Edinburgh Day 5

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Edinburgh: Day 5 – Royal Circus, National Gallery, University

A day for more exploration of the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh. Caroline initially zeroed in on the Marks and Spencer store in Princes Street, while Ian walked to the Royal Circus and surrounding streets and parks including Moray Place. Meeting up outside the Scottish National Gallery for a lunch of homemade salad rolls, we then spent two stimulating hours inside the gallery. Caroline took the bus home, while Ian met up with E for a brief tour of the University of Edinburgh.

East Princes Street Gardens with Scott Monument – memorial to Sir Walter Scott (left background)

Museum on the Mound (old Bank of Scotland HQ), from East Princes Street Gardens

National Gallery (right) with University School of Divinity behind, from East Princes Street Gardens

Scottish National Gallery paintings…

Edinburgh from the West by James Norie senior (1684-1757). Oil on canvas, painted about 1745

The Hunt

Bluette by Edward Arthur Walton (1860-1922). Oil on canvas, painted in 1891.

Bluette is a girl’s name, but also describes the cornflowers the subject is holding. Here Walton combines a naturalistic portrait with an interest in tonal harmony; the blue of the flowers complements the girl’s auburn hair and hazel eyes. Meanwhile the smooth handling of her face contrasts with the sketch-like, impressionistic rendering of her white dress and the surrounding landscape.

Saint Bride

Flora Macdonald Reid (1860-1945)
Fieldworkers, 1883
Oil on canvas

In certain areas of northern France – the possible location for this painting – men were hired to help with the potato harvest. In Scotland, by contrast, this backbreaking task was usually undertaken by itinerant female labourers. The tanned field worker has a grandeur and nobility, accentuated by the way in which the light bathes his back, neck and hands. Reid evokes the burning heat by using a blue ground to control the intense colour of her palette.