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Lot Essay
Phillip's early work was brought to the attention of Lord Panmure, who sent him to London to enter the Royal Academy Schools in 1837. He became a member of the 'Clique', a sketching club which included August Egg, W.P. Frith and Richard Dadd, who later married Phillip's sister.
He originally intended to become a history painter but under the influence of Sir David Wilkie he started painting scenes of Scottish life, in the 1840s. The present work, from this period, is a study for the picture that was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1849, no. 420 entitled 'A Scotch Fair' (City Art Gallery, Aberdeen). Duncan MacMillan noted '[He] followed Wilkie first in sentimentalised Scottish genre paintings like the Scotch Fair...but then in 1851 he made his first visit to Spain where he developed Wilkie's Spanish genre subjects with great skill and immediate success.' (Scottish Art, 1990, p. 214).
He originally intended to become a history painter but under the influence of Sir David Wilkie he started painting scenes of Scottish life, in the 1840s. The present work, from this period, is a study for the picture that was exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1849, no. 420 entitled 'A Scotch Fair' (City Art Gallery, Aberdeen). Duncan MacMillan noted '[He] followed Wilkie first in sentimentalised Scottish genre paintings like the Scotch Fair...but then in 1851 he made his first visit to Spain where he developed Wilkie's Spanish genre subjects with great skill and immediate success.' (Scottish Art, 1990, p. 214).