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William McTaggart
1835 - 1910
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William McTaggart was one of the finest
painters Scotland has produced, and an original genius, a
pioneer of impressionism before it even had a label. In his
early years he taught himself drawing and painting, and
already at the age of twelve he was able to earn extra money
and delight friends with his ability as a portrait painter.
McTaggart was born of crofting parents at Aros Farm, near
Machrihanish, at the present day a farm beside the East end
of the airfield at Machrihanish. His parents were Gaelic
speaking and his mother was a granddaughter of the religious
poet, Duncan MacDougall. His parents are buried in Kilkenzie
churchyard, and in her later years his mother came back from
Glasgow to live in Campbeltown. |
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At the age of twelve William McTaggart was an
apprenticed apothecary to Dr. Buchanan of Campbeltown, who
quickly recognised his ability and encouraged him. His
starting wage was half a crown a week and his dinner on
Sunday. William's parents had opposed his desire to train as
an artist but his employer encouraged him to continue with
his painting and portraiture, placing his library at his
disposal, and introducing him to some of the wealthy locals
who gave him commissions and also the chance to see other
paintings in their houses. When his apprenticeship was over
William McTaggart took the bold step of sailing off to
Glasgow with his savings, determined to make his living from
painting. In February 1852 aged sixteen he stayed with an
elder brother and sought the advice of Sir Daniel McNee to
whom he had an introduction. He was advised to enrol at the
Trustees Academy, Edinburgh. This academy owed its origin to
the Treaty of Union, and had been founded in 1760 by the
Board of the Manufacturers of Scotland to improve design for
textiles etc., but had developed into an art college. At the
time McTaggart entered the school Robert Scott Lauder (1805
- 1809) was the director of Antique Life and Colour Studies.
He inspired a group of well-known artists, most of whom
later moved to London. This teacher's passion for colour and
under-standing of the properties of oil paint was taken up
by the students and became the principal characteristic of
most Scottish painting. McTaggart was carefully trained and
during this time he managed to support himself by painting
portraits. |
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Between 1852 and 1860 painting by the
Pre-Raphaelites Milais and Holman Hunt were exhibited in
Edinburgh but, although excited by their pursuit of
naturalism, McTaggart moved further to perfect a truth to
atmosphere by a more exact use of broken colour. David
Fincham in the introduction to the "McTaggart Centenary
Exhibition 1955" in the Tate Gallery writes "As early as
1875 McTaggart had invented a system of impressionism
different from but comparable to that of Sisley, Monet and
Renoir" |
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| Although William McTaggart
lived most of his working life in Edinburgh and after 1889
at Lasswade, he returned nearly every year to Kintyre, and
places in this peninsula were the sites and inspiration of
many of his paintings completed in his studio during the
winter. In 1859 while still a student he was elected an
associate of the Royal Scottish Academy. In 1860 he was able
to take a painting holiday around Campbeltown Loch, and when
on a visit to New Orleans on the Leewardside Road he met
Mary Holmes, who was also on holiday. McTaggart painted his
first study of the sea, called "Hesperus" on this holiday,
and in June 1863 he married Mary Holmes in Glasgow. The
marriage was very happy and seemed to stimulate his
painting, which improved steadily. As part of their
honeymoon the young couple made a brief visit to London
where Mrs. McTaggart met some of her artist husband's early
friends. |
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| In 1862 some of McTaggart's
closest friends migrated to London, but he could never be
persuaded to make the move and, although he showed pictures
at the Royal Academy in London between 1866 and 1875, he
rarely visited the capital, and settled in Edinburgh. With a
growing family his holidays by the sea were for some years
on the East Coast. He painted at Carnoustie and Broughty
Ferry out of doors, and had a studio in his flat in
Charlotte Square. As a result many of his patrons were from
Dundee and nearby and the best public collections of his
pictures are to be found at Broughty Perry and Kirkcaldy.
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| McTaggart and his family came
to Kilkerran, Campbeltown, for a holiday in 1870 - a working
holiday as he was always a very energetic painter. After
1870 nearly every summer found him and his family in
Kintyre, at Machrihanish, Tarbert, Carradale or Southend.
