Scottish Portraits to 1960
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Glasgow Museums has a collection of approximately 685 Scottish portraits which date from between 1600 and 1960. This collection includes some 265 oil paintings, 20 watercolours and drawings and 400 prints of Scottish portraits. These are mainly by Scottish artists although there are a few pictures of Scottish sitters by English artists, particularly in the period before 1850. The collection includes works by important portrait painters of the 17th and 18th century, including George Jamesone (1586–1644), Gerard Soest (around 1600–81), Gawen Hamilton (1697–1737), William Aikman (1682–1731), David Martin (1737–97) and Henry Raeburn (1756–1823). One particularly interesting work in the collection - a 17th-century portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots - is by an unknown artist (possibly Scottish). Allan Ramsay (1713–1810), a Scot of outstanding artistic ability, followed William Hogarth as the leading portrait painter in London in the middle of the 18th century. His mature style is represented by a work entitled 'Henrietta Diana, Dowager Countess of Stafford' (1759). The 19th century is represented with work by Thomas Faed (1826–1900), Sir William Quiller Orchardson (1835–1910), John Pettie (1839–93), John Watson Gordon (1788–1864), John Graham-Gilbert (1794–1866) and Daniel Macnee (1806–82). The post-World War II period is dominated with works by Joan Eardley (1921–63) and James Cowie (1886–1956). Throughout the 17th century, and for most of the 18th century, portraiture was the main category of art in Britain that guaranteed a secure living for the professional artist. London was the centre of fashionable patronage, and many Scottish artists moved there to gain commissions.
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