TRADITION and meagre and unsatisfactory detail
cease towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the first
native Scottish artist of marked ability began to practise. This was the
well-known George Jamesone of Aberdeen, who was born on the 8th of
February 1587. Although he cannot in the least degree be compared with
the great portrait-masters of the Spanish and the later British schools,
it may be noted that he was contemporary with Velasquez and Murillo, and
preceded the English Hogarth by fully a century, and Reynolds by a
hundred and twenty-six years. He appeared at a time when the wholesale
destruction of nearly all kinds of art-work was going on in different
parts of Scotland, and was the first of a race of artists who, instead
of the antiquated types and the traditions of religion, were to
illustrate and perpetuate the portraiture, and subsequently the poetry
and history, of their native land. The inherent love of these, so
characteristic of the Scot, could not fail in favourable times to
develop the art of painting; and although several generations of artists
were necessary before the art could attain its full power of expression
in the works of such men as Raeburn, Wilkie, and Duncan, traces of the
Scottish national character nearly akin to that of Spain are to be found
in the works of several of their predecessors. There are perhaps no
other national portraits so similar in handling and expression to those
of the great representatives of the Spanish school, so eminent in this
branch of art, as those of Scotland; and Raeburn and Watson Gordon may
not unworthily be placed alongside of Velasquez and Coello. This
similarity so strongly impressed Wilkie when in Spain, that in writing
to his friend Nasmyth from Seville, he mentioned heads at Madrid by
Velasquez which were so like Raeburn's works that, were they shown in
Edinburgh, they would be attributed to the Scottish artist. The early
Spanish masters drew Their inspiration from and had the success of their
works gauged by those of the Italian masters; but in the serious glowing
colour and soberness of Velasquez, we see a reflection not of his
predecessors' works, but of the national character of the Spaniard. The
art in Scotland more rapidly assumed its style, if we count by the
number of its professors instead of by years. We search in vain for any
evidence that the art of Spain influenced that of Scotland. There was
little or no personal intercourse, and whatever commerce existed was
transacted in the exchanges and marts of the great Flemish entrej5ôi's,
through which it is difficult to conceive how any Spanish influence
could have filtered. Scottish art bears no more resemblance to the
sensuality of Rubens, or the severity of the earlier Flemings, than it
does to the gorgeousness of Giorgione or Titian, the grace of Raphael,
or the energy of Michael Angelo. The first rudiments of execution and
power of expression being acquired, the character of the Scottish people
soon reflected itself on the art; and the persecutions of the
Covenanters as subjects for painting, appealed in their own way as
strongly to the sympathies of the people of Scotland as did the
sufferings and ecstasies of martyrs and saints to the people of the
Peninsula. In the works of Jamesone more than in those of his early
successors may be noticed latent traits of the fully developed art of
the school of which he is the first representative; and he forms a
curious link between the art of Flanders and of Scotland, having studied
under Rubens alongside of Vandyke in Antwerp, —a tradition which there
is no reason to doubt, as there is very observable influence of Rubens
in his portrait of Arthur Johnston at King's College, painted about
1629, as well as one or two others.
At a period when it was hardly to
be expected, owing to the troubles of the Covenanters and the wars of
the great captain, he received a large amount of patronage, more
especially from the great Highland chief, Sir Cohn Campbell of Glenorchy,
a favourite of James VI. and his queen, Anne of Denmark; and although he
does not seem to have been very highly remunerated, even for those days,
his price being about twenty-three shillings sterling per portrait,
"colours and claith" included, and thirty- four shillings when
furnishing the "muller" or frame, his swift brush and moderate living
enabled him to die in considerable affluence. His taste was probably
inherited from his father Andrew, who was a burgess of Guild and an
architect, as was also his maternal uncle, and was no doubt further
cultivated by his residence abroad, however short it may have been. It
is well known that he took a pleasure in making the house which he
rented in Aberdeen in later years a kind of suburban paradise, similar
to the "lust haus" of the Flemish burgher. He is credited as being the
first Scottish painter of a Scottish king, having, according to
tradition, painted a head of Charles I. from life at Edinburgh in 1633,
now untraced. His numerous portraits of contemporary and deceased
personages preserved at Taymouth and elsewhere, in spite of the effects
of time and of the scrubbing-brush, which was often applied to pictures
with that liberality of muscle possessed by the Scottish domestic, show
a tolerable amount of skill, although not of such a quality as to
entitle him to the epithet of the Scottish Vandyke, which was bestowed
upon him by Walpole.
