This is a list of the artworks from our collection currently on display at each Gallery.
Works are moved from view for many different reasons. Although this page is updated regularly, we cannot guarantee that the pieces listed here will be on display when you visit.
Sir William Allan
The Murder of David RizzioExhibited 1833 (Royal Academy)On Display
The dramatic life of Mary, Queen of Scots, provided exciting subject matter for painters, writers and composers. Here, William Allan depicts the assassination in 1566 of David Rizzio, the queen's Italian secretary. The artist took great care to be historically accurate, establishing the exact identity and role of all the individual conspirators and recreating the look of Mary's rooms at the Palace of Holyrood. Allan based his Earl of Morton (in a black hat to the far right) on a contemporary portrait, now in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.
- Accession no. NG 1677
- Medium Oil on panel
- Size 102.50 x 163.30 cm
- Credit Presented by the 3rd Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal 1927
- Subjects [6]
- History
- Mary Queen of Scots
- Murders and executions
- Musical instruments
- Royalty
- Ruffs
Sir William Allan (Scottish, 1782 - 1850)
Born in Edinburgh, Allan was apprenticed to a coach painter before studying at the Trustees' Academy in the city from 1799; David Wilkie was a fellow student and became a lifelong friend. Allan went to London in 1803 to continue his studies, possibly at the Royal Academy. In 1805 he went to Russia, where he was based until 1814, travelling widely in the region. On his return, he settled in Edinburgh where he painted scenes inspired by his travels as well as subjects from Scottish history and Sir Walter Scott's novels. He was appointed Master of the Trustees' Academy in 1826, elected President of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1838 and became the Queen's Limner for Scotland in 1841, the year he was knighted.