National Galleries of Scotland

When the Scottish National Portrait Gallery commissioned Calum Colvin to create a portrait of the composer, James MacMillan, Colvin visited the composer in his Glasgow home to see where and how he worked. He then built a set in his Edinburgh studio which included references to MacMillan's work and character. In this portrait we can spot the model for the stage set for MacMillan's first full-length opera, Ines de Castro, which he was composing at the time; the manuscripts of the opening and closing bars of the piece; as well as references to his Roman Catholic faith and passionate support of Glasgow Celtic Football Club.