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Art in Scotland
Chapter V


TRADITION and meagre and unsatisfactory detail cease towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, when the first native Scottish artist of marked ability began to practise. This was the well-known George Jamesone of Aberdeen, who was born on the 8th of February 1587. Although he cannot in the least degree be compared with the great portrait-masters of the Spanish and the later British schools, it may be noted that he was contemporary with Velasquez and Murillo, and preceded the English Hogarth by fully a century, and Reynolds by a hundred and twenty-six years. He appeared at a time when the wholesale destruction of nearly all kinds of art-work was going on in different parts of Scotland, and was the first of a race of artists who, instead of the antiquated types and the traditions of religion, were to illustrate and perpetuate the portraiture, and subsequently the poetry and history, of their native land. The inherent love of these, so characteristic of the Scot, could not fail in favourable times to develop the art of painting; and although several generations of artists were necessary before the art could attain its full power of expression in the works of such men as Raeburn, Wilkie, and Duncan, traces of the Scottish national character nearly akin to that of Spain are to be found in the works of several of their predecessors. There are perhaps no other national portraits so similar in handling and expression to those of the great representatives of the Spanish school, so eminent in this branch of art, as those of Scotland; and Raeburn and Watson Gordon may not unworthily be placed alongside of Velasquez and Coello. This similarity so strongly impressed Wilkie when in Spain, that in writing to his friend Nasmyth from Seville, he mentioned heads at Madrid by Velasquez which were so like Raeburn's works that, were they shown in Edinburgh, they would be attributed to the Scottish artist. The early Spanish masters drew Their inspiration from and had the success of their works gauged by those of the Italian masters; but in the serious glowing colour and soberness of Velasquez, we see a reflection not of his predecessors' works, but of the national character of the Spaniard. The art in Scotland more rapidly assumed its style, if we count by the number of its professors instead of by years. We search in vain for any evidence that the art of Spain influenced that of Scotland. There was little or no personal intercourse, and whatever commerce existed was transacted in the exchanges and marts of the great Flemish entrej5ôi's, through which it is difficult to conceive how any Spanish influence could have filtered. Scottish art bears no more resemblance to the sensuality of Rubens, or the severity of the earlier Flemings, than it does to the gorgeousness of Giorgione or Titian, the grace of Raphael, or the energy of Michael Angelo. The first rudiments of execution and power of expression being acquired, the character of the Scottish people soon reflected itself on the art; and the persecutions of the Covenanters as subjects for painting, appealed in their own way as strongly to the sympathies of the people of Scotland as did the sufferings and ecstasies of martyrs and saints to the people of the Peninsula. In the works of Jamesone more than in those of his early successors may be noticed latent traits of the fully developed art of the school of which he is the first representative; and he forms a curious link between the art of Flanders and of Scotland, having studied under Rubens alongside of Vandyke in Antwerp, —a tradition which there is no reason to doubt, as there is very observable influence of Rubens in his portrait of Arthur Johnston at King's College, painted about 1629, as well as one or two others.

At a period when it was hardly to be expected, owing to the troubles of the Covenanters and the wars of the great captain, he received a large amount of patronage, more especially from the great Highland chief, Sir Cohn Campbell of Glenorchy, a favourite of James VI. and his queen, Anne of Denmark; and although he does not seem to have been very highly remunerated, even for those days, his price being about twenty-three shillings sterling per portrait, "colours and claith" included, and thirty- four shillings when furnishing the "muller" or frame, his swift brush and moderate living enabled him to die in considerable affluence. His taste was probably inherited from his father Andrew, who was a burgess of Guild and an architect, as was also his maternal uncle, and was no doubt further cultivated by his residence abroad, however short it may have been. It is well known that he took a pleasure in making the house which he rented in Aberdeen in later years a kind of suburban paradise, similar to the "lust haus" of the Flemish burgher. He is credited as being the first Scottish painter of a Scottish king, having, according to tradition, painted a head of Charles I. from life at Edinburgh in 1633, now untraced. His numerous portraits of contemporary and deceased personages preserved at Taymouth and elsewhere, in spite of the effects of time and of the scrubbing-brush, which was often applied to pictures with that liberality of muscle possessed by the Scottish domestic, show a tolerable amount of skill, although not of such a quality as to entitle him to the epithet of the Scottish Vandyke, which was bestowed upon him by Walpole.

