Lot 83: DAVID ALISON, RSA, RP 1882-1955

signed and dated l.r: David Alison/ 1910

oil on canvas

81 by 91 1/2 cm. ; 32 by 36 in.

Possibly Royal Scottish Academy, 1906 or 1907, nos. 275 or 143

In 1912 the Society of Eight was formed with David Alison as an active member (the other artists being P W Adam, Cadell, James Cadenhead, James Paterson, Harrington Mann, Sir John Lavery and AG Sinclair). Alison had developed a suave style of portrait painting which echoes the likes of his friend Sir John Lavery and John Singer Sargent and also perhaps the most influential of all portrait painters to Nineteenth Century artists, Velasquez. Among those who posed for Alison were the Duke of Roxburghe, the Earl of Mar and the Earl of Stathmore.

At the Piano is almost certainly a portrait but the identity of the sitter is difficult to reconcile with the list of his exhibits. She may be Alison the daughter of Henry Wyse whose portrait was exhibited at the Royal Society of Artist in 1906 or Helen the daughter of Thomas Swan of Kirkcaldy, the subject of his 1907 exhibit. Whichever is the case the portrait has a beautiful informality as the young lady listlessly plays the piano, dressed in the elegant fashion of the day.