His output was tremendous. He had a large family and
throughout his life he never stopped painting or lowered his
standards or aspirations. His paintings were much sought
after and commanded high prices. Some regard as his best
those pictures painted about 1870, the year he was elected
an academician. At that time he was probably the best open
air painter in Britain. In 1875 "The village, Whitehouse"
was exhibited in the London Academy. McTaggart painted
several pictures of Whitehouse. To journey there from
Campbeltown meant catching the Campbeltown-Tarbert coach and
starting at 5.a.m. |
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| In 1876 McTaggart began
water-colour studies at Machrihanish. These sketches were
sometimes worked into pictures in oils painted later in the
studio. The year 1884 must have been a very sad one for the
artist. Early in the year his mother died in Campbeltown. On
returning home his wife developed an illness which she had
already and died on December 15th. His youngest daughter was
inseparable from her father even when he went visiting. When
he was wooing the lady who became his second wife Jean went
too, and also on the honeymoon. He painted a beautiful
portrait of this child in a red frock with a lace collar. It
is called "Belle" and is owned by her sisters. William
McTaggart's eldest daughter and his second wife, Marjorie
Henderson, had a wonderfully happy relationship. They were
really like sisters and the whole family were devoted to
each other. McTaggart often included his family and young
friends in his pictures, as for example in "Consider the
Lilies." He was a most understanding and approachable
father. |
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| By 1889 McTaggart felt
sufficiently established to abandon direct commission and
paint the subjects he preferred - pictures of the sea and
countryside. Before he removed from Edinburgh, Dowells held
a sale of his accumulated works in the spring of 1889. A
total of £4,000 was realised - at that time an unprecedented
success in Scotland. In 1877 he had sold a painting for 330
guineas, which showed that he earned a satisfactory income,
was able to paint what he wanted and still fulfil all family
demands. In May 1889 he moved to Dean Park, Broomieknowe, on
the outskirts of Lasswade, Midlothian, and built himself a
studio in the garden. Later on in 1895 he built a bigger
studio cum gallery, and painted at Broomieknowe from 1889 -
1910. |
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| During the 1880's McTaggart
painted a lot in watercolours. There are many beautiful
sketches of Kintyre, Glenramskill, Machrihanish, Kildavie,
Bonnie Coniglen, Pennyseorach Bay, Southend, Dunaverty,
Brunerican and many pictures of Carradale were painted "on
the spot." The summer visits of 1887 and 1888 were
completely given over to watercolours, some to be
transformed into larger compositions in oil in the studio.
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| In 1892 McTaggart altered his
holidays to visit Kintyre in June instead of August and
thereafter came practically every year in this month till
1908. He found in the long light days new effects of light
to study. 1894 was a particularly busy year for him and 1895
a particularly fine one for weather. This was the year his
new studio was built and he painted a well known studio
picture called "Consider the lilies." It shows a bed of
large white lilies with two rings of dancing children.
McTaggart never missed a R.S.A. Exhibition between 1855 and
1895. He showed a hundred and ninety pictures of which
seventy two were portraits and nineteen water-colours all
exhibited after 1875. Hugh Cameron, a well known critic,
gave his opinion of McTaggart. 'It was pioneer work - he put
aside convention after convention in his consistent and
purposeful development towards the expression of the things
in nature which fascinated him." Another opinion was "Best
open air painter in Britain." In 1894 the "Art - Journal" of
that year devoted an article to McTaggart's work entitled "A
Scottish Impressionist." |
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| 1897 was the thirteenth
centenary of the death of St. Columba. That summer when he
visited Machrihanish he found that the Cauldrons bays had
filled with sand and this unusual happening gave him the
subject matter for his famous painting "The Coming of Saint
Columba" which hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland.
The year before this (1896) McTaggart had a serious illness
but recovered completely by 1898. In that year his long
standing friend and patron, Mr. Orchan, died and left his
collection of pictures, after his wife's death, to Broughty
Ferry. So there are about twenty of McTaggart's pictures on
show there. It was felt that there had been no exhibition of
his pictures for some time so in 1900, Mr. D. McOmish Dott
purchased twenty nine pictures for £5,000 and shoved them in
Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee. In 1901 the "Scottish
Artists' Benevolent Association" was started with a sale of
prominent painters' works for its funds. William McTaggart
took a leading part in the foundation of this association
and gave an early Broomieknowe painting "Green Fields" for
the sale. In the same year he visited Southend and painted
some wonderful pictures in a fine August, "Where the
Smuggler Came Ashore" and "The Sounding Sea" -a masterpiece
as is "The Paps of Jura" (1902). |
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| Nearer home McTaggart painted
some pictures at Cockenzie on the Firth of Forth and the sea
in these pictures is a completely different sea to that of
the Atlantic paintings. In 1903 McTaggart was saddened by
the death of his son, Hamish, at the early age of thirteen
and came to Rosehill on Campbeltown Loch for a change. The
family still came to Machrihanish for a summer painting
holiday up to 1907 when McTaggart painted his last oil
paintings "Cauldrons Bay", "Atlantic Surf", "Summer Sea" and
Mist and Rain Machrihanish." |
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| The names are evocative in
themselves. There is a photograph of the artist painting on
the beach at Machrihanish - coat flying in the breeze and
his heavy easel and canvas held down by an assistant -
probably a member of the family. He was a master painter at
depicting the changing moods of sea and sky - the shining
wind caressing western seas. The figures in his pictures are
usually subordinate to or enhance the mood of the picture.
"He loved to wreath the beauty of nature with the charm and
innocence of childhood." As a Belgian artist, Emile Claus
said in 1916 "Ah! C'est lui qui peint les enfants comme des
fleurs." |
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| William McTaggart died
peacefully in April 1910 and is buried in Newington
Churchyard, Edinburgh. His paintings even in reproduction
are an inspiration and delight. |
Sources:
Sir James Caw's Biography 1917.
The McTaggart' Exhibition Catalogue 1974.
Text reproduced by Kind Permission:
Kintyre Antiquarian and Natural History Society |
Click
HERE for some detailed info on the life and times of William
McTaggart
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...David Fincham in the introduction to the
"McTaggart Centenary Exhibition 1955" in the Tate Gallery writes "As
early as 1875 McTaggart had invented a system of impressionism
different from but comparable to that of Sisley, Monet and
Renoir"...
...Hugh Cameron, a well known critic, gave his
opinion of McTaggart. 'It was pioneer work - he put aside convention
after convention in his consistent and purposeful development
towards the expression of the things in nature which fascinated
him."...
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