It may not seem so remarkable that there should appear in Scotland at that time the first Scottish—in fact, British—artist who could lay claim to any rank in his profession, when we consider the very high position occupied by Aberdeen as a seat of learning, culture, and commerce; the long and friendly intercourse existing between Scotland and the Continent; and the roving disposition of the Scot. A wave of culture from the more advanced South, where art had already achieved its glories, rippled along the coasts of our island, and our churches had assumed enough of the decorative arts in their adornment, so common on the Continent, to irritate native Puritanism to their destruction. The commerce between Aberdeen and the northern Continental ports, particularly Bruges, perhaps the most artistic and certainly one of the wealthiest cities in Belgium, was then, and at an earlier period, of very considerable magnitude; and so it came about that the architect's son, with some liking and aptitude for art, found an opportunity for its development, throwing into the shade the works of such other British artists as were contemporaneous, or followers in point of time, and surpassing in his adherence to nature some of the foreign artists who were employed at the English Court.

How long Jamesone remained at Antwerp is not known, but as he is said to have been a fellow-student with Vandyke under Rubens, and as Vandyke left the great Fleming's studio in 1619, Jamesone must have been about thirty years of age on leaving Aberdeen, previous to which he must have acquired considerable proficiency in his art. Admission to the studio of Rubens was not easily obtained; he had numerous applicants, and no doubt both ability and influence were necessary for the entrée. It was in the year 1620 that he set up his easel in his native town, and soon afterwards got married to Isabel Tosh; but fame soon induced him to move to Edinburgh, and in 1623 he painted the well-known group of himself with his wife and daughter Mary. In addition to portraits and miniatures, he is said to have executed some historical and landscape pieces. The chief reason for this supposition is the fact that in one of his own portraits he is represented pointing to a number of pictures on a wall, among which are one or two landscapes and a kind of historical composition. So far as is known, no specimen in these branches of art has been identified with his name, and one would be sorry to associate it with one or two works of that class which vague and unfounded tradition has attributed to his brush. The book of Scripture drawings which are referred to by Allan Cunningham, and which are mentioned in the painter's will as "200 leaves of parchment of excellent write adorned with diverse historys of our Saviour," and of which all traces are lost, was probably the work of some old monkish illuminator, there being nothing in the will to support any other assumption than that it was one of his possessions. We must, therefore, consider Jamesone as a portrait-painter alone, and trust to his reputation being sustained by the numerous portraits scattered throughout the country. On the occasion of the visit of Charles I. to Edinburgh, a fantastic display was got up which cost the city over forty-one thousand pounds Scots: in connection with this the magistrates are said to have solicited from Jamesone the loan of such of his works as could be got together, which, along with some others, were hung up on each side of the Netherbow Port to grace the royal visit. A large part of the details of the artist's life, however, still rests on mere tradition, and of late some idea of this being too undignified a position for the painter's work to occupy, has relegated to him only the superintendence of the display. The portrait of the painter by himself, holding a ring in his hand, lends some plausibility to the story relating how Charles, being attracted by these portraits, gave the artist a sitting and a recompense of a diamond ring. The fact of the painter having repeatedly painted himself with his hat on, is also assigned to the supposed circumstance of the king having permitted him to do so while painting, but is much more probably due to the example of the school in which he had some training. He was liberally patronised by the Earl of Mar, who possessed about a dozen of his works before the civil war and forfeiture scattered the possessions of that house, and Aberdeen still possesses numerous specimens, especially at King's College. From the Black Book of Taymouth we learn that for Glenorchy he painted at one time thirteen portraits, consisting of those of Robert and David Bruce, Charles I. and his queen, and nine more Queens of Scotland, for the hall of Balloch (Taymouth), receiving payment in 1635 for these, two hundred and threescore pounds; and also, one hundred and fourscore pounds for nine family portraits, consisting of Sir Colin himself, the Knight of Lochore's lady, the first Countess of Argyll, and six other ladies, for the Chamber of Deas at Balloch. [Many of the Breadalbane pictures, &c., were removed to Langton House in Berwickshire (within the present century), the property of Lady Elizabeth Pringle, daughter of the first Marquis, and now owned by the Hon. Mr Baillie Hamilton.] This Sir Colin was a liberal patron of the art, as the same curious register states that in 1633, two years earlier, he "bestowit and gave to ane German painter whom he entertainit in his house aucht month, and that for painting of thretty brods of the Kings of Scotland, and of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, and twa of their Majesty's queens of gude memory, and of the said Sir Colin his awn and his predecessors' portraits, whilk portraits are set up in the hail and chalmer of Deas of the house of Balloch, the soume of ane thousand pounds." The German painter thus seems to have been much better remunerated than Jamesone. If we allow the extra portraits to stand opposite the expense of his keep for the eight months during which he was employed, the thirty "brods" were paid for by about fifty-five shillings sterling, while Jamesone only received thirty-three shillings each. [Writing to Sir Colin Campbell from Edinburgh in June 1635, Jamesone says: "The pryce quhilk ewerie ane payes me abowe the west [above the waist] is twentie merkis, I furnishing claith and couhleris; hot if I furniss ane double-gilt muller [frame], then it is twentie poundis. Thes I deall with all alyk; bot I am rnoir bound to hawe ane gryte cair of your worship's service, becaus of very gould payment for my laist employment. If I begin the picturs in Juhli, I will have the sextine redie about the laist of September." Sixteen portraits in three months is rapid work.] This modest remuneration, however, does not appear so small when we read of Sarah, at a later period, cutting down the price of Sir John Thornhill's art to twenty shillings per yard in connection with the decorations of Blenheim House.

