Scottish Artists 1750-1900: From Caledonia to the Continent

Interesting exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery at Holyrood House looking at the relationship between the royal family and Scottish artists in the 18th and 19th centuries.

The show gave a good overview of the taste of British monarchs and the development of Scottish art. It began with George III and the support he gave to Allan Ramsey who painting the main royal portraits of which hundreds of copies were made. Ramsey was the first Scottish artist of European significance.

It then looked at David Wilkie and in particular two pictures purchased by the Prince Regent but it also looked at his work after he had visited Spain when he started using brighter colours and covered subjects from the peninsular war. There was also a lovely picture by him of Queen Victoria, probably the earliest picture of her as the reigning monarch.

There was a large section on Queen Victoria and her taste for all things Scottish including portraits of the staff at Balmoral by Kenneth MacLeay. It also continued the Spanish theme with the pictures of that country by John Philips one of which had been a present from Albert to Victoria.

Closes on 7 February 2016.

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