Scottish poet Alan Bold was part of an outstanding generation of Scottish poets and writers who emerged in the 1960s. Bold met Hugh MacDiarmid whilst he was still a student at Edinburgh University. MacDiarmid wrote an introduction to Bold’s first publication, ‘Society Inebrious’, in 1965 and later Bold edited ‘MacDiarmid's Letters’ and wrote the influential biography of the great Scottish poet. Moffat was friends with Bold along with other writers and artists such as John Bellany. This painting shows him standing arms folded in front of a full bookshelf.