Landscape painting in Scotland
![Painting of a lake with fading mountains in background and darker trees in foreground.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/86/McCulloch_Horatio_Loch_Lomond.jpg/350px-McCulloch_Horatio_Loch_Lomond.jpg)
Landscape painting in Scotland includes all forms of
The capriccios of Italian and Dutch landscapes undertaken as house decoration by James Norie and his sons in the eighteenth century brought the influence of French artists such as Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. Students of the Nories included Jacob More, who produced Claudian-inspired landscapes. This period saw a shift in attitudes to the Highlands and mountain landscapes to interpreting them as aesthetically pleasing exemplars of nature. Watercolours were pioneered in Scotland by Paul Sandby and Alexander Runciman. Alexander Nasmyth has been described as "the founder of the Scottish landscape tradition",[1] and produced both urban landscapes and rural scenes that combine Claudian principles of an ideal landscape with the reality of Scottish topography. His students included major landscape painters of the early nineteenth century such as Andrew Wilson, the watercolourist Hugh William Williams, John Thompson of Duddingston, and probably the artists that would be most directly influenced by Nasmyth, John Knox. In the Victorian era, the tradition of Highland landscape painting was continued by figures such as Horatio McCulloch, Joseph Farquharson and William McTaggart, described as the "Scottish Impressionist". The fashion for coastal painting in the later nineteenth century led to the establishment of artist colonies in places such as Pittenweem and Crail.
The first significant group of Scottish artists to emerge in the twentieth century were the
In the post-war period the English-born
Origins to the eighteenth century
![Painting of a far view of a Victorian palace estate.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0a/KeirincxSetonPalace1638.jpg/220px-KeirincxSetonPalace1638.jpg)
The earliest examples of Scottish landscape painting are in the tradition of Scottish house decoration for burgesses, lairds and lords, that arose after the Reformation in the sixteenth century, partly as a response to the loss of religious patronage.[2] Most were of heraldry, classical myths and allegory, but there were a number of painted landscape scenes.[3] These included the landscapes of four seasons in the Skelmorlie Aisle (1638) in the memorial chapel of the Montgomery family in Largs undertaken by James Stalker (fl. 1632–38). They indicate an awareness of contemporaneous Dutch landscape painting.[4] The Flemish artist Alexander Keirincx (1600–52) was active in England and Scotland where he undertook commissions for Charles I, mainly of royal castles in Northern England and Scotland. These included one showing Seton House (1636–37) in its landscape,[5] which is often said to be the earliest surviving painted landscape created in Scotland.[6] The theme of house decoration with landscapes was taken up in the eighteenth century by James Norie (1684–1757), who worked beside the architect William Adam (1689–1748). Norie, with his sons James (1711–36) and Robert (d. 1766), painted the houses of the peerage with capriccios or pastiches of Italian and Dutch landscapes,[7] bringing to Scotland the influence of French artists such as Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. The Nories were also important figures in professionalisation of Scottish art and the development of art education.[8]
![Painting of a waterfall with small human figures.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/36/JacobMoreNG_1897.jpg/220px-JacobMoreNG_1897.jpg)