It is known that Jamesone was working at Balloch while the Black Book of Taymouth was being written, and is thus the supposed artist of some rude but curious portraitures of the lairds of Glenorchy, on the blank leaves of vellum at the end of the volume. The earlier of these, representing the ancient heroes of the race, are exceedingly rude, and without the possibility of any resemblance; but the later lairds are more careful in execution, the last of which, representing Sir Colin, may easily be admitted as the work of Jamesone. [Cosmo Innes in Proceedings of Scottish Antiquaries.]

His portraits consist generally of small head-sizes. Among the exceptions are a good whole-length life-size of James VI., which was possessed by the late B. Graham, Esq.; and a seated half- length of the Rev. William Guild, D.D., in the Trinity Hall at Aberdeen. The so-called Sibyls which at present decorate a stairway at King's College are neither weird nor beautiful, as they are sometimes described. If, as has been stated, they are portraits of some of the belles of Aberdeen, these have not been remarkable for their good looks.

Among other traditions regarding the artist, there is obscure mention of his having visited Italy in company with Sir Colin Campbell, where he is said to have painted four pictures for the Scots College at Rome, but which possibly rests on as slight a foundation as the often-repeated assertion that his portrait hangs in the Ufizzi gallery at Florence, among those of other distinguished artists. Regarding the latter assertion, the author has the assurance of Signor Ridoif, inspector of the Florentine galleries, that such a portrait does not now exist in the collection and who also states that he is not aware of any documents referring to its removal during the last fifty years. [Communicated by the kindness of Mr. \V. H. Wilson, and Mr Colnaghi, Consul at Florence.]