It may not seem so remarkable that there should
appear in Scotland at that time the first Scottish—in fact,
British—artist who could lay claim to any rank in his profession, when
we consider the very high position occupied by Aberdeen as a seat of
learning, culture, and commerce; the long and friendly intercourse
existing between Scotland and the Continent; and the roving disposition
of the Scot. A wave of culture from the more advanced South, where art
had already achieved its glories, rippled along the coasts of our
island, and our churches had assumed enough of the decorative arts in
their adornment, so common on the Continent, to irritate native
Puritanism to their destruction. The commerce between Aberdeen and the
northern Continental ports, particularly Bruges, perhaps the most
artistic and certainly one of the wealthiest cities in Belgium, was
then, and at an earlier period, of very considerable magnitude; and so
it came about that the architect's son, with some liking and aptitude
for art, found an opportunity for its development, throwing into the
shade the works of such other British artists as were contemporaneous,
or followers in point of time, and surpassing in his adherence to nature
some of the foreign artists who were employed at the English Court.
How long Jamesone remained at Antwerp is not known, but as he is said to
have been a fellow-student with Vandyke under Rubens, and as Vandyke
left the great Fleming's studio in 1619, Jamesone must have been about
thirty years of age on leaving Aberdeen, previous to which he must have
acquired considerable proficiency in his art. Admission to the studio of
Rubens was not easily obtained; he had numerous applicants, and no doubt
both ability and influence were necessary for the entrée. It was in the
year 1620 that he set up his easel in his native town, and soon
afterwards got married to Isabel Tosh; but fame soon induced him to move
to Edinburgh, and in 1623 he painted the well-known group of himself
with his wife and daughter Mary. In addition to portraits and
miniatures, he is said to have executed some historical and landscape
pieces. The chief reason for this supposition is the fact that in one of
his own portraits he is represented pointing to a number of pictures on
a wall, among which are one or two landscapes and a kind of historical
composition. So far as is known, no specimen in these branches of art
has been identified with his name, and one would be sorry to associate
it with one or two works of that class which vague and unfounded
tradition has attributed to his brush. The book of Scripture drawings
which are referred to by Allan Cunningham, and which are mentioned in
the painter's will as "200 leaves of parchment of excellent write
adorned with diverse historys of our Saviour," and of which all traces
are lost, was probably the work of some old monkish illuminator, there
being nothing in the will to support any other assumption than that it
was one of his possessions. We must, therefore, consider Jamesone as a
portrait-painter alone, and trust to his reputation being sustained by
the numerous portraits scattered throughout the country. On the occasion
of the visit of Charles I. to Edinburgh, a fantastic display was got up
which cost the city over forty-one thousand pounds Scots: in connection
with this the magistrates are said to have solicited from Jamesone the
loan of such of his works as could be got together, which, along with
some others, were hung up on each side of the Netherbow Port to grace
the royal visit. A large part of the details of the artist's life,
however, still rests on mere tradition, and of late some idea of this
being too undignified a position for the painter's work to occupy, has
relegated to him only the superintendence of the display. The portrait
of the painter by himself, holding a ring in his hand, lends some
plausibility to the story relating how Charles, being attracted by these
portraits, gave the artist a sitting and a recompense of a diamond ring.
