One kilt, several looks. A canny Scot's take.

[Calgacus]

See here for Colin Campbell's fellow clansman:

http://www.eccentricbliss.com/2012/08/fellow-clansmen/

Aye, that's the fellow.

[MacGumerait]

And sorry, with a different kilt and hose and all... but that same darn sporran

I've said it before and I'll say it again ... I love that " same darn sporran " .

[Calgacus]

Odd, there's no John Campbell in either of my two copies of HOS.

There's Colin Campbell, who has his bottom button done, as you can see

I took a look at my copy and discovered that there are two versions of this plate. Colin & John Campbell, shown here:-



And Colin Campbell and an unkown Argyll man, shown here:-



The accompanying text in my copy is as follows.

"Colin Campbell and a Breadalbane clansman. Signed and dated 1867

Colin Campbell wears Campbell or Government Tartan, the Black Watch. The other, unidentified, figure wears the uniform of the 3rd Perthshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, and a kilt of Campbell of Breadalbane tartan. The watercolour shows what is probably a unique contemporary illustration of the muzzle-loading Enfield rifle. The background is possibly a view of Loch Fyne. This watercolour was sent to the Duchess of Athole on 14th October 1867 by MacLeay. He had drawn the Breadalbane man at Aberfeldy and the Duke of Argyll's man at Inverary. Perhaps the Queen did not approve of the sitter's second portrait. In the lithograph he was removed from the composition and another Breadalbane man, John Campbell (see p 14) replaced him. The Rifle Volunteer man was coachman of the Aberfeldy and Callander coach, and had only been able to give MacLeay short sittings on alternate days, which had caused 'a good deal of delay'."

My copy is by Haggerston Press, dated 1986. Which version does your copy contain?

[OC Richard]

Mine has the one below, which is the original watercolour.

My edition clearly states that the plates were all photographed from the original watercolours.

The upper image looks like a somewhat crude pasteup. The man's entire body out of scale in comparison to the other figure (not seen in any of the other HOS groups) but also the proportions of his own body are strange, his left arm being far too big (such distortion likewise not seen in any of the other HOS portraits).

Note also that the front edge jacket on one side, below the plaid, has an inexplicable sudden change in direction; the fact that the other front edge of the jacket is straight shows that it is a mere error on the part of the artist. Such errors don't show up in any of the original watercolours.

Not only that, but the overall colours and style is rather different than the rest of HOS.

The overall style being so different, and the level of skill being obviously inferior, I'll assume for now that the added figure was done by another artist, or that it was a crude mashup or pasteup of multiple MacLeay images.

[Calgacus]

Mine has the one below, which is the original watercolour.

My edition clearly states that the plates were all photographed from the original watercolours.

The upper image looks like a somewhat crude pasteup. The man's entire body out of scale in comparison to the other figure (not seen in any of the other HOS groups) but also the proportions of his own body are strange, his left arm being far too big (such distortion likewise not seen in any of the other HOS portraits).

Note also that the front edge jacket on one side, below the plaid, has an inexplicable sudden change in direction; the fact that the other front edge of the jacket is straight shows that it is a mere error on the part of the artist. Such errors don't show up in any of the original watercolours.

Not only that, but the overall colours and style is rather different than the rest of HOS.

The overall style being so different, and the level of skill being obviously inferior, I'll assume for now that the added figure was done by another artist, or that it was a crude mashup or pasteup of multiple MacLeay images.

On the contrary, I see similar strange proportions in several of the portraits. The most obvious are John Grant


...who's head seems rather too small to me, and


...Ewan MacPherson, who's head is too small, and who's left arm seems to be suffering from the same disjointed nature as John Campbell.

I'm aware that MacLeay tweaked body proportions to make many of his subjects seem more 'heroic' or 'majestic' than they might have been in real life, but I think he got those aforesaid figures slightly wrong.

I don't mean to take away from what are otherwise superb works of art. I'm not best qualified to be an art critic, being barely able to draw stick figures myself.

[Nathan]

I have to say I agree with Calgacus. I think both men were painted by MacLeay. Do we have a timeline on when the lithograph would have been produced as compared to the water colours?

[Calgacus]

I have to say I agree with Calgacus. I think both men were painted by MacLeay. Do we have a timeline on when the lithograph would have been produced as compared to the water colours?

The watercolour was painted in 1867, sent to the Duchess in October of that year, and the book was published in 1870. Beyond that, I have no more details.

[Nathan]

its)

Note also that the front edge jacket on one side, below the plaid, has an inexplicable sudden change in direction; the fact that the other front edge of the jacket is straight shows that it is a mere error on the part of the artist. Such errors don't show up in any of the original watercolours.

I think the change in direction is caused by the tightness of the plaid...

[creagdhubh]

On the contrary, I see similar strange proportions in several of the portraits. The most obvious are John Grant


...who's head seems rather too small to me, and


...Ewan MacPherson, who's head is too small, and who's left arm seems to be suffering from the same disjointed nature as John Campbell.

I'm aware that MacLeay tweaked body proportions to make many of his subjects seem more 'heroic' or 'majestic' than they might have been in real life, but I think he got those aforesaid figures slightly wrong.

I don't mean to take away from what are otherwise superb works of art. I'm not best qualified to be an art critic, being barely able to draw stick figures myself.

I respectfully disagree. As a trained portrait painter with credentials (B.F.A., M.Ed. in Art Education) in oil-painting, drawing, anatomy drawing, sculpture and art history, I believe that MacLeay's compositions of his Highland sitters, and the manner in which he painted them, are, indeed correct. As an fine art undergraduate student, I continually learned throughout a multitude of figure painting/drawing classes that when standing erect, an individual (sitter/model) is typically on average "8 heads high." That is you take the length of the sitter's head (from the very top of the head to the bottom of their chin) and beginning at the top, extend down to their feet, utilising the head length as a rough guide as you travel down.

Kenneth MacLeay, RSA and his wonderful portfolio of work, is such a fine example of a classicly trained (Royal Scottish Academy) Victorian Era miniature/watercolour portrait painter. The detail and colour relationships he achieves is superb and deserves to be looked at over and over...as I tend to do with my own copy of Delia Millar's, The Highlanders of Scotland.

[creagdhubh]

I took a look at my copy and discovered that there are two versions of this plate. Colin & John Campbell, shown here:-



And Colin Campbell and an unkown Argyll man, shown here:-



The accompanying text in my copy is as follows.

"Colin Campbell and a Breadalbane clansman. Signed and dated 1867

Colin Campbell wears Campbell or Government Tartan, the Black Watch. The other, unidentified, figure wears the uniform of the 3rd Perthshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, and a kilt of Campbell of Breadalbane tartan. The watercolour shows what is probably a unique contemporary illustration of the muzzle-loading Enfield rifle. The background is possibly a view of Loch Fyne. This watercolour was sent to the Duchess of Athole on 14th October 1867 by MacLeay. He had drawn the Breadalbane man at Aberfeldy and the Duke of Argyll's man at Inverary. Perhaps the Queen did not approve of the sitter's second portrait. In the lithograph he was removed from the composition and another Breadalbane man, John Campbell (see p 14) replaced him. The Rifle