Jamesone died in 1644, and was buried in an unrecorded grave in the Greyfriars Churchyard in Edinburgh, having left considerable legacies to his friends and the poor, which, however, may not all have been the fruits of his labour, as he was well connected. His daughter Mary is the reputed seamstress of a mass of tapestry representing Ahasuerus presenting the sceptre to Queen Esther, and Jephtha meeting his daughter, which is still preserved in Old Aberdeen.

To a man of his talent, and the catholicity of taste which he could scarcely fail to have imbibed during his residence abroad, it must have appeared curious to see so many of the people of his time, of totally different opinions, anxious to perpetuate their own and their ancestors' likenesses, and at the same time eager to destroy anything in the form of art when applied to the services of religion. While treasuring up such a work as the Scripture history referred to in his will, he saw the destruction of similar but more important works of art going on all round, more especially in his own city of Aberdeen, where the one party made their camp-fires with the furniture and carvings from the venerable cathedral of St Macbar, and the other left their unburied dead in the street. [Besides those mentioned, Jamesone has of course left very numerous portraits, among which may be named Montrose, Rothes, old Leslie, Earl of Leven, Chancellor Loudon, the Marquises of Hamilton and Huntly, Sir Paul Menzies (Provost), Professor Sandilands, Andrew Cant, Urquhart of Cromarty, Gordon of Straloch, Sir Thomas Hope, George Heriot, Richard Baxter, John Earl of Mar, Sir Thomas Nicholson, his uncle David Anderson the architect (known as Davie-do-a'-thing), Alexander Bannerman of Elsick, &c. For detailed notes see Mr Bullock's Life of Jamesone.]

In the year 1640, the General Assembly, regarding Machar Kirk in Aberdeen, "ordained our blessed Lord Jesus Christ His arms to be hewen out of the front of the pulpit, and to tak doon the portrait of our blessed Mary and her dear Son baby Jesus in her arms, that had stood since the up-putting thereof; in curious work, under the sill ring at the west end of the pend whereon the great steeple stands; besides, where there was ane crucifix set in glassen windows, this he [the Master of Forbes] caused pull out in honest men's houses. He caused ane mason strike out Christ's arms in hewen wark on ilk end of Bishop Gavin Dunbar's tomb, and siclike chisel out the name of Jesus drawn cypher-wise I.H.S. out of the timber wall on the fore side of Machar aile, anent the consistory door; the crucifix on the old town cross dung doon; the crucifix on the new town cross closed up, being loath to break the stone; the crucifix on the west end of St Nicholas Kirk in New Aberdeen dung doon, whilk was never troubled before."

Suchlike destruction of art-work had continued all over Scotland for many years. In 1560 a formal letter of instruction was drawn up, issued, and signed by "Ar. Argyle, James Stewart, and Ruthven," a blank being left to be filled up with the name of the kirk to be operated upon, and which runs as follows: Traist friendis, after maist hearty commendacioun, we pray you faill not to pass incontinent to the kirk of , and tak doun the haul images thereof, and bring furth to the kirk-zayrd, and burn thaym oppinly. And siclyke cast doun the alteris and purge the kirk of all kynd of monuments of idolatrye. And this ye faill not to do, as ye will do us singular empleseur; and so committis you to the protection of God." A postscript cautions them to "tak guid heid that neither the dasks, windocks, nor durris be ony ways hurt or broken, either glassin wark or iron wark." [Henderson's Annals of Dunfermline, &c.] The Reformers however, as is well known, sometimes did the work more thoroughly, in the manner pithily recommended by Knox, and effected their purpose by loosening the roof of the church undergoing purgation, and so allowing it to fall into the choirs, bringing it to a close by a kind of holocaust, burning the wooden images, altar furniture, pictures, and vestments outside. It is known how the craftsmen of Glasgow assembled by tuck of drum to resist some such intention on the cathedral there in 1579, and saved that beautiful edifice from demolition.

