William Gordon Burn Murdoch (British, 1862-1939) A Greenland Whale Fishery indistinctly initialled and dated '1913' (lower left) and inscribed ''WHERE THERE'S FROST THERE'S SNOW/AND THE STORMY WINDS A BLOW/AND THE DAYLIGHTS NEVER DONE. BRAVE BOYS!'' (lower left) oil on canvas 76.5 x 101.6cm (30 1/8 x 40in). Footnotes: Provenance With Bourne Fine Art Ltd. Sir Gerald Elliot, Chief Executive and Chairman of Christian Salvesen, which owned Leith Whaling Station on the island of South Georgia. With The South Georgia Heritage Trust (donated by the above in 2014). Scottish born William Gordon Burn Murdoch (better known as 'WG' to his friends) was a man of many talents and diverse interests. Not only was he a gifted artist, having honed his artist skills in Antwerp and Paris as a young man, but he was an accomplished writer, explorer, hunter, whaler, fisherman and bag piper. He also had a thirst for exploration which took him to far flung places like the Arctic and Antarctic, as well as India, Burma and China. Burn Murdoch took part in his first major expedition when he joined the Dundee Antarctic Whaling Expedition of 1892-93. He served as assistant to the naturalist William Speirs Bruce, the expedition's scientific officer. Burn Murdoch recounted his experiences on the expedition in his first book From Edinburgh to the Antarctic (1894), which is illustrated with his own sketches and paintings. Despite several setbacks during the expedition, Burn Murdoch gained a love of polar exploration. Burn Murdoch continued his friendship with William Spiers Bruce and helped him organise and finance several projects including the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition of 1902-04. He was made a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in 1904. The following year, he travelled with the Prince and Princess of Wales on their visit to India, which he used as the basis for a book describing his travels in India and Burma. In 1912 Burn Murdock helped organise and fund an expedition to Greenland on board the whaler St. Ebba. In his book Modern Whaling and Bear Hunting (1917), he described his experiences as a commercial whaler and his various hunts for polar bears during the Greenland expedition. Once again, his book was illustrated with his drawings and paintings. Given the date of the present work, it is evident that it was painted a short time after his return from the Greenland expedition in 1912. The inscription in the lower left of the composition is an interpretation of the lyrics from the sea shanty 'Greenland Whale Fisheries'. Although the painting appears to be a fictitious scene encapsulating various activities that occurred during the Greenland expedition, it is clearly autobiographical. There is no mistaking that the figure in the lower left of the composition is the artist himself painting a work called 'The Last Cartridge' (recently sold by Great Western Auction in December 2024 for £13,000 hammer). As a patriotic Scotsman and keen piper, the bag piper in the distance is almost certainly Burn Murdoch, particularly given the claim that he was the first person to play the bagpipes in the Antarctic. And it is likely that he can be found in other representations within the composition. This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: • • Zero rated for VAT, no VAT will be added to the Hammer Price or the Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing