This special show has been selected by the National Gallery of Scotland's warding and front of house staff. The warders are responsible for the security of the collections as well as the safety of the public.
For this display staff have been invited to choose their own personal favourites from the Gallery's collection of prints and drawings. The diverse range of works they have selected reflects not only the breadth of our prints and drawings collection, but also the personal interests and tastes of each member of staff involved.
Highlights
A Riverbank at Corrie, Arran, Robert Herdman
1866
D 5049
Herdman's detailed description of the riverbank, with a glimpse of a distant mountain slope, captures the varied colours and textures of the vegetation, rocky terrain and the sparkling reflections of the water. He seems aware of the influential critic and artist John Ruskin's work and his insistence on the importance of close observation and truth to nature. His friend Joseph Noel Paton, a close associate of the pre-Raphaelite painter Millais, may have encouraged this. The island of Arran with its magnificent scenery and fascinating geology inspired many artists and Corrie was a favourite base for Herdman's family holidays.
- Material: Watercolour and bodycolour on paper
- Size: 34.20 x 50.40 cm
- Location: National Galleries of Scotland
Edinburgh Castle from the Foot of the Vennel, 1845, Horatio McCulloch
Dated (in pencil) August 16th 1845
D 2650
This study shows one of the most spectacular views of Edinburgh Castle. This aspect was a very popular one among artists in the mid-nineteenth century. An inscription on the paper says that it was done 'on the spot'. McCulloch moved to Edinburgh in 1838 and painted many distant views of the city, but this drawing is one of only three known street scenes (the other two are both in the NGS collection). The scale of the imposing Castle and the glory of its past contrast with the humble lives of the ordinary people and buildings below. The limited palette, use of white body-colour, and sparse application of wash suggest that McCulloch may have been influenced by the technique of David Roberts.
- Material: Watercolour over pencil heightened with white on two sheets of buff paper
- Size: 41.00 x 36.80 cm
- Location: National Galleries of Scotland
Off to the Fishing, William McTaggart
about 1871
D 5033
McTaggart's childhood days in Kintyre on West Coast of Scotland induced a love of the sea that stayed with him for the rest of his life. He excelled at painting the scudding foam and spray, and the changing light and colour of the sea. Here, he has perfectly captured the essence of life spent among the elements on the cold, green sea. McTaggart was knowledgeable about boats and made precise studies of the skiffs that were used to catch the once plentiful herrings, or 'Silver Darlings'. These fishing vessels were particular to western Scotland and measured around thirty feet in length, with room for four oarsmen. As McTaggart shows here, their masts were raked at an angle with brown tanned sails.
- Material: Watercolour and bodycolour on paper
- Size: 25.30 x 37.00 cm
- Location: National Galleries of Scotland
Ebb Tide, Sir William Fettes Douglas
Dated 1882
D NG 971
Fettes Douglas first began to paint watercolours late in his career, when serious ill-health prevented him from working on large oil paintings. His watercolours feature a restrained palette of greys and browns, and rely on simple, subdued compositions. Fettes Douglas visited Holland and Belgium in 1878, and was greatly influenced by the atmospheric works of The Hague School. Their use of low-key colours and sombre tones to depict flat, panoramic landscapes, is evident in this atmospheric watercolour. The distant breaking waves of the sea can just be seen on the far right of the picture, a reminder that the enormous swathe of exposed sand is momentary: the sea will return and cover it again.
- Material: Watercolour on paper
- Size: 16.50 x 35.80 cm
- Location: National Galleries of Scotland
