#national gallery of scotland

[caedmonofwhitby]

William Hogarth

Sarah Malcolm (died 1733)

Portrait of Sarah Malcolm, who was executed two days after Hogarth sketched her for murder.

Sarah Malcolm was executed in 1733 at the age of 25 for the murder of her mistress Lydia Duncomb and two fellow servants. Malcolm denied having any part in the killing but was found guilty and sentenced to hang. Hogarth sketched her in Newgate Prison in London two days before her execution on 7 March at Fleet Street. Hogarth then went on to make this painting and an engraving, that was popular due to her notoriety.

Scottish National Gallery

[hanssloane]

A boy and his dog

Sir Henry Raeburn

John Stuart Hepburn Forbes, later 8th Baronet of Monymusk, and of Fettercairn and Pitsligo, 1804 - 186

National Galleries of Scotland

c 1812

[downthetubes]

The extraordinary, ethereal art of Remedios Varo

A brief, image-led look at the work of Remedios Varo, a Spanish painter famed for her surrealist artworks

[azvolrien]

These photos are actually from a couple of weeks ago, but I never got around to uploading them. The national gallery here recently finished a big renovation, opening up some new spaces downstairs to have a section dedicated to Scottish art. I especially liked the various cityscapes on Edinburgh on display; they feel like period pieces now, but were pretty contemporary when they were painted and make for an interesting little time capsule of how much the city has changed (and how much it hasn't).

[artsandculture]

Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1892) 🎨 John Singer Sargent 🏛️ National Galleries Scotland 📍 Edinburgh, Scotland

Sargent’s dazzling and unforgettable image of Lady Agnew is one of the most famous of his many portraits of fashionable London society. For both the artist and his sitter, the painting was an instant success, establishing Sargent’s reputation as the portrait painter of choice for the London elite and immediately transforming the newly elevated Lady Agnew into a society celebrity.

Sargent was born in Florence and spent his childhood travelling across Europe with his wealthy American parents who restlessly followed the changing social seasons. In 1874 he entered the Paris studio of the stylish French portraitist, Carolus-Duran. The young Sargent combined the flamboyant style of his teacher with his study of old masters such as Rembrandt and Velázquez but was also influenced by Monet and Impressionism. His provocative and unconventional Portrait of Madame X caused a scandal at the Paris Salon exhibition in 1884; and, when Sargent settled in London in 1886, he initially found it difficult to find clients as his bravura, continental style of painting attracted suspicion. However, his dashing technical mastery and confident manner were ideally suited for aristocratic patronage and he soon won over his critics with his elegant, flattering portraits. When his portrait of Lady Agnew was shown at the Royal Academy in 1893, one contemporary observed: ‘London is at his feet … he has had a cracking success.’

The sitter was born Gertrude Vernon and married Andrew Noel Agnew in 1889. Her husband, fifteen years her senior, was a barrister and later an MP and deputy-Lieutenant in Wigtownshire; he succeeded his father as 9th Baronet of Lochnaw in 1892, shortly before Sargent embarked on this portrait. The exact circumstances behind the commission are not known, but the Agnews may have met the artist through mutual American friends. According to notes in her husband’s diary, work on the portrait progressed swiftly, and Sargent later recalled that it was painted in just six sittings.

Lady Agnew is shown seated in a Louis XVI chair against the backdrop of a Chinese silk hanging, both of which were standard props in Sargent’s studio. She is reported to have been of frail health; she recovered slowly from a severe bout of influenza in 1890 and was apparently still convalescing and suffering from exhaustion when she sat to Sargent, which may account for her slightly ghostly pallor in the painting. Lady Agnew fixes the spectator with an intelligent, faintly amused gaze but it is her elegant white silk dress and lilac sash that threaten to steal all our attention. There are brilliant passages of painting in the highlights, reflections and coloured shadows that show Sargent at his best as a painter of surfaces and textures, the ideal artist for a gilded, polished yet ultimately superficial society.

Sargent’s image of Lady Agnew helped her to become a leading light in fashionable circles, holding lavish salons in her London home. Ironically, the high costs of this hospitality meant that she was eventually forced to sell some family pictures including this portrait which was purchased by the Scottish National Gallery in 1925.

[diemelusine]

The Ladies Waldegrave (1780) by Joshua Reynolds. National Galleries of Scotland.

[bs2sjh]

The ceiling in the National Gallery Scotland - Portrait is amazing. Just wow. I want this ceiling.

[scotianostra]

Very spring-like day in Edinburgh.🌞

[peoplematchingartworks]

[crystalclaire]

details from Flower Still Life with Bird's Nest, Jan van Huysum (1682 - 1749) c. 1718, Oil on copper

[digitalfashionmuseum]

Oil Painting, 1763-1764, Scottish.

By Johann Zoffany.

Portraying Mary Oswald, the wife of entrepreneur Richard Oswald, in a blue silk dress.

The National Gallery

[edge-of-thorns]

Miss Minnie Ashley April (1905) by Gertrude Käsebier

[tadpal]

Berenice by Henri Martin, 1885

[pinktinselmonstrosity]

alright i have a mild dilemna that i need advice on

on my course we have to post these weekly self-reflection things responding to the themes of the week's class and some questions about it. i posted last week's and yesterday the course convenor replied to it in a way that implies i was wrong (in my SELF reflection) and just generally misunderstands my point/takes it in bad faith. i've shown these posts to others on the course and they agree that my original post adressed the things her reply asks about and that she has misinterpreted me, in quite a "cheeky" way

my issue now is: do i reply and try to explain myself better? or is it better to just let it go?

i don't want to dig myself in deeper if she's really opposed to my viewpoint, but at the same time i do feel like i answered the questions thoroughly in the first place and the things she's accusing me of aren't fair

[raffaellopalandri]

Photography of the Day - Bust of a Fate

An intriguing statue at the Scottish National Gallery … Bust of a Fate – Photo by Raffaello Palandri

[kevystel]

what are some of your favorite things about being alive

history all around us – buildings, art, the ground beneath our feet. every day we touch and pass through objects and spaces that people touched and passed through hundreds, even thousands of years ago. it's magical