The fact of the painter having repeatedly painted himself with his hat
on, is also assigned to the supposed circumstance of the king having
permitted him to do so while painting, but is much more probably due to
the example of the school in which he had some training. He was
liberally patronised by the Earl of Mar, who possessed about a dozen of
his works before the civil war and forfeiture scattered the possessions
of that house, and Aberdeen still possesses numerous specimens,
especially at King's College. From the Black Book of Taymouth we learn
that for Glenorchy he painted at one time thirteen portraits, consisting
of those of Robert and David Bruce, Charles I. and his queen, and nine
more Queens of Scotland, for the hall of Balloch (Taymouth), receiving
payment in 1635 for these, two hundred and threescore pounds; and also,
one hundred and fourscore pounds for nine family portraits, consisting
of Sir Colin himself, the Knight of Lochore's lady, the first Countess
of Argyll, and six other ladies, for the Chamber of Deas at Balloch. [Many
of the Breadalbane pictures, &c., were removed to Langton House in
Berwickshire (within the present century), the property of Lady
Elizabeth Pringle, daughter of the first Marquis, and now owned by the
Hon. Mr Baillie Hamilton.] This Sir Colin was a liberal patron of
the art, as the same curious register states that in 1633, two years
earlier, he "bestowit and gave to ane German painter whom he entertainit
in his house aucht month, and that for painting of thretty brods of the
Kings of Scotland, and of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and twa of
their Majesty's queens of gude memory, and of the said Sir Colin his awn
and his predecessors' portraits, whilk portraits are set up in the hail
and chalmer of Deas of the house of Balloch, the soume of ane thousand
pounds." The German painter thus seems to have been much better
remunerated than Jamesone. If we allow the extra portraits to stand
opposite the expense of his keep for the eight months during which he
was employed, the thirty "brods" were paid for by about fifty-five
shillings sterling, while Jamesone only received thirty-three shillings
each. [Writing to Sir Colin Campbell from Edinburgh
in June 1635, Jamesone says: "The pryce quhilk ewerie ane payes me abowe
the west [above the waist] is twentie merkis, I furnishing claith and
couhleris; hot if I furniss ane double-gilt muller [frame], then it is
twentie poundis. Thes I deall with all alyk; bot I am rnoir bound to
hawe ane gryte cair of your worship's service, becaus of very gould
payment for my laist employment. If I begin the picturs in Juhli, I will
have the sextine redie about the laist of September." Sixteen portraits
in three months is rapid work.] This modest remuneration,
however, does not appear so small when we read of Sarah, at a later
period, cutting down the price of Sir John Thornhill's art to twenty
shillings per yard in connection with the decorations of Blenheim House.
It is known that Jamesone was working at Balloch while the Black Book of
Taymouth was being written, and is thus the supposed artist of some rude
but curious portraitures of the lairds of Glenorchy, on the blank leaves
of vellum at the end of the volume. The earlier of these, representing
the ancient heroes of the race, are exceedingly rude, and without the
possibility of any resemblance; but the later lairds are more careful in
execution, the last of which, representing Sir Colin, may easily be
admitted as the work of Jamesone. [Cosmo Innes in
Proceedings of Scottish Antiquaries.]
His portraits consist
generally of small head-sizes. Among the exceptions are a good
whole-length life-size of James VI., which was possessed by the late B.
Graham, Esq.; and a seated half- length of the Rev. William Guild, D.D.,
in the Trinity Hall at Aberdeen. The so-called Sibyls which at present
decorate a stairway at King's College are neither weird nor beautiful,
as they are sometimes described. If, as has been stated, they are
portraits of some of the belles of Aberdeen, these have not been
remarkable for their good looks.
Among other traditions regarding the
artist, there is obscure mention of his having visited Italy in company
with Sir Colin Campbell, where he is said to have painted four pictures
for the Scots College at Rome, but which possibly rests on as slight a
foundation as the often-repeated assertion that his portrait hangs in
the Ufizzi gallery at Florence, among those of other distinguished
artists. Regarding the latter assertion, the author has the assurance of
Signor Ridoif, inspector of the Florentine galleries, that such a
portrait does not now exist in the collection and who also states that
he is not aware of any documents referring to its removal during the
last fifty years. [Communicated by the kindness of
Mr. \V. H. Wilson, and Mr Colnaghi, Consul at Florence.]
