Lot 16: James McLachlan Nairn (1859-1904)

James McLachlan Nairn (1859-1904)
Glenfinlas, Perthshire
signed 'J M Nairn' (lower left) and inscribed 'IN GLENFINLAS/Perthshire' (on the reverse of the canvas)
oil on canvas
18 x 12 in. (45.7 x 30.5 cm.)

Nairn was born near Glasgow, and like many of his contemporaries, trained at the Glasgow School of Art before continuing his studies in Paris. He was considered a member of the Glasgow Boys, a loose association of artist friends working in South West Scotland and focussed around Glasgow in the 1880s and 1990s, whose work took as primary inspiration the plein air and realist principles of the French movement centred around Jules Bastien-Lepage. In In Glenfinlas, Perthshire, we see subtle tonal values and the influence of the square, dry-brush technique characteristic of the French artist. Nairn creates an unsentimental depiction of the landscape and the figure that lives and works in it.

Glenfinlas, a tract of forest close to Loch Katrine was perhaps most famously depicted by Millais in 1853, in his Portrait of John Ruskin in front of a waterfall. Poetic associations are also attached in the form of Sir Walter Scott's poem, Glenfinlas; or Lord Ronald's Coronach of 1803.

At the age of 30 Nairn migrated to New Zealand for health reasons. He went on to become a leading member of the New Zealand artistic community and teacher at Wellington Technical School. Consequently, his Scottish output is limited and works come on to the market very rarely.
The work of Nairn is included in the current Royal Academy exhibition Pioneering Painters: The Glasgow Boys 1880 - 1900 (until 23 January 2011).