This drawing illustrates a verse form Burns?s epic Poem `Tam O?Shanter? that recounts the events after a night spent drinking and Tam?s journey home. Here, Faed shows the scene where a drunken Tam regretfully leaves the Ayrshire tavern and attempts to mount his horse Meg: ?Nae man can tether time or tide; / The hour approaches Tam maun ride; / That hour, o' night's black arch the key-stane, / That dreary hour he mounts his beast in?. Faed shows Tam accompanied by his drinking companions, one of which steadies his horse. This drawing was engraved and published in an illustrated edition of Burns?s work.
John Faed (Scottish, 1819 - 1902)
As a young boy John Faed displayed exceptional artistic talent as a portraitist. Despite his father?s objections towards a career as an artist, Faed moved to Edinburgh in 1839 to attend the Trustees? Academy where he studied life drawing and painting. He began to move away from portraiture and painted more subject pictures. Faed chose scenes from Shakespeare and the Bible, but specialised in Scottish subjects such as those popularised by the novels of Sir Walter Scott. He was elected an associate member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1847, and a full member in 1851. In 1857 he spent four months travelling in the Middle East, where he collected numerous props to incorporate into his Eastern and biblical pictures. Apart from this trip and a period in London from 1864-69, Faed remained in Scotland.
