Art; PRIVATE VIEW
The Wilkie Tradition to 24 Dec Bourne Fine Art, Edinburgh
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Your support makes all the difference.David Wilkie is one of the great 19th-century painters - arguably next in line after Turner and Constable - and one of the finest Scottish artists of all time. It's been a long time since his work has had the recognition it deserves, so any exhibition that brings his name to the fore is to be welcomed.
The theme of "The Wilkie Tradition" is not really the man himself, but his Scottish contemporaries: mostly minor artists who shared his themes, but each with a flavour of their own. It makes for a sort of visual history lesson: a glimpse into the darkened, domestic interiors of early 19th-century Scotland. Like most genre paintings they work best on a small scale: their low key intimism well-suited to their subject.
Wilkie himself steals the show, particularly in two small panels: The Sluice Gate, a quietly intense little landscape, and Domestic Life, a rather grander interior than most, complete with an ermine-clad figure looking a little like the young Queen Victoria. Well worth a look.
Bourne Fine Art, 6 Dundas Street, Edinburgh (0131-557 4050) to 24 Dec
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