Jamesone died in 1644, and was buried in an unrecorded grave in the
Greyfriars Churchyard in Edinburgh, having left considerable legacies to
his friends and the poor, which, however, may not all have been the
fruits of his labour, as he was well connected. His daughter Mary is the
reputed seamstress of a mass of tapestry representing Ahasuerus
presenting the sceptre to Queen Esther, and Jephtha meeting his
daughter, which is still preserved in Old Aberdeen.
To a man of his
talent, and the catholicity of taste which he could scarcely fail to
have imbibed during his residence abroad, it must have appeared curious
to see so many of the people of his time, of totally different opinions,
anxious to perpetuate their own and their ancestors' likenesses, and at
the same time eager to destroy anything in the form of art when applied
to the services of religion. While treasuring up such a work as the
Scripture history referred to in his will, he saw the destruction of
similar but more important works of art going on all round, more
especially in his own city of Aberdeen, where the one party made their
camp-fires with the furniture and carvings from the venerable cathedral
of St Macbar, and the other left their unburied dead in the street. [Besides
those mentioned, Jamesone has of course left very numerous portraits,
among which may be named Montrose, Rothes, old Leslie, Earl of Leven,
Chancellor Loudon, the Marquises of Hamilton and Huntly, Sir Paul
Menzies (Provost), Professor Sandilands, Andrew Cant, Urquhart of
Cromarty, Gordon of Straloch, Sir Thomas Hope, George Heriot, Richard
Baxter, John Earl of Mar, Sir Thomas Nicholson, his uncle David Anderson
the architect (known as Davie-do-a'-thing), Alexander Bannerman of
Elsick, &c. For detailed notes see Mr Bullock's Life of Jamesone.]
In the year 1640, the General Assembly, regarding Machar Kirk in
Aberdeen, "ordained our blessed Lord Jesus Christ His arms to be hewen
out of the front of the pulpit, and to tak doon the portrait of our
blessed Mary and her dear Son baby Jesus in her arms, that had stood
since the up-putting thereof; in curious work, under the sill ring at
the west end of the pend whereon the great steeple stands; besides,
where there was ane crucifix set in glassen windows, this he [the Master
of Forbes] caused pull out in honest men's houses. He caused ane mason
strike out Christ's arms in hewen wark on ilk end of Bishop Gavin
Dunbar's tomb, and siclike chisel out the name of Jesus drawn cypher-wise
I.H.S. out of the timber wall on the fore side of Machar aile, anent the
consistory door; the crucifix on the old town cross dung doon; the
crucifix on the new town cross closed up, being loath to break the
stone; the crucifix on the west end of St Nicholas Kirk in New Aberdeen
dung doon, whilk was never troubled before."
Suchlike destruction of
art-work had continued all over Scotland for many years. In 1560 a
formal letter of instruction was drawn up, issued, and signed by "Ar.
Argyle, James Stewart, and Ruthven," a blank being left to be filled up
with the name of the kirk to be operated upon, and which runs as
follows: Traist friendis, after maist hearty commendacioun, we pray you
faill not to pass incontinent to the kirk of , and tak doun the haul
images thereof, and bring furth to the kirk-zayrd, and burn thaym
oppinly. And siclyke cast doun the alteris and purge the kirk of all
kynd of monuments of idolatrye. And this ye faill not to do, as ye will
do us singular empleseur; and so committis you to the protection of
God." A postscript cautions them to "tak guid heid that neither the
dasks, windocks, nor durris be ony ways hurt or broken, either glassin
wark or iron wark." [Henderson's Annals of
Dunfermline, &c.] The Reformers however, as is well known,
sometimes did the work more thoroughly, in the manner pithily
recommended by Knox, and effected their purpose by loosening the roof of
the church undergoing purgation, and so allowing it to fall into the
choirs, bringing it to a close by a kind of holocaust, burning the
wooden images, altar furniture, pictures, and vestments outside. It is
known how the craftsmen of Glasgow assembled by tuck of drum to resist
some such intention on the cathedral there in 1579, and saved that
beautiful edifice from demolition.
