on an Ian MacNicol label as Badenoch and in the artist’s hand on the canvas’s stretcher, it is possible that this is Moonrise in Lorne, exhibited RGI 1921. The horizon matches the hills adjacent to Loch Tulla and the bend in the Allt Tolaghan aligns with the Inveroran Hotel in the middle distance.

Framed in an antique 19th century British frame, gilt oak reverse slope with laurel leaf and berry top. Largely original gilding.

12 · JOHN DUNCAN rsa rsw 1866 - 1945

Still waters c.1905; initialled J.D. oil on canvas · 16 x 12 inches provenance: private collection, London exhibited: Bourne Fine Art, Spring Exhibition, Edinburgh, 1996, no.31 literature: John Kemplay, The Paintings of John Duncan: A Scottish Symbolist, Pomegranate Artbooks, 2009, pp.89-90.

Early in his life as an artist, Duncan drew on Arthurian legend but later applied himself to Celtic myths on the basis of Patrick Geddes’ philosophy to use art as a tool for a strong national tradition. While the Symbolist movement was probably his most important source of inspiration, Duncan’s paintings were instilled with the spirit of the Italian Renaissance, and he spent much of his life experimenting with various compositions of tempera. Aside from the practical problems Duncan encountered with the physical act of painting, spiritual matters invaded his thoughts. He wrote short accounts of the visions he had. One such hallucination left an impression. It was of a young woman standing: “She glowed with deep fervent life” and she looked at Duncan with her “large simple fearless eyes like a goddess”. Her poise was perfect and the expression in her eyes Duncan found impossible to describe. The eyes were kind and comprehending with no weakness in them. Duncan found that the vision of the woman strengthened him. Perhaps with this in mind Duncan developed his own type of face, figure and Celtic style for his flat and patternlike paintings. In Still waters the almost symmetrical picture, save the peacock over her left shoulder, underscores the most direct, and yet selfcontained, of gazes.

Framed in a gilded Celtic Revival style frame, made for this exhibition.

13 · SIR MUIRHEAD BONE hrsa hrws 1876 - 1953

A Manhattan excavation signed in plate; signed in pencil to margin and initialled MB. One of 18 impressions in the 13th state of 19, 151 copies total drypoint · 121/4 x 101/8 inches provenance: The Fine Art Society, London; Kirkton House, Scotland

Bone was a printmaker and watercolour artist noted for his depictions of architectural subjects, city views, landscapes, and his work as an artist in both the First and Second World Wars. After the First World War, Bone made fewer prints until he travelled to the United States. In this bird’s-eye view, Muirhead Bone presents a meticulously detailed construction site in Midtown Manhattan. With great observational precision, he depicts workers building the Roosevelt Hotel at 45th Street and Madison Avenue, one of the many massive construction projects underway during the economic boom of the 1920s. Using the intaglio technique of drypoint, Bone contrasts the immense size and dramatic complexity of the excavation pit with the tiny figures of the construction workers. At the top of the image, Bone captures a bustling street intersection filled with cars and pedestrians. He spent five years completing this print, which went through 19 states before it was finally issued as an edition in 1928; it is now regarded as one of the artist’s most celebrated drypoints.

14 · ALBERT GORDON THOMAS rsw 1893 - 1970

The magic o’ the Isles signed oil on board · 40 x 50 inches exhibited: RGI, 1935, no.198

Here, Thomas has painted a now world famous landmark, courtesy of twenty-first century film, in muted palette and flattened tones heightening the already otherworldly impression. The Storr at Trotternish on the Isle of Skye is a remarkable rock formation of spiky pinnacles, the remnants of ancient landslips. The Old Man and other peaks tower above the viewer, the drama emphasised through light and shadow, wisps of cloud and layering of complementary tones. This patternlike approach nods, stylistically, towards the art deco movement of the time. Thomas studied and later taught art at Glasgow School of Art and regularly exhibited at the Royal Glasgow Institute.

Framed in an antique 19th century replica Tudor cushion frame with centre to corner scrolling leaf pattern.