Probably a student of the Nories was Charles Steuart (fl. 1762–90), who produced a series of Perthshire landscapes for the Duke of Atholl at Blair Castle, including The Black Lynn, Fall on the Brann (1766).[8] Also among the students of the Nories was Jacob More, who moved to Italy from 1773 and is chiefly known as a landscape painter who created Claudian-style, classically inspired landscapes.[7] More's series of four paintings "Falls of Clyde" (1771–73), produced before his departure to Italy, have been described by art historian Duncan Macmillan as treating the waterfalls as "a kind of natural national monument" and has been seen as an early work in developing a romantic sensibility to the Scottish landscape.[9] This period saw a shift in attitudes to the Highlands and mountain landscapes in general, from viewing them as hostile, empty regions occupied by a backwards and marginal people, to interpreting them as aesthetically pleasing exemplars of nature, occupied by rugged primitives, which were now depicted in a dramatic fashion.[9] Highly influential in this process was the Scottish philosopher Archibald Alison's Nature and Principles of Taste (1790), which widened the forms of landscape seen as appropriate for painting, placing an emphasis on their historical significance and emotional impact on the painter.[10]
![Painting of a busy street with on going building construction on right side.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a6/Alexander_Nasmyth_-_Princes_Street_with_the_Commencement_of_the_Building_of_the_Royal_Institution_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg/220px-Alexander_Nasmyth_-_Princes_Street_with_the_Commencement_of_the_Building_of_the_Royal_Institution_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg)
Alexander Nasmyth (1758–1840) trained in the Trustees Academy in Edinburgh under Runciman. He visited Italy, where he met with More, and worked in London, but returned to his native Edinburgh for most of his career. He produced work in a large range of forms, including his portrait of Romantic poet Robert Burns, which depicts him against a dramatic Scottish background, but he is chiefly remembered for his landscapes and is described in the Oxford Dictionary of Art as "the founder of the Scottish landscape tradition".[1] He produced both urban landscapes, like Edinburgh from Caton Hill (1825), which put Edinburgh its geological context, and rural scenes such as Castle Huntly and The Tay (c. 1800). His works combined Claudian principles of an ideal landscape with the reality of Scottish topography.[15]
Nineteenth century
Nasmyth was also a highly influential teacher at the Trustee's Academy in Edinburgh. Among his students were painters who took the landscape tradition into the nineteenth century. They included Andrew Wilson (1780–1840), who would become Master of the Academy in 1818, the watercolourist Hugh William Williams (1773–1829), clergyman and artist John Thompson of Duddingston (1778–1840) and probably the artist that would be most directly influenced by Nasmyth, John Knox (1778–1845).[16] Williams' most famous work are interpretive versions of Greek landscapes, based on sketches taken on his travels there, among them The Temple of Poseidon, Cape Sunium (1828). His close friend John Thompson focused on a dark dramatic version of Scottish landscape, as in his most famous work Fast Castle from Below (1824).[17] Knox directly linked Nasmyth's style with the Romantic literature of Walter Scott.[18] Knox's Landscape with Tourists at Lock Katrine (c. 1820), was a commentary on the tourist trade that grew up in the Trossachs in the aftermath of the publication of Scott's poem The Lady of the Lake in 1810.[19] He was also among the first artists to take a major interest in depicting the urban landscape of Glasgow.[20] Towards the end of his career he undertook panoramic works of the views from the top of Ben Lomond, which played a part in opening up the Highlands as a spectacle that would be taken up by artists in the second half of the century.[19]
![Painting of a sea shore in a rough weather.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e8/McTaggart%2C_The_Storm.jpg/220px-McTaggart%2C_The_Storm.jpg)
In the
Twentieth century to present
![Painting of a blue water body with mountains in background.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/03/Samuel_Peploe%2C_Iona%2C_1933.jpg/220px-Samuel_Peploe%2C_Iona%2C_1933.jpg)
The first significant group of Scottish artists to emerge in the twentieth century were the
The group of artists connected with Edinburgh, most of whom had studied at
![Painting of far view of a town with various building seen.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/59/WilliamCrozier%2C_Edinburgh_from_Salisbury_Crags.jpg/220px-WilliamCrozier%2C_Edinburgh_from_Salisbury_Crags.jpg)
William Johnstone (1897–1981) was one of the artists most closely associated with the