In 1640 there is mentioned the destruction of what must have been an interesting and valuable piece of art-work at Elgin, accompanied by some latent superstitious feeling on the part of the people that the zeal of the Covenanters might be carried a little too far. Several gentlemen of the Covenanting party, it is chronicled, acting under the influence of the parish minister, cast down the timber screen in the cathedral, on the west side of which was painted, "in excellent colours, illuminate with stars of bright gold, the crucifixion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This piece was so excellently done that the colours and stars never faded or evanished, but keepit hale and sound as they were at the beginning—notwithstanding this College or Canonry kirk wanted the roof since the Reformation, and no hale window therein to save the same from storm, snow, sleet, nor weet.

On the other side of this wall, toward the east, was drawn the Day of Judgement. . . . It was said this minister caused bring home to his house the timber thereof, and burn the same for serving his kitchen and other uses; but ilk night the fire went out wherein it was burnt, and could not be holden in to kindle the morning fire as use is, whereat the servants and others marvelled, and thereupon the minister left off any further."

The sweeping nature of the changes contemplated at this period may be understood from a passage in Calderwood, [Edition 1678, p. 26.] in which, referring to the Book of Discipline, we read, "They require that idolatrie, with all the monuments and places of the same, as abbayes, monkries, frieries, nunneries, chappels, chantries, cathedrall churches, chanonries, colledges, others than presently are parish kirks, or schools, be utterly overthrown."

Private collections of art-work of a religious nature fared no better. Among many instances occurring of the destruction of such, the following extract is given, illustrative of their contents :-

"Inventar of popish trinkets gotten in my Lord Traquair's house Anno 1688: all solemnly burnt at the cross of Peebles. . .

"Agnus Dei of Lamber, wi a picture above and another beneath of the same, in a caise. Another curious picture of Lamber. The Queen of Peace, curiously drawn. Six little frames with pictures in them. Five bigger frames of timber wt pictures in them. Eight other little frames with pictures. Six very large frames Wt pictures," [Proceedings of Scottish Antiquaries, vol. ii. P. 455.] &c.

Every visitor to 1-lolyrood Palace notices the long line of portraits in the gallery there of the Kings of Scotland, extending from the mythical period of 330 years B.C., when Fergus I. held the sceptre by virtue of descent from the Irish King Milesius, who reigned a thousand years earlier, making the "twenty-sixth degree inclusively from Noe," till the time of Charles I., and which portraits bear more resemblance to each other in feature and costume than can be accounted for by hereditary descent. They were restored after some of them had been slashed by the sabres of Hawley's troopers on their defeat at Falkirk, and line the walls of the great hail, "familiar to readers of 'Waverley' as the scene of the ball given by the young Pretender during his occupation of Holyrood, and still dignified by the levees held by the Lord High Commissioner to the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and the meetings for the elections of the Representative Peers of Scotland." Popular tradition for some time attributed them to Jamesone, painted from descriptions by the old Scottish historian; but the possession of whatever merit the most lenient observer can discover must be attributed to a foreign artist. From the still existing contract, they are known to be the works of James de Witt, a Fleming, who was engaged by the Duke of York, and in February 1684 contracted with the Government to paint 110 portraits within two years for £240 sterling, he supplying the colours and the canvas, the Government on their part supplying the originals from which he was to copy. This James de Witt, or Jacob de Wett as he is sometimes called, must have been a kind of genius in his way, as he designed the national arms over the main entrance to the palace, as well as the blazon in the quadrangle; and the accounts of Sir William Bruce, the architect employed by Charles on the palace, show entries of 7th February 1674: "Payed to Jacob de Wett, Dutch painter, £98, 12 5hgs. (Scots) for two several chimney- pieces painted by him, and for painting in marble ane chimney;" and on July i, 1675, "Payed to Mr de Wett, paynter, 120 pounds Scots for ane piece of historie, painted and placed in the roofe of the King's bedchamber, in the second stone to the east quarter, on the syde towards the Privie Garden." The same artist also received considerable employment as a portrait-painter—more particularly at Lyon Castle, Glammis, and Clerkington in East Lothian. He was dismissed from the public service in 1688, it is said without complete payment being made for his works, and died in Scotland.