15 · WILLIAM WILSON rsa rsw 1905 - 1972

Pietà signed and titled in pencil to margin linocut · 81/2 x 81/2 inches

Wilson’s choice of subject, the pietà, is one of the most powerful pieces of Christian iconography. It has most likely been carried over from the artist’s stained glass design work. The angular execution of the linocut print bears the hallmarks of Wilson’s talent as a stained glass artist. Wilson brought to it the glaziers’ need to fill space from margin to margin into his prints and watercolours. The blocked structure of his simplified figures lends itself well to both glasswork and printmaking, while the religious iconography of the pieta exemplifies the devotion to Catholicism that Wilson held for much of this life.

16 · JOHN HOUSTON rsa obe 1930 - 2008

Sunset over the sea, Harris signed; signed, titled and dated 1975 on stretcher verso oil on canvas · 30 x 40 inches provenance: Bourne Fine Art, 1998

In 1969 Houston had been made artist in residence at the Prairie School, Wisconsin. The vast landscapes of Wisconsin proved inspirational and the influence of the expansive American scenery is clearly evident in the pictures made immediately following his return to Scotland. Here, the artist takes one of the most atmospheric and naturally abstract occurrences in nature, the sunset, as his subject. Houston creates a work that is a characteristically clever combination of the abstract and the actual. Houston maintained that he preferred working from sketches and his memory as he felt that painting from direct observation could at times “dilute the first strong impression”. Houston travelled to Harris throughout his lifetime and his first trip was in 1974. He talked of how he overcame the painterly problem of presenting this huge sky whilst keeping the compositional integrity of his painting, and he looked to American painters, such as de Kooning, for inspiration; “I felt the paintings were just going to be loose bits of painting and would collapse unless I had that structure. I saw that this was something that de Kooning has achieved. And, as well as being keen on some of those American painters, I had also been doing a lot of large watercolours on Japanese paper in which the colour bled away. That softness combined with the structure suggested a way of working.” Houston’s Harris paintings from the mid1970s are perhaps the most reductive paintings of his career.

17 · ALEXANDER STODDART frse b.1959

Ganymede marble · height 26 inches provenance: the artist’s studio

The Dardanian Prince, Ganymede, famed for his beauty, was abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle and borne to heaven to serve as cupbearer to the Gods. For the philosopher Hegel, the figure of Athene was identical with the executive power of the State, and that of Zeus with its absolute being. This gives the myth of Ganymede some extra interest, since it seems to allegorise the relationship (difficult in the modern age) between the political and the beautiful. Few instances of State patronage of the beautiful surpass that of ancient Egypt, and it is notable that Ganymede is also the god of the combined sources of the Nile. Alexander Stoddart has been Her Majesty’s Sculptor in Ordinary in Scotland since 2008 and is an Honorary Professor at the University of the West of Scotland, Paisely, where he has his studio. He has completed a number of public commissions including David Hume and Adam Smith on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh; the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace; and, most recently, a 14 foot sculpture of Leon Battista Alberti for the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

Published by The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh for the exhibition

THE SUBLIME and the beautiful

held at 6 Dundas Street, Edinburgh from 31 May to 20 July 2019

cover: William McTaggart, Bait gatherers – sunset (detail), no.8, pg.20 frontispiece: John Knox, Looking towards Rossdhu House from Inchtavannach Island, Loch Lomond (detail), no.4, pg.12 table of contents: John Houston, Sunset over the sea, Harris (detail), no.16, pg.36 left: William Gouw Ferguson, Still Life with game and song birds and implements of the chase on a stone ledge (detail), no.1, pg.6 overleaf: Albert Gordon Thomas, The magic o’ the Isles (detail), no.14, pg.32

The Fine Art Society

in Edinburgh 6 Dundas Street

Edinburgh EH3 6HZ +44 (0)131 557 4050 www.fasedinburgh.com art@fasedinburgh.com

The Fine Art Society in Edinburgh