In 1640 there is mentioned the
destruction of what must have been an interesting and valuable piece of
art-work at Elgin, accompanied by some latent superstitious feeling on
the part of the people that the zeal of the Covenanters might be carried
a little too far. Several gentlemen of the Covenanting party, it is
chronicled, acting under the influence of the parish minister, cast down
the timber screen in the cathedral, on the west side of which was
painted, "in excellent colours, illuminate with stars of bright gold,
the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This piece was so
excellently done that the colours and stars never faded or evanished,
but keepit hale and sound as they were at the beginning—notwithstanding
this College or Canonry kirk wanted the roof since the Reformation, and
no hale window therein to save the same from storm, snow, sleet, nor
weet.
On the other side of this wall, toward the east, was drawn the
Day of Judgement. . . . It was said this minister caused bring home to
his house the timber thereof, and burn the same for serving his kitchen
and other uses; but ilk night the fire went out wherein it was burnt,
and could not be holden in to kindle the morning fire as use is, whereat
the servants and others marvelled, and thereupon the minister left off
any further."
The sweeping nature of the changes contemplated at this
period may be understood from a passage in Calderwood, [Edition
1678, p. 26.] in which, referring to the Book of Discipline, we
read, "They require that idolatrie, with all the monuments and places of
the same, as abbayes, monkries, frieries, nunneries, chappels, chantries,
cathedrall churches, chanonries, colledges, others than presently are
parish kirks, or schools, be utterly overthrown."
Private collections
of art-work of a religious nature fared no better. Among many instances
occurring of the destruction of such, the following extract is given,
illustrative of their contents :-
"Inventar of popish trinkets gotten
in my Lord Traquair's house Anno 1688: all solemnly burnt at the cross
of Peebles. . .
"Agnus Dei of Lamber, wi a picture above and another beneath of the
same, in a caise. Another curious picture of Lamber. The Queen of Peace,
curiously drawn. Six little frames with pictures in them. Five bigger
frames of timber wt pictures in them. Eight other little frames with
pictures. Six very large frames Wt pictures," [Proceedings
of Scottish Antiquaries, vol. ii. P. 455.] &c.
Every visitor to
1-lolyrood Palace notices the long line of portraits in the gallery
there of the Kings of Scotland, extending from the mythical period of
330 years B.C., when Fergus I. held the sceptre by virtue of descent
from the Irish King Milesius, who reigned a thousand years earlier,
making the "twenty-sixth degree inclusively from Noe," till the time of
Charles I., and which portraits bear more resemblance to each other in
feature and costume than can be accounted for by hereditary descent.
They were restored after some of them had been slashed by the sabres of
Hawley's troopers on their defeat at Falkirk, and line the walls of the
great hail, "familiar to readers of 'Waverley' as the scene of the ball
given by the young Pretender during his occupation of Holyrood, and
still dignified by the levees held by the Lord High Commissioner to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the meetings for the
elections of the Representative Peers of Scotland." Popular tradition
for some time attributed them to Jamesone, painted from descriptions by
the old Scottish historian; but the possession of whatever merit the
most lenient observer can discover must be attributed to a foreign
artist. From the still existing contract, they are known to be the works
of James de Witt, a Fleming, who was engaged by the Duke of York, and in
February 1684 contracted with the Government to paint 110 portraits
within two years for £240 sterling, he supplying the colours and the
canvas, the Government on their part supplying the originals from which
he was to copy. This James de Witt, or Jacob de Wett as he is sometimes
called, must have been a kind of genius in his way, as he designed the
national arms over the main entrance to the palace, as well as the
blazon in the quadrangle; and the accounts of Sir William Bruce, the
architect employed by Charles on the palace, show entries of 7th
February 1674: "Payed to Jacob de Wett, Dutch painter, £98, 12 5hgs.