Early topographical drawing, which may have had some influence in developing the art of landscape-painting, deserves some notice. So early as the year 1544, a bird's-eye map-view of Edinburgh from Calton Hill was drawn by Alexander Alesse (Ales, or Hailes). He was born in Edinburgh on the 23d April 1500. Having embraced the Protestant faith about the time when Patrick Hamilton, the first Scottish martyr, rendered up his life at the stake in 1527, he left Scotland in order to avoid a similar fate, dying at Leipzig in his sixty-fifth year. The original, which is assigned to the date of the Earl of Hertford's expedition in the reign of Henry VIII., is preserved in the British Museum, and shows the prominent then existing buildings. Besides some theological works, he wrote a description in Latin of Edinburgh, in which he speaks of "boundless streets, which are all ornamented with lofty houses, such as the Cowgate, in which reside the nobles and senators of the city, and in which are -the principal palaces of the kingdom, where nothing is humble or homely, but all is magnificent."

About a century later, in 1647, the common council ordered the sum of 500 marks to be paid to the well-known minister of Rothiemay, James Gordon, for making another view of the same city, which is said to be accurate and reliable; it was engraved on a large scale by De Witt at Amsterdam. [Dr Wilson—who mentions that it was reproduced in London, and also in volume xii. of Pierre Van der Aa's Galerie Agréable du Monde.]

Robert Gordon of Straloch, born at Kinmundy in Aberdeenshire in i8o, was the second son of Sir John Gordon of Pitlurg, who stood in high favour with his sovereign, James VI. He was the first, it is said, who applied actual measurement in topographical surveys; and at the solicitation of King Charles in 1641, undertook the preparation of an atlas of Scotland, published in 1648: this work afterwards passed through a second and third edition. His fifth son, the James above referred to, was the author of a 'History of Scots Affairs from 1637 to 1641,' and also of a 'Description of both Towns of Aberdeen, with a Map.' Regarding this map, which he presented to the town council in 1661, it is chronicled "that he had been at great pains in draughting it upon ane mickle cairt of paper;" in consideration of which they ordained him to receive "ane silver piece or cup, wechtand twenty unce, and ane silk hat, with ane silk gown to his bed-fellow." [Smith's History of Aberdeenshire (1875), Part II.] The important 'Geographiae Blaviana,' published at Amsterdam in 1642, in the introduction to the Scottish volume, recognises the labours of Scotstarvet and the GordonsJoanni Scoto Scoto-Tarvatio, Jacobus Gordonius, and Robertus Gordonius a Straloch, whose names appear prominently on several of the maps.

In the early seventeenth century the art of architecture in its modern form began to develop itself in Scotland. England lagged behind the Continent, and Scotland was still later. It is probable that classic architecture was first introduced into England by Giovanni di Padua, and Have (or Havenius of Cleves), late in in the sixteenth century.[Ferguson.] Inigo Jones (1572-1632) was followed by Wren (1632-1723), and it is probably to the works of these eminent artists that the taste for classic art had its origin in Scotland In the very dawn of the seventeenth century, on the x8th April 1602, died William Schaw, architect to James VI. (or as he was then styled, Master of the King's Works), and also president of the Sacred Ceremonies and Queen's Chamberlain. One of his predecessors, Sir Robert Drummond, has already been mentioned in connection with the restoration of the Chapel Royal at Stirling. A brother of Sir Thomas Galbraith, the musician of James IV., held the office of King's Master of Works at Dumbarton; and John Murdo, or Morow, was probably of no earlier date. Schaw is notable for having, about the year 1594, restored the abbey of Dunfermline, of which he is said to have built the steeple, the north porch, some of the buttresses, the roofs of the north and the south aisles, and the portion of the gable above the great western door; he is also credited with the erection of the queen's house, and the bailie and constabulary houses. His monument was placed originally over his grave in the north aisle of the nave which he restored, but was removed in 5794, and part of it placed within the "bell-ringer's place at the bottom of the steeple." A long Latin inscription on his tomb includes the information that he was "a man of excellent skill, notable probity, singular integrity of life, adorned with the greatest of virtues, .

