May Matthews
Managing Director, Scotland
Lot 18
William McTaggart RSA RSW(British, 1835-1910)"On the Esk" 61 x 92.7 cm. (24 x 36 1/2 in.)
13 May 2021, 11:00 BST
EdinburghSold for £25,250 inc. premium
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William McTaggart RSA RSW (British, 1835-1910)
"On the Esk"
signed 'W McTaggart/1891' (lower right)
oil on canvas
61 x 92.7 cm. (24 x 36 1/2 in.)
signed 'W McTaggart/1891' (lower right)
oil on canvas
61 x 92.7 cm. (24 x 36 1/2 in.)
Footnotes
Provenance
Sale; Christies, Edinburgh, 2 May 1991, Lot 504
Literature
J.L. Caw, William McTaggart - a Biography and an Appreciation, James Maclehose and Sons, Glasgow, 1917, p.264
P. Kvaerne, William McTaggart 1835-1910, Singing Songs of the Scottish Heart, Atelier Books, Edinburgh, 2007, p.249
The children that inhabit McTaggart's landscapes have a direct and immediate contact with the natural environment. Here we see them playing on both sides of the banks of the Esk. McTaggart blends the figures within the surrounding landscape. The lack of separation between the children from the wooded banks of the Lothian burn, is an excellent example of McTaggart's 'Impressionist' technical ability.
On the Esk belongs to a series of beautiful late landscapes that capture all the qualities that McTaggart had spent his lifetime perfecting. James Caw suggests that "the last twenty years of his career constitute what may be described as his latest period (1889-1910), the pictures which belong to it reveal his special gifts not only undimmed but in their fullest and most splendid development". (J.L. Caw, William McTaggart, Glasgow, p.121)
