"This is the first complete catalogue of oil paintings by Allan Ramsay (1713-84), whose career spanned the period in which British art established a national identity." "More than six hundred portraits are catalogued here in detail. Each is illustrated in black and white in chronological sequence indicating, with the forty-eight colour plates and selected relevant drawings, the full range of Ramsay's art. There is an introductory essay and biographical summary, a chronological list of portraits, statistical surveys of Ramsay's production and prices, and indices of engravers and of sales."--BOOK JACKET.
This book examines the cultural, intellectual, and social contexts in which Allan Ramsay produced his renowned portraits, along with other key works. Allan Ramsay's accomplished canvases and refined drawings offer us some of the defining portraits of the Enlightenment. He was as well equipped to offer a deep sense of engagement with his Enlightenment sitters through his intellectual and cultural upbringing as he was trained to create elegantly constructed paintings through his extended education as a painter in Italy. Establishing himself in London and Edinburgh, Ramsay was admired for his understanding of contemporary political, cultural, and intellectual issues, as well as for his portraits of key protagonists in these debates. This beautiful volume brings together Ramsay's most celebrated sitters, such as Rousseau, Hume, and William Hunter, along with numerous drawings and prints to consider his critical role in the British Enlightenment. Many of the artist's rarely seen portraits of women are included. Alongside exquisite reproductions, the volume presents fascinating new research exploring the unique sensitivity of Ramsay's painting, the development of his technique, and familial influences on his work.
Transforming academic and popular understanding of this pivotal but, until now, largely under-researched literary figure, this volume offers the first full and consistent edition of Allan Ramsay's prose. The volume contains all extant prose writings, from both manuscript and print sources. As well as all known letters, the volume includes prefaces, dedications and advertisements for Ramsay's major collections. It also contains Ramsay's anonymously-published Some Few Hints in Defence of Dramatical Entertainments, the full text of his influential collection of Scots Proverbs and significant prose from manuscript sources, including Ramsay's account of Edinburgh's Porteous Riots in April 1736 and notes on contemporary plays. In these works, we see Ramsay's consistent and steadfast commitment to preserving Scottish literary culture, and gain a privileged insight into Ramsay's personality, his priorities, ambitions and core beliefs.
The compelling story of over 5,000 years of Scottish art, told by Lachlan Goudie, renowned contemporary Scottish artist, broadcaster and presenter of BBC Four's 'The Story of Scottish Art'. This is the story of how Scotland has defined itself through its art over the past 5000 years, from the earliest enigmatic Neolithic symbols etched onto the landscape of Kilmartin Glen to Glasgow's fame as a centre of artistic innovation today. Lachlan Goudie brings his perspective and passion as a practising artist and broadcaster to narrate the joys and struggles of artists across the millennia striving to fulfil their vision and the dramatic transformations of Scottish society reflected in their art. The Story of Scottish Art is beautifully illustrated with the diverse artworks that form Scotland's long tradition of bold creativity: Pictish carved stones and Celtic metalwork; Renaissance palaces and chapels; paintings of Scottish life and landscapes by Horatio McCulloch, David Wilkie and Joan Eardley; designs by master architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh; and collage and sculpture by Pop Art pioneer Eduardo Paolozzi. Lachlan tells the compelling story of how and why these and many other Scottish masterpieces were created, and the impact they have had on the world.
The first appearance in print of a series of brand new paintings by Alison Watt Revisits and explores the work of popular 18th-century artist, Allan Ramsay A fascinating melding of 18th- and 21st-century Scottish art A beautiful book which, in its design, reflects the delicacy of Allan Ramsay's work Published to accompany an exhibition at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery from June to October, 2020 In a series of brand new paintings, renowned artist, Alison Watt, responds to the paintings and drawings of 18th-century Scottish artist Allan Ramsay. The new works are particularly inspired by Ramsay's wonderful and much-loved painting of his wife, but also consider some seldom seen drawings from Ramsay's 1755-57 sketchbook. Watt's response is made through a series of interpretations in her own style, while developing a great appreciation of the remarkable delicacy in Ramsay's work. The new paintings and historical portraits and drawings are accompanied by a statement from the artist and commentaries on the works featured in the book. While offering a fresh and modern perspective on the historical works of one of Scotland's outstanding portraitists, this book also reveals insight into how one of today's leading artists looks at and is inspired by the art of the past.
Full-time philosopher and occasional sleuth Isabel Dalhousie, now the mother of a baby boy, is getting used to the new rhythms of her life, caring for little Charlie with the sometimes unsettling aid of her forthright housekeeper, Grace, having dinners with Charlie’s father, Jamie, and tending as usual to submissions to the Review of Applied Ethics. But Isabel is deeply unsettled when she receives a letter telling her that she is soon to be replaced as editor of the Review by Christopher Dove, an ambitious academic at a London university, and she considers a variety of ways of dealing with this unwelcome news. And her niece, Cat, who a couple of years before had rejected Jamie and broken his heart, is now furious at Isabel for having stolen him away. Isabel’s insatiable curiosity—or what Jamie sees as her tendency toward meddling—is peaked when she learns some odd details regarding two paintings by a Scottish artist that have come onto the auction market, and she begins to think that the paintings might be forgeries. Her investigation takes her to the beautiful Isle of Jura, where she finds some recent traces of the painter and learns of his apparent suicide in the fabled whirlpool called the Corryvreckan. A visit to the painter’s widow brings a surprising realization, one that contributes to her musings throughout the story on mothers, fathers, and sons.
