.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
The Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours was established in 1878 in Edinburgh. Francis Powell was elected the first President with Sam Bough as Vice-President. John Smart and A.K. Brown were two Auditors and there was a council of five members, John Aikman, W.E. Lockhart, William McTaggart, J.G. Whyte and David Murray. There were thirty-three full members and ten associates. The Society was granted a Royal Charter in 1888 and Francis Powell was knighted in 1893.
These two albums are a unique collection of watercolours by the leading Scottish artists of the late 19th and early 20th century, which have been kept together, out of the light, since their execution and are an important document in the history of the establishment of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours.
Amongst such a unique collection it is difficult to single out individual watercolours, however the collection includes a charming and previously unrecorded watercolour by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, R.S.W. (1865-1933), The Sleeping Garden, executed on vellum and heightened with gold. Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh was one of the most imaginative and successful women artists working in Glasgow at the turn of this century. Between 1897-98 Margaret with her sister Frances produced four watercolours on vellum which depicted the four seasons. After 1900, when she married Charles Rennie Mackintosh many of her watercolours were related to his commissions. The subject of the sleeping garden is related to themes of the Sleeping Princess and the Rose Garden which were developed in her watercolours and gessos of the early 1900s, for example The Sleeping Princess gesso in the drawing room of The Hill House and The Mysterious Garden, executed in 1905 and related to a series of gesso panels installed in the Music Room of the Warndorfer Villa, Vienna and is based on Maeterlinck's story 'The Seven Princesses'. The present watercolour would appear to date from circa 1905 and is a decorative work, in a muted colour scheme, without the melancholy autobiographical connotations of her later work. A sleeping figure is enveloped in a wreath of Roses, like a fairytale Sleeping Beauty. Margaret MacDonald would appear to have considered this watercolour for the Society an important piece as it is highly finished and heightened with gold.
The Glasgow Art Club, by whom these two volumes are being sold, was founded in 1867 by William Dennistoun and other founder members included Peter S. Buchanan, Duncan McLaurin and Robert Munro. It moved to its premises in 185 Bath Street in 1893.
These two albums are a unique collection of watercolours by the leading Scottish artists of the late 19th and early 20th century, which have been kept together, out of the light, since their execution and are an important document in the history of the establishment of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours.
Amongst such a unique collection it is difficult to single out individual watercolours, however the collection includes a charming and previously unrecorded watercolour by Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, R.S.W. (1865-1933), The Sleeping Garden, executed on vellum and heightened with gold. Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh was one of the most imaginative and successful women artists working in Glasgow at the turn of this century. Between 1897-98 Margaret with her sister Frances produced four watercolours on vellum which depicted the four seasons. After 1900, when she married Charles Rennie Mackintosh many of her watercolours were related to his commissions. The subject of the sleeping garden is related to themes of the Sleeping Princess and the Rose Garden which were developed in her watercolours and gessos of the early 1900s, for example The Sleeping Princess gesso in the drawing room of The Hill House and The Mysterious Garden, executed in 1905 and related to a series of gesso panels installed in the Music Room of the Warndorfer Villa, Vienna and is based on Maeterlinck's story 'The Seven Princesses'. The present watercolour would appear to date from circa 1905 and is a decorative work, in a muted colour scheme, without the melancholy autobiographical connotations of her later work. A sleeping figure is enveloped in a wreath of Roses, like a fairytale Sleeping Beauty. Margaret MacDonald would appear to have considered this watercolour for the Society an important piece as it is highly finished and heightened with gold.
The Glasgow Art Club, by whom these two volumes are being sold, was founded in 1867 by William Dennistoun and other founder members included Peter S. Buchanan, Duncan McLaurin and Robert Munro. It moved to its premises in 185 Bath Street in 1893.