Lot 40: Thomas Corsan Morton , 1859 - 1928 The Wood-cutter oil on canvas

James Paterson;
Margaret, Lady Worlledge (neé Paterson);
Pauline Watson;
Thence by descent to the present owner

Thomas Corson Morton is one of the less well known members of the Glasgow Boys but painted alongside the likes of James Guthrie, George Henry, Edward Atkinson Hornel, Sir John Lavery and Edward Arthur Walton. In the summer of 1883, Guthrie and Walton discovered the village of Cockburnspath, which lies on the East coast of Scotland between Edinburgh and Berwick-upon-Tweed. In his book on the Glasgow Boys, Roger Billcliffe states that "During the summer of 1884, they [Guthrie and Walton] were joined by Henry, J. Whitelaw Hamilton, T. Corsan Morton, Crawhall, Arthur Melville and probably Nairn. Even Macgregor paid a visit to nearby Dunbar in 1884." Co'path, as it was known, provided a physically and mentally stimulating environment for The Boys and was to become their summer retreat, often being referred to as 'their Barbizon'. This connection with Paris is obvious as the group's primary interest and artistic influences came from across the Channel, most notably from those artists in the realist circle of Bastien-Lepage. In a clear homage to Bastien-Lepage, The Glasgow Boys tended to sign their works in his capital letter style, as indeed was the case for some members of the British Impressionists such as George Clausen and Henry Herbert La Thangue. Their choice of realist subject matter and the loosely handled square-brush technique were elements directly adopted from Bastien-Lepage and his contemporaries and can be clearly seen in the present work.