(Scots) for two several chimney- pieces painted by him, and for painting
in marble ane chimney;" and on July i, 1675, "Payed to Mr de Wett,
paynter, 120 pounds Scots for ane piece of historie, painted and placed
in the roofe of the King's bedchamber, in the second stone to the east
quarter, on the syde towards the Privie Garden." The same artist also
received considerable employment as a portrait-painter—more particularly
at Lyon Castle, Glammis, and Clerkington in East Lothian. He was
dismissed from the public service in 1688, it is said without complete
payment being made for his works, and died in Scotland.
Early
topographical drawing, which may have had some influence in developing
the art of landscape-painting, deserves some notice. So early as the
year 1544, a bird's-eye map-view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill was drawn
by Alexander Alesse (Ales, or Hailes). He was born in Edinburgh on the
23d April 1500. Having embraced the Protestant faith about the time when
Patrick Hamilton, the first Scottish martyr, rendered up his life at the
stake in 1527, he left Scotland in order to avoid a similar fate, dying
at Leipzig in his sixty-fifth year. The original, which is assigned to
the date of the Earl of Hertford's expedition in the reign of Henry
VIII., is preserved in the British Museum, and shows the prominent then
existing buildings. Besides some theological works, he wrote a
description in Latin of Edinburgh, in which he speaks of "boundless
streets, which are all ornamented with lofty houses, such as the Cowgate,
in which reside the nobles and senators of the city, and in which are
-the principal palaces of the kingdom, where nothing is humble or
homely, but all is magnificent."
About a century later, in 1647, the
common council ordered the sum of 500 marks to be paid to the well-known
minister of Rothiemay, James Gordon, for making another view of the same
city, which is said to be accurate and reliable; it was engraved on a
large scale by De Witt at Amsterdam. [Dr Wilson—who
mentions that it was reproduced in London, and also in volume xii. of
Pierre Van der Aa's Galerie Agréable du Monde.]
Robert Gordon
of Straloch, born at Kinmundy in Aberdeenshire in i8o, was the second
son of Sir John Gordon of Pitlurg, who stood in high favour with his
sovereign, James VI. He was the first, it is said, who applied actual
measurement in topographical surveys; and at the solicitation of King
Charles in 1641, undertook the preparation of an atlas of Scotland,
published in 1648: this work afterwards passed through a second and
third edition. His fifth son, the James above referred to, was the
author of a 'History of Scots Affairs from 1637 to 1641,' and also of a
'Description of both Towns of Aberdeen, with a Map.' Regarding this map,
which he presented to the town council in 1661, it is chronicled "that
he had been at great pains in draughting it upon ane mickle cairt of
paper;" in consideration of which they ordained him to receive "ane
silver piece or cup, wechtand twenty unce, and ane silk hat, with ane
silk gown to his bed-fellow." [Smith's History of
Aberdeenshire (1875), Part II.] The important 'Geographiae
Blaviana,' published at Amsterdam in 1642, in the introduction to the
Scottish volume, recognises the labours of Scotstarvet and the
GordonsJoanni Scoto Scoto-Tarvatio, Jacobus Gordonius, and Robertus
Gordonius a Straloch, whose names appear prominently on several of the
maps.
In the early seventeenth century the art of architecture in its
modern form began to develop itself in Scotland. England lagged behind
the Continent, and Scotland was still later. It is probable that classic
architecture was first introduced into England by Giovanni di Padua, and
Have (or Havenius of Cleves), late in in the sixteenth century.[Ferguson.]
Inigo Jones (1572-1632) was followed by Wren (1632-1723), and it is
probably to the works of these eminent artists that the taste for
classic art had its origin in Scotland In the very dawn of the
seventeenth century, on the x8th April 1602, died William Schaw,
architect to James VI. (or as he was then styled, Master of the King's
Works), and also president of the Sacred Ceremonies and Queen's
Chamberlain. One of his predecessors, Sir Robert Drummond, has already
been mentioned in connection with the restoration of the Chapel Royal at
Stirling. A brother of Sir Thomas Galbraith, the musician of James IV.,
held the office of King's Master of Works at Dumbarton; and John Murdo,
or Morow, was probably of no earlier date. Schaw is notable for having,
about the year 1594, restored the abbey of Dunfermline, of which he is
said to have built the steeple, the north porch, some of the buttresses,
the roofs of the north and the south aisles, and the portion of the
gable above the great western door; he is also credited with the
erection of the queen's house, and the bailie and constabulary houses.
