Summer
About this artwork
In 1823 Rubens’s celebrated picture ‘Le Chapeau de Paille’ (National Gallery, London) was exhibited in London where Geddes probably made the pastel study in the Scottish National Gallery’s collection (D NG 1073 A/B). Geddes seems to have been fascinated by the blonde colouring and unusual up-lighting on the woman’s face in Rubens’s picture. This sitter is believed to be Miss Charlotte Nasmyth (1804-1884). In 1826 it was exhibited at the British Institution and was his personal tribute to Rubens. Both the Rubens’s ‘Le Chapeau de Paille’ and Geddes’s ‘Summer’ were exhibited in Edinburgh in 1828 by the Royal Institution, which immediately purchased the Geddes’s painting for its permanent collection.
Updated before 2020
-
artist:Andrew Geddes (1783 - 1844) Scottish
-
title:Summer
-
date created:Exhibited 1826 (British Institution, London; and Carlisle Academy of Arts ditto)
-
materials:Oil on canvas
-
measurements:81.30 x 64.20 cm; Framed: 102.50 x 85.30 x 8.20 cm
-
object type:
-
credit line:Purchased by the RI 1828, transferred 1859
-
accession number:NG 191
-
gallery:
-
glossary:
-
artwork photographed by:Antonia Reeve
Andrew Geddes
Andrew Geddes
Andrew Geddes, portrait painter and print-maker, was born in Edinburgh and attended Edinburgh University. He worked as a clerk for five years; only after his father's death was he able to study at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He returned to Edinburgh in 1810 and set up a portrait studio;...
