WILLIAM MCTAGGART R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1835-1910)
WEARY BY THE WAYSIDE
Signed with monogram, inscribed and dated 1865 verso, oil on board
30.5cm x 25.5cm (12in x 10in)
William McTaggart’s artistic innovations represent the inception of modern art in Scotland. This distinction is particularly remarkable given that the artist had little contact with European art movements and remained in his home country for the great majority of his life. Over the course of his career he nurtured a visual language that explored the atmosphere of the natural world in all its gaiety and fragility, an idea that was increasingly expressed through breezy coastal scenes peopled by tumbling, carefree children. Weary by the Wayside is a relatively early work dating to the period directly after McTaggart’s graduation from the Trustees Academy amongst an inordinately talented cohort including William Quiller Orchardson, John Pettie, Hugh Cameron, Peter Graham, John MacWhirter and Alexander Burr. Many of these artists moved to London, but McTaggart remained in Edinburgh, taking a studio in Charlotte Square. The more traditional subject-matter of a girl and her attendant terrier belie the picture’s technical ingenuity; the paint has been applied in highly energetic flicks, in which we can detect the genesis of McTaggart’s ‘broken colour’ technique synonymous with his later work.