Master of the King's Works, President of the Sacred Ceremonies, and the Queen's Chamberlain. . . . Among the living he dwelt 52 years: he had travelled in France and many other kingdoms for the improvement of his mind; he wanted no liberal training; was most skilful in architecture; was early recommended to great persons for the singular gifts of his mind; and was not only unwearied and indefatigable in labours and business, but constantly active and most vigorous, and was most dear to every good man who knew him. . . - Queen Anne ordered this monument to be erected to the memory of this most excellent and most upright man, lest his virtues should pass away with the death of his body." [Henderson's Annals of Dunfermline.]

David Anderson of Finzeauch, a native of Aberdeen, uncle of Jamesone the painter, known as "Davie-do-a'-thing," had some reputation as an architect. He was dean of guild of Aberdeen, for which city he seems to have acted as city architect, designing a steeple for St Nicholas's Church, and improving the harbour. His contemporary, Gordon of Straloch, refers to his skill in mechanics, and his renown in art and industry is also mentioned in the 'Succinct Survey.' He died in 1629.

After the death of Schaw lived John Mylne, one of a family which had long enjoyed the principal employment in this department of art in Scotland, several of his predecessors having held the office of master-mason to the king. He was several times deacon convener of the trades, commissioner to Parliament for the city of Edinburgh, and was buried in the Greyfriars Churchyard of Edinburgh in 1667, at the age of fifty-six, where a long Latin inscription records his many virtues and talents. Alexander Mylne, a sculptor of some repute, was probably a brother of John; he died in 1643, and was buried in the cemetery attached to Holyrood House, where, on the site of the ancient choir of the chapel, a monument with the usual Latin verses informs the "passenger "-

"Here is buried a worthy man and an ingenious mason, Alexander Mime,

20th February A. D. 1643 ;"

to which is added the further information—

"What Myron or Appelles could have done
In brass or paintry, he could that in stone;
But thretty years he lived.

Still another Mylne, or Mime, is commemorated in connection with Holyrood as one of the builders of the palace, by an inscription on a pillar of the piazza of the quadrangle, "FVN . BE. RO. MILNE. M. Al. I . JVL. 1671," in which the initials M. M. represent the words Master Mason. The greatest representative of this family, however, was the later Robert Mylne (born 4th January 1734; died 5th May 1811), a native of Edinburgh, where his father was a magistrate. He was educated in his native city, and studied five years at Rome, where, on the i8th September 1758, he was awarded the first prize in the Academy of St Luke in the first class of architecture. In the following year he was elected a member of the Academy, but being a Protestant, a dispensation from the Pope was necessary, which was obtained for him by the young Prince Altieri, who was distinguished in Rome for his knowledge of art. During his residence in Italy he carefully studied the remains of ancient architecture, and on his return to London a friendless adventurer, became one of twenty-one candidates for the contemplated Blackfriars Bridge, commenced in 1761. For the plan and duty of superintendence of this he was rewarded by a salary of £300 per annum and five per cent on the cost. The bridge was completed in 1765 for the exact estimated sum of £153,000. In the erection of this his mode of "centering" was much praised. He seems, during its progress, to have made a second visit to Rome, as Mrs Strange, writing to her brother, mentions him in a letter of February 1763, as "haying lived here in the Land of Goshen for three years, is to set out in a few days for the Land of Cakes." He was afterwards appointed surveyor of St Paul's, and originated the famous inscription there to Wren, "Si monumentum requiris—circumspice." Among other buildings which he erected or altered were Rochester Cathedral, Greenwich Hospital (of which he was clerk for fifteen years), King's Weston, Ardencaple House, and Inveraray Castle. He was interred near to the tomb of Wren in Westminster Abbey after a distinguished career, and left five surviving children by his wife Mary Home, whom he married in 1770.