In the post-war period the English-born Joan Eardley (1921–63) moved to Glasgow, where she was a graduate of the Glasgow School of Art and explored the landscapes of the Kincardineshire coast and created depictions of Glasgow tenements and children in the streets.[44] Scottish artists that continued the tradition of landscape painting and joined the new generation of modernist artists of the highly influential St Ives School were Wilhelmina Barns-Graham (1912–2004) and Margaret Mellis (1914–2009).[45] Polish realist Josef Herman (1911–2000) was resident in Glasgow between 1940 and 1943[46] where he influenced husband and wife Tom MacDonald (1914–1985) and Bet Low (born 1924), who with painter William Senior (born 1927) formed the Clyde Group, aimed at promoting political art. Their work included industrial and urban landscapes such as MacDonald's Transport Depot (1944–45) and Bet Low's Blochairn Steelworks (c. 1946).[46] John Bellany (born 1942), mainly focusing on the coastal communities of his birth, labelled "Scottish realism", was among the leading Scottish intellectuals from the 1960s.[47] Landscape has remained a major form in Scottish painting in the work of artists such as James Morrison (born 1932), Ian MacKenzie Smith (born 1935), Duncan Shanks (born 1937) and Barbara Rae (born 1943).[48] The coastal theme would also be pursued by artists such as Elizabeth Ogilvy (born 1946), Joyce W. Cairns (born 1947) and Ian Stephen (born 1955).[45]
See also
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References
Notes
- ^ ISBN 0-19-953294-X, p. 433.
- ISBN 0-7486-1455-9, p. 290.
- ISBN 0-19-162433-0, pp. 198–9.
- ISBN 1-85158-251-7, pp. 58–61.
- ^ Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990, p. 67.
- ^ J. Holloway and L. Errington, The Discovery of Scotland: the Appreciation of Scottish Scenery Through Two Centuries of Painting (Edinburgh: National Gallery of Scotland, 1978), p. 1.
- ^ ISBN 1-4094-2618-1, p. 153.
- ^ ISBN 0-500-20333-4, pp. 52–3.
- ^ ISBN 0-521-64202-7, pp. 151–3.
- ^ Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990, p. 219.
- ISBN 0-300-11658-6, p. 17.
- ISBN 1-84708-452-4.
- ISBN 3-7913-1879-9.
- ISBN 0-300-05833-0, p. 293.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 78–81.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 78–83.
- ^ Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990, pp. 222–5.
- ISBN 1-4094-7617-0, p. 104.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 82–83.
- ISBN 1-55002-159-1, p. 401.
- ^ ISBN 0-8061-3253-1, p. 136.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 104.
- ^ ISBN 0-7112-2906-6, p. 27.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 105.
- ^ Chilvers, The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, p. 376.
- ISBN 0-415-00775-5, p. 116.
- ISBN 0-7190-5867-8, p. 165.
- ISBN 1-873830-13-0.
- ISBN 0-19-917063-0, p. 43.
- ^ a b Chilvers, The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists, p. 575.
- ^ "The Scottish Colourists", Explore Art, retrieved 12 November 2012
- ^ "The Scottish Colourists", Visit Scotland.com, archived from the original on 29 April 2008, retrieved 7 May 2010
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 162.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 163–4.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 178.
- ^ a b c "The Edinburgh School", Edinburgh Museums and Galleries, retrieved 10 April 2013.
- ISBN 0-19-969305-6, pp. 153–4.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 182–3.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 184.
- ISBN 0-500-20333-4, pp. 351–2.
- ^ ISBN 0-7486-2027-3, p. 173.
- ^ D. Macmillan, "Review: Painters in Parallel: William Johnstone & William Gillies", Scotsman.com, 19 January 2012, retrieved 8 May 2012.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 175–6.
- ^ MacDonald, Scottish Art, pp. 191–2.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Scottish Art, p. 193.
- ^ a b Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990, pp. 370–1.
- ISBN 0-7546-6124-5, p. 58.
- ^ Macmillan, Scottish Art, 1460–1990, p. 400.
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- Macmillan, D., "Review: Painters in Parallel: William Johnstone & William Gillies", Scotsman.com, 19 January 2012, retrieved 8 May 2012.
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