About this artwork
This painting is a rare example of Scottish Surrealism. It was painted as a wedding present for the artist James McIntosh Patrick. McIntosh Patrick said of Baird's gift, “It rather shocked me as he painted so few pictures yet he gave this one away. He was our best man and, being a sentimental person, he chose Venus, the goddess of love, as the subject of the painting. He was a keen Scottish Nationalist; he also admired Botticelli and Crivelli, the Renaissance painters. Hence the 'Scottish Venus' as he called it, arose out of his associations with a wedding, his involvement with Scottish Nationalism, his love for messing about in boats, and his love of Botticelli.”
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title:The Birth of Venus
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accession number:GMA 4473
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materials:Oil on canvas
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date created:1934
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measurements:51.00 x 69.00 cm (framed: 76.00 x 93.50 x 8.00 cm)
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credit line:Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art 2002
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copyright:© Graham Stephen
Edward MacEwan Baird
Edward MacEwan Baird
Baird was born in Montrose in 1904 and studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1924 to 1927. He became a close friend of James McIntosh Patrick, sharing his painstaking approach to realism. Baird returned to Montrose after graduating and lived there for the rest of his life, painting local…
