The Scottish Enlightenment of the eighteenth century spawned thinkers including David Hume, Adam Smith and Robert Burns, and saw Scots swept up in the European storm of ideas that centred on the value of reason, as well as on human and property rights. This is the era (plus a little more besides) covered by the current exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, which comprises of a restrained capsule collection of primarily medium and large-scale paintings. There is no direct discussion of the Enlightenment here, though the wall texts do provide satisfying descriptions of the artists’ lives and motivations: these were educated Scottish men looking inwards at their own country, as well as outwards to the rest of Europe.
Someone in the Royal family clearly liked the work of Sir David Wilkie (1785-1841), which has a hefty presence here spanning his historical scenes, Spanish series and mythical paintings. But the works by Wilkie that really crackle are those set closer to home and depicting daily Scottish life – pub mayhem, a penny wedding – scenes full of figures careening around with joie de vivre (or joie de whisky, at least). Meanwhile, working en plein air (outside, capturing actual conditions) Joseph Farquharson’s brush describes a flock of sheep or bales of hay (both 1881) in startlingly expressionistic fashion. Many of the formal portraits of royalty and the like are underwhelming, though there is a stunner by John Pettie, ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie Entering the Ballroom at Holyroodhouse’ (1891-92). It shows the prince – a Stuart and pretender to the throne – emerging from dramatic darkness into the light, robed in full regalia and wearing a countenance of delightfully arch irreverence: he’s the guy at the party that catches the room’s attention.
As the title suggests, there are plenty of paintings taken from the artists’ European travels, including John Philip’s Spanish street vignettes (1850s), fine formal studies in universality and exoticism. Yet it is the domestic moments showcasing the fantastical everyday of Caledonia (the Latin name the Romans gave to Scotland) rather than the continental takeaways that resonate in this uneven show.