Children on the shore, Westhaven

Born near Campbelltown, Argyll into a crofting family, McTaggart moved to Edinburgh at the age of sixteen where he trained at the Trustees Academy. Initially he worked as a portraitist, but after 1857 he decided to concentrate entirely on landscapes and figure studies.

The influence of the emerging impressionist movement can be traced in his work from the 1860s as his focus moved away from detailed description and turned to concentrate on mood and atmosphere. The fluent depiction of the moving sea and clouds in this present watercolour display McTaggart understanding of the elements and his technical mastery in the expression of movement and life.