His monument was placed originally over his grave in the north aisle of
the nave which he restored, but was removed in 5794, and part of it
placed within the "bell-ringer's place at the bottom of the steeple." A
long Latin inscription on his tomb includes the information that he was
"a man of excellent skill, notable probity, singular integrity of life,
adorned with the greatest of virtues, .
Master of the King's Works,
President of the Sacred Ceremonies, and the Queen's Chamberlain. . . .
Among the living he dwelt 52 years: he had travelled in France and many
other kingdoms for the improvement of his mind; he wanted no liberal
training; was most skilful in architecture; was early recommended to
great persons for the singular gifts of his mind; and was not only
unwearied and indefatigable in labours and business, but constantly
active and most vigorous, and was most dear to every good man who knew
him. . . - Queen Anne ordered this monument to be erected to the memory
of this most excellent and most upright man, lest his virtues should
pass away with the death of his body." [Henderson's
Annals of Dunfermline.]
David Anderson of Finzeauch, a native
of Aberdeen, uncle of Jamesone the painter, known as
"Davie-do-a'-thing," had some reputation as an architect. He was dean of
guild of Aberdeen, for which city he seems to have acted as city
architect, designing a steeple for St Nicholas's Church, and improving
the harbour. His contemporary, Gordon of Straloch, refers to his skill
in mechanics, and his renown in art and industry is also mentioned in
the 'Succinct Survey.' He died in 1629.
After the death of Schaw lived
John Mylne, one of a family which had long enjoyed the principal
employment in this department of art in Scotland, several of his
predecessors having held the office of master-mason to the king. He was
several times deacon convener of the trades, commissioner to Parliament
for the city of Edinburgh, and was buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard
of Edinburgh in 1667, at the age of fifty-six, where a long Latin
inscription records his many virtues and talents. Alexander Mylne, a
sculptor of some repute, was probably a brother of John; he died in
1643, and was buried in the cemetery attached to Holyrood House, where,
on the site of the ancient choir of the chapel, a monument with the
usual Latin verses informs the "passenger "-
"Here is buried a worthy
man and an ingenious mason, Alexander Mime,
20th February A. D. 1643
;"
to which is added the further information—
"What
Myron or Appelles could have done
In brass or paintry, he could that
in stone;
But thretty years he lived.
Still another Mylne, or
Mime, is commemorated in connection with Holyrood as one of the builders
of the palace, by an inscription on a pillar of the piazza of the
quadrangle, "FVN . BE. RO. MILNE. M. Al. I . JVL. 1671," in which the
initials M. M. represent the words Master Mason. The greatest
representative of this family, however, was the later Robert Mylne (born
4th January 1734; died 5th May 1811), a native of Edinburgh, where his
father was a magistrate. He was educated in his native city, and studied
five years at Rome, where, on the i8th September 1758, he was awarded
the first prize in the Academy of St Luke in the first class of
architecture. In the following year he was elected a member of the
Academy, but being a Protestant, a dispensation from the Pope was
necessary, which was obtained for him by the young Prince Altieri, who
was distinguished in Rome for his knowledge of art. During his residence
in Italy he carefully studied the remains of ancient architecture, and
on his return to London a friendless adventurer, became one of
twenty-one candidates for the contemplated Blackfriars Bridge, commenced
in 1761. For the plan and duty of superintendence of this he was
rewarded by a salary of £300 per annum and five per cent on the cost.
The bridge was completed in 1765 for the exact estimated sum of
£153,000. In the erection of this his mode of "centering" was much
praised. He seems, during its progress, to have made a second visit to
Rome, as Mrs Strange, writing to her brother, mentions him in a letter
of February 1763, as "haying lived here in the Land of Goshen for three
years, is to set out in a few days for the Land of Cakes." He was
afterwards appointed surveyor of St Paul's, and originated the famous
inscription there to Wren, "Si monumentum requiris—circumspice." Among
other buildings which he erected or altered were Rochester Cathedral,
Greenwich Hospital (of which he was clerk for fifteen years), King's
Weston, Ardencaple House, and Inveraray Castle. He was interred near to
the tomb of Wren in Westminster Abbey after a distinguished career, and
left five surviving children by his wife Mary Home, whom he married in
1770.
Sir William Bruce, baronet of Kinross (previously of Balcaskie),
the second son of Robert, third Baron of Blairhill, was trained abroad
as an architect, and was an enthusiastic and active promoter of the
restoration of Charles II. During his residence on the Continent he
gained the intimacy of General Monk, and conveyed secretly to Breda the
information of that officer's efforts in the royal cause—a service which
Charles, after his restoration, rewarded by constituting him Clerk to
the Bills in the Court of Session, at that time a lucrative office, and
afterwards in 1668 created him a baronet, at the same time appointing
him Surveyor- General of Public Buildings. The king having early
resolved to rebuild part of the palace of Holyrood, now employed him to
prepare the necessary designs, and in 1671 a royal warrant was issued
from Windsor, by which the Commissioners of Exchequer were empowered to
allow him to proceed with the restoration of the palace. The king took a
great personal interest in the execution of the work, suggesting
modifications and alterations, some of which fortunately were not
adopted. Sir William had designed the interior of the quadrangle to be
richly decorated, but this was not carried out on account of the
expense. The portion of the palace thus rebuilt was completed after
eight years, in 1679, at a cost of about £128,000 Scots. He also planned
Hopetoun House in Linlithgowshire, in which the internal accommodation,
although very extensive, has been somewhat sacrificed for an imposing
façade: it was commenced in 1698, but not completed till several years
had elapsed, the elder Adam having added the wings. [A
plan is given in Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus: it is nearly square,
with the staircase in the centre.] He designed Moncreiffe House
in Perthshire, the Merchants' House and steeple in Glasgow, and had a
hand in Heriot's Hospital. In the Heriot Hospital Record for 1675, May
3d, it is stated, "There is a necessity that the steeple of the Hospital
be finished, and a top put thereupon. Ro. Milne, master-mason, to think
on a drawing thereof against the next council meeting." This was
evidently not done by Mime, as on July ioth next year it is stated,
"Deacon Sandilans to put a roof and top to the Hospital's steeple,
according to the draught condescended upon be Sir William Bruce." He
died in 1710, and the Scottish National Gallery possesses a small
portrait-head of him, executed in China ink. The few works to which this
architect's name is attached is due to the fact that he may be said to
have practised the art as an amateur, only so far as was consistent with
the dignity of a private gentleman, and which he was enabled to sustain
from the lucrative offices to which he had been appointed. In connection
with Heriot's Hospital, the name of William Wallace, master-mason, is
associated at the commencement of that building. He was very probably
the architect, as he had under him an Andrew Donaldson, who seems in
reality to have been the master-mason. William Aytoun seems to have
succeeded Wallace in the same work; and connected with the designing of
Innes House in Morayshire, an entry occurs in the account book of the
laird of Innes, "Given to Wm. Aitoun, maister maissoun at Heriott his
work, for drawing the form of the house on paper, £26, 13s. 4d." Scots,
or £2, 4s. 6d. sterling. A curious portrait of Aytoun is preserved in
the Hospital. [Billings's Antiquities.] He
was a native of Inchdairnie, and ancestor of the poet W. E. Aytoun. The
earlier domestic edifices of Scotland, as already said, were imitations
of those of France, so far as the limited means of the Scottish laird
permitted. Bruce no doubt designed Holyrood from his observations on the
Continent; but of the early experience of Wallace and Aytoun, whose
names are associated with Heriot's Hospital, nothing seems to be known.
The latter edifice is a curious example of a not disagreeable mixture of
very different styles, consisting of the framework of a German palace,
with the turrets and chimneys of a French chateau, having its prototype
in the castle of Fredericksburg.