Sir William Bruce, baronet of Kinross (previously of Balcaskie), the second son of Robert, third Baron of Blairhill, was trained abroad as an architect, and was an enthusiastic and active promoter of the restoration of Charles II. During his residence on the Continent he gained the intimacy of General Monk, and conveyed secretly to Breda the information of that officer's efforts in the royal cause—a service which Charles, after his restoration, rewarded by constituting him Clerk to the Bills in the Court of Session, at that time a lucrative office, and afterwards in 1668 created him a baronet, at the same time appointing him Surveyor- General of Public Buildings. The king having early resolved to rebuild part of the palace of Holyrood, now employed him to prepare the necessary designs, and in 1671 a royal warrant was issued from Windsor, by which the Commissioners of Exchequer were empowered to allow him to proceed with the restoration of the palace. The king took a great personal interest in the execution of the work, suggesting modifications and alterations, some of which fortunately were not adopted. Sir William had designed the interior of the quadrangle to be richly decorated, but this was not carried out on account of the expense. The portion of the palace thus rebuilt was completed after eight years, in 1679, at a cost of about £128,000 Scots. He also planned Hopetoun House in Linlithgowshire, in which the internal accommodation, although very extensive, has been somewhat sacrificed for an imposing façade: it was commenced in 1698, but not completed till several years had elapsed, the elder Adam having added the wings. [A plan is given in Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus: it is nearly square, with the staircase in the centre.] He designed Moncreiffe House in Perthshire, the Merchants' House and steeple in Glasgow, and had a hand in Heriot's Hospital. In the Heriot Hospital Record for 1675, May 3d, it is stated, "There is a necessity that the steeple of the Hospital be finished, and a top put thereupon. Ro. Milne, master-mason, to think on a drawing thereof against the next council meeting." This was evidently not done by Mime, as on July ioth next year it is stated, "Deacon Sandilans to put a roof and top to the Hospital's steeple, according to the draught condescended upon be Sir William Bruce." He died in 1710, and the Scottish National Gallery possesses a small portrait-head of him, executed in China ink. The few works to which this architect's name is attached is due to the fact that he may be said to have practised the art as an amateur, only so far as was consistent with the dignity of a private gentleman, and which he was enabled to sustain from the lucrative offices to which he had been appointed. In connection with Heriot's Hospital, the name of William Wallace, master-mason, is associated at the commencement of that building. He was very probably the architect, as he had under him an Andrew Donaldson, who seems in reality to have been the master-mason. William Aytoun seems to have succeeded Wallace in the same work; and connected with the designing of Innes House in Morayshire, an entry occurs in the account book of the laird of Innes, "Given to Wm. Aitoun, maister maissoun at Heriott his work, for drawing the form of the house on paper, £26, 13s. 4d." Scots, or £2, 4s. 6d. sterling. A curious portrait of Aytoun is preserved in the Hospital. [Billings's Antiquities.] He was a native of Inchdairnie, and ancestor of the poet W. E. Aytoun. The earlier domestic edifices of Scotland, as already said, were imitations of those of France, so far as the limited means of the Scottish laird permitted. Bruce no doubt designed Holyrood from his observations on the Continent; but of the early experience of Wallace and Aytoun, whose names are associated with Heriot's Hospital, nothing seems to be known. The latter edifice is a curious example of a not disagreeable mixture of very different styles, consisting of the framework of a German palace, with the turrets and chimneys of a French chateau, having its prototype in the castle of Fredericksburg.


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