About this artwork
From 1780, in Scotland, Allan pioneered an elaborate type of multi-figured group portrait or 'conversation piece’ with a prospect of his patrons’ residence and estate. This late example shows his successful development of this popular pictorial formula. Elected Lord Provost of Edinburgh in 1784, the Ayrshire banker James Hunter Blair poses against a backdrop of Dunskey House in Wigtownshire which his wife, Jane Blair, had inherited in 1777. Like other patrons represented in the collection, James Hunter had added his wealthy wife's name to his own.
Updated before 2020
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artist:David Allan (1744 - 1796) Scottish
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title:The Hunter Blair Family
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date created:1785
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materials:oil on canvas
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measurements:122.00 x 249.00 cm; Framed: 163.00 x 260.80 x 6.00 cm / 16.00 kg
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object type:
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credit line:Collection of Allan and Carol Murray on long term loan to the National Galleries of Scotland
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accession number:NGL 001.11
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gallery:
David Allan
David Allan
Allan was born in Alloa, on the River 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...
