The Prize of the Silver Golf
About this artwork
Golf had been played on Leith links since at least the sixteenth century. In 1744 golfers at Leith petitioned Edinburgh Town Council for a trophy for an annual competition. The council presented the silver golf club shown in this watercolour. The winner of the competition was obliged to add a silver golf ball to the club. He became the Captain for the year. Allan’s watercolour shows the Town Officer parading the Silver Golf, as it was known, through the streets of Edinburgh, announcing the date of the forthcoming competition. Two drummers draw attention to the proclamation.
Updated before 2020
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artist:David Allan (1744 - 1796) Scottish
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title:The Prize of the Silver Golf
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date created:About 1785
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materials:Pen, black ink and watercolour with traces of pencil on paper, laid down on Allan's own mount
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measurements:21.50 x 16.10 cm
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object type:
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credit line:David Laing Bequest to the Royal Scottish Academy transferred 1910
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accession number:D 387
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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...
