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.
David Allan
James Tassie, 1735 - 1799. Sculptor and gem engraverabout 1781On Display
Tassie and Allan had been art students together at the Foulis Academy in Glasgow in the early 1760s. For a short while in the late 1770s they shared a house in London. Tassie invented a new medium, vitreous glass paste, which he used for making small portrait medallions and for making reproductions of antique gems and cameos. His products were sought by collectors all over the world, with Catherine the Great his most important patron.
- Accession no. PG 576
- Medium Oil on canvas
- Size 76.60 x 64.90 cm
- Credit Bequeathed by William Tassie to the National Gallery of Scotland; transferred to the Scottish National Portrait Gallery 1898
- Subjects [1]
- Visual arts
David Allan (Scottish, 1744 - 1796)
Allan was born in Alloa, on the Firth of Forth, and attended the Foulis Academy in Glasgow for seven years. In 1767 he moved to Rome, where he lived for ten years; this was the most successful period of his life. In Rome Allan painted ambitious historical pictures, portraits, caricatures and genre scenes. On returning to London in 1777, he spent two years trying to establish himself. Unsuccessful and ill, he returned to Scotland where he specialised in painting family groups. He also produced book illustrations and was appointed master of the Trustees' Academy in Edinburgh.
Glossary [5] Show
Cameo
A small relief carved into gemstone, glass, ceramic or shell with different coloured layers. It is carved so that the design is created in one colour against a background of another.
Foulis Academy
An 18th century academy of art and design founded by the Glasgow printers and booksellers Robert and Andrew Foulis, who had assembled a collection of European paintings for teaching purposes. The academy was based at the University of Glasgow's old college buildings in High Street.
Glass paste
Or pate de verre. Ground glass that is fired to give the appearance of semi-precious stones.
Medium/ media
The material from which an artwork is made, e.g. oil paint, bronze, paper. 'Medium' is also used for the liquid element of paint in which a colouring agent is carried. 'Mixed media' is used when an artist combines several different materials in an artwork.
Patronage
The support given to artists by an individual or organisation, usually through buying or funding their work.