About this artwork
This portrait shows former rugby union player Doddie Weir standing in the Scottish Borders where he grew up, with the Eildon Hills near Melrose behind him. Weir played for Stewart’s Melville RFC, Melrose RFC, Newcastle Falcons and the Border Reivers. He earned sixty-one caps for Scotland between 1990 and 2000, played in three World Cups and was selected for the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa in 1997. He was famously described by the legendary commentator Bill McLaren whilst on a forward run for Scotland, as being 'on the charge like a mad giraffe.' In 2017 Weir was diagnosed with Motor Neuron Disease (MND). He set up the My Name’5 Doddie Foundation which raises funds to aid research into the causes of MND and makes grants to individuals suffering from MND to enable them to live as fulfilled a life as possible. In this portrait he wears one of his famous suits in the Doddie’5 Tartan.
Updated November 2022
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artist:Gerard M Burns (born 1961) Scottish
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title:Doddie Weir, OBE 1970 - 2022. Rugby Player
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date created:2019
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materials:Oil on canvas
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measurements:120.00 x 120.00 cm; framed: 147.50 x 147.50 x 8.50 cm
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object type:
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credit line:On long-term loan from the Weir family in 2019
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accession number:PGL 2513
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gallery:
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depicted:
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subject:
Gerard M Burns
Gerard M Burns
Gerard M Burns was born in Glasgow. He studied drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 1983. Burns has had a successful teaching career, leaving his post as Principle of Art at Glasgow’s St Aloysius College to focus full time on painting. He has completed commissions for a...