Scottish National Gallery

The Scottish National Gallery is the national art gallery of Scotland and first opened to the public in 1859.

The gallery houses Scotland’s collection of art, spanning Scottish and international art from the beginning of the Renaissance up to the start of the 20th century.

The National Gallery’s masterpieces include works by Jacopo Bassano, Van Dyck Giambattista Tiepolo, Benjamin West, Rubens, Titian, and Canova.

The Scottish National Gallery has a notable collection of works by Scottish artists, including several landscapes by Alexander Nasmyth, and several works by Sir Henry Raeburn.

The Gallery also holds a collection of works by English painters, such as Constable and Turner.

A Virtual Tour of the Scottish National Gallery

“Vision after the Sermon” by Paul Gauguin
“Haystacks” by Claude Monet
“Saint Bride” by John Duncan
“Drinkers in the Bower” by Pieter de Hooch
“Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw” by John Singer Sargent
“The Finding of Moses” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo
“Three Tahitians” by Paul Gauguin
“Diana and Callisto” by Titian
“Montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cézanne
“Francesca da Rimini” by William Dyce
“Master of the Universe” by Eduardo Paolozzi
“The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch” by Henry Raeburn
“Sir Winston Churchill, 1874 – 1965. Statesman” by James Guthrie
“David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, 1863 – 1945. Statesman” by James Guthrie
“Sri Ganga Singh Bahadur, the Maharaja of Bikaner, 1880 – 1943. Statesman” by James Guthrie
“Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour” by James Guthrie
“William Morris Hughes, 1862 – 1952. Prime Minister of Australia” by James Guthrie

Highlights Tour of the Scottish National Gallery

“Vision after the Sermon” by Paul Gauguin

“Vision after the Sermon” by Paul Gauguin depicts a scene from the Bible in which Jacob wrestles an angel.

It illustrates this indirectly, through a vision that the women see after a sermon in church. It was painted in Brittany, France, in 1888, where Gauguin focused increasingly on interpreting the religious subject matter in his unique personal way.

Gauguin was moving away from naturalism towards a more abstracted, even symbolic, manner of painting. The tale of Jacob wrestling an angel is from Genesis in the Old Testament.

Haystacks by Claude Monet

Haystacks by Claude Monet is part of a series of stacks of harvested wheat or barley and oats. The original French title, Les Meules à Giverny, means The Stacks at Giverny.

The series consists of twenty-five canvas, which Monet began near the end of the summer of 1890, and though Monet also produced earlier paintings using this same stack subject.

The impressionist series is famous for how Monet repeated the same theme to show the different light and atmosphere at different times of day, across the seasons, and in many types of weather.

Monet’s Haystacks series is one of his earliest to rely on repetition of a subject to illustrate a subtle difference in color perception across variations of times of day, seasons, and weather.

“Saint Bride” by John Duncan

“Saint Bride” by John Duncan delicts the legend of Saint Bride. The ancient story of St Bride is that she was transported miraculously to Bethlehem to attend the nativity of Christ.

Ducan shows two angels carrying the saint in white robes across the sea in a seascape setting that reflects the artist’s fascination with the Outer Hebrides and the Isle of Iona.

The realistic depiction of birds, the seal, sea, and sky provide a naturalistic contrast to the supernatural angels overlapping the patterned border.

“Drinkers in the Bower” by Pieter de Hooch

“A Dutch Courtyard” by Pieter de Hooch depicts two men seated at a table in the courtyard and a standing woman. The soldier who is wearing a breastplate is setting down the pitcher he has used to fill the glass, now held by the woman.

The “pass-glass” the woman is drinking from was used in drinking games. Each participant had to drink down to the next line on the glass.

If the drinker failed to reach the line level, the reveler would be required to drink down to the next ring. Only when the drinker had drunk successfully to the required line would the glass be passed on to the next participant.

The little girl carries a brazier of hot coals so that the two soldiers can light their long-stemmed, white clay pipes.

“Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw” by John Singer Sargent

Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw by John Singer Sargent depicts Gertrude Agnew, the wife of Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet.

Lady Agnew is seated in an 18th-century French chair with a back that is curving to create a space for a distinctive elegance. She is shown in a three-quarter length pose, dressed in a white gown with a silk mauve sash around her waist.

The wall behind her is draped with Chinese silk of a blue color. Lady Agnew looks directly at the viewer. Her intimate expression is both challenging and quizzical half-smiling.

“The Finding of Moses” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

“The Finding of Moses” by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo is a dramatic and large painting. The Old Testament subject is sumptuously colored in contemporary dress and life-like details.

The original painting was originally even larger, but a section, showing a soldier and a dog in a river landscape, was removed from the right.

“Three Tahitians” by Paul Gauguin

“Three Tahitians” by Paul Gauguin depicts three figures stand out against a vivid, colorful background. Two women flank a young man, who is seen only from behind.

The women seem to be offering him a choice between the apple and the flowers. The options are between vice and virtue. This choice reflects the allegorical character of many of Gauguin’s Tahitian paintings. Gauguin has fused together ideas from different cultures.

“Diana and Callisto” by Titian

“Diana and Callisto” by Titian depicts the moment Diana forces Callisto to strip and bathe and discovers her pregnancy.

Callisto was the favorite of Diana, the virgin goddess of the hunt, but Jupiter, king of the gods, noticed her beauty and disguised himself as a woman to seduce her.

Diana banished Callisto, but Callisto was then discovered by Hera, Zeus’s wife, and transformed her into a bear.

“Montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cézanne

“Montagne Sainte-Victoire” by Paul Cézanne was one of Cézanne’s favorite subjects. He never tired of exploring its structure and changing appearance.

This picture unfinished state provides some insight into Cézanne’s working method and his ‘constructive’ brushwork.

Foreground foliage, undulating fields, the distant mountain, and sky have emerged gradually from a harmonious patchwork of colors applied across the canvas.

“Francesca da Rimini” by William Dyce

“Francesca da Rimini” by William Dyce depicts the ill-fated lovers described by Dante in his epic poem ‘The Inferno.’

In the story, Francesca was married for political reasons to an elderly and deformed husband, Gianciotto. However, soon after the marriage, while reading with his younger brother Paolo, they fell in love.

While they tried to keep their love secret, Gianciotto, her husband, surprised the lovers and then murdered them.

The artist, William Dyce, had initially included the husband in the composition. However, that part of the canvas was trimmed to remove damage to the canvas in 1882.

A hint of the tragic outcome is still suggested by the presence of Gianciotto’s hand at the far left on the ledge, which was left behind in the resized painting.

“Master of the Universe” by Eduardo Paolozzi

“Master of the Universe” by Eduardo Paolozzi is a sculpture also known as “Newton after Blake,” as it is based on William Blake’s 1795 print of “Newton: Personification of Man Limited by Reason.”

Blake’s print depicts a naked Isaac Newton sitting on a rocky ledge beside a mossy rock face while measuring with a pair of compass dividers. Eduardo Paolozzi greatly admired Blake’s print of Newton.

The print was intended by Blake to criticize Newton’s profane knowledge, usurping the sacred knowledge and power of the creator, with the scientist turning away from nature to focus on his theories.

The sculpture shows the body resembling a mechanical object, joined with bolts at the shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles.