Details
David Scott R.S.A. (1806-1849)
Sir William Wallace Depicted as a Warrior
brown wash heightened with white inscribed Sir William Wallace by David Scott RSA,
44 x 36in. (11.8 x 91.4cm); and companion piece
King Edward
a pair (2)
The story of William Wallace inspired both David and William Bell Scott. David entered a cartoon of William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling, for the Westminster Hall competition of 1843. It was unsuccessful, but he used it as the basis for his triptych Wallace, The Defender of Scotland (Paisley Art Gallery), exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1844, (see Mungo Campbell, David Scott, 1990, (pl.10). William Bell Scott exhibited a picture of The Trial of William Wallace (Guildhall Art Gallery, London) at the Royal Academy in 18561. He also considered painting 'a subject from the same story of a sublimely dramatic character. The execution of the hero took place on a day of the Fair of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, so that the hurdle with the doomed patriot, the executioner, and a little John Bull of an officiating sheriff, passed along among the zanies and quacks and dumb heads of heiffers' (Autobiographical Notes, 1892, II, p.249) (2)
Sir William Wallace Depicted as a Warrior
brown wash heightened with white inscribed Sir William Wallace by David Scott RSA,
44 x 36in. (11.8 x 91.4cm); and companion piece
King Edward
a pair (2)
The story of William Wallace inspired both David and William Bell Scott. David entered a cartoon of William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling, for the Westminster Hall competition of 1843. It was unsuccessful, but he used it as the basis for his triptych Wallace, The Defender of Scotland (Paisley Art Gallery), exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1844, (see Mungo Campbell, David Scott, 1990, (pl.10). William Bell Scott exhibited a picture of The Trial of William Wallace (Guildhall Art Gallery, London) at the Royal Academy in 18561. He also considered painting 'a subject from the same story of a sublimely dramatic character. The execution of the hero took place on a day of the Fair of St. Bartholomew in Smithfield, so that the hurdle with the doomed patriot, the executioner, and a little John Bull of an officiating sheriff, passed along among the zanies and quacks and dumb heads of heiffers' (Autobiographical Notes, 1892, II, p.249) (2)