Thou has left me ever, Jamie

Details

William Bell Scott (1811-1890)
Thou has left me ever, Jamie
signed 'W.B. SCOTT' (lower right) and further signed and inscribed 'Thou has left me ever, Jamie,/ Thou has left me ever, Burns./ William B. Scott/ Bellevue House, Chelsea.' (on the backboard)
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with gum arabic and with scratching out on paper
16 ½ x 26 in. (41.9 x 66 cm.)

Provenance

Given by the artist to Alice Boyd, Penkill Castle, Ayrshire.
with The Stone Gallery, Newcastle.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 15 June 1982, lot 62.
with Julian Hartnoll, London.

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Clare Keiller

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Lot Essay

Robert Burns's 1793 song, Thou Hast Left me Ever, Jamie is the mournful ballad of a forsaken lover. The present drawing was given by Bell Scott to his pupil and mistress Alice Boyd, at whose home, Penkill Castle, Ayrshire, he spent half of each year. Whilst Scott saw himself as a history painter, he also often took literary subjects, particularly Burns, as his inspiration.

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