Lot 2: Jacob More (c.1740-1793)

View of Rosslyn Castle, Midlothian, Scotland, with figures in the foreground on the south bank of the River North Esk
oil on canvas
30 1/4 x 49 1/2 in. (76.9 x 125.2 cm.)
in a contemporary reeded frame

THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

Rosslyn Castle is stands on a rocky promontory above the River North Esk and near the Pentland Hills, only a mile from the neighbouring Hawthornden Castle and seven miles from Edinburgh. The Castle, Chapel and Earldom traditionally use the spelling Rosslyn, but the village is spelt Roslyn. Built in the 14th Century by Henry St. Clair, Earl of Orkney, the Castle was extended in the 15th Century. The nearby chapel has sometimes been considered the possible resting place of the Holy Grail. By the 18th Century the Castle's romantic history and dramatic setting established it on the route for visitors to Scotland in search of the picturesque.

Jacob More was one of a number of artists inspired by Rosslyn. Others included Alexander Nasmyth, for example his View of Rosslyn Castle with Rosslyn Chapel, c.1789 (collection of E. Derricott, see Rosslyn, Country of Painter and Poet, H. Rosslyn & A. Maggi, Edinburgh, 2002, p.37), Julius Caesar Ibbetson, and later David Roberts. They established a visual iconography for Rosslyn to parallel its growing literary context. Robert Burns, Walter Scott and William Worsdworth all strove to capture the essence of the area, and a popular 18th Century Scottish ballad entitled Roslin Castle portrayed the Castle as a Romantic setting:
Of Celia's charms the shepherd sung,
The hills and dales with Celia rung,
While Roslin Castle heard the swain,
And echoed back the cheerful strain.

The present view is a typical example of the artist's Scottish work, and closely relates to his sketch in the National Gallery of Scotland, (Cat. NGS/RSA 1297, Roslin Castle, see Patricia Andrew, 'Jacob More: Biography and a Checklist of Works', Walpole Society, LV, 1990, A.3.ii). This is almost exactly the same composition, with similarities in the figures, though not identical, and although smaller, is of comparable proportions (11 3/4 x 19 3/4 in.). It is likely that More painted the view either in Scotland before he went to London in 1771, or that he produced it in London 1771-1773, using his own sketches for reference.
A native of Edinburgh, More became an outstanding landscape artist of his generation. The son of an Edinburgh merchant, he was apprenticed to the Norie family of artists in 1766. Before his departure for London he produced numerous sketches of the Scottish Lowlands, and in 1769 designed and executed stage sets for the Theatre Royal in Edinburgh. This period culminated in a series of oil paintings of the Falls of the River Clyde, three of which are in public collections (Corra Linn, National Gallery of Edinburgh; Stonebyres Linn, Tate Britain, London; and Bonnington Linn, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge), and his reputation as the first real landscape painter of Scotland was established when he exhibited a set of Clyde views at the Society of Artists in London in 1771. In London he continued his studies under Richard Wilson, leaving in 1773 for Rome where he became the leading landscape painter among the community of British artists in the city.

We are grateful to Dr. Patricia Andrew for her assistance with this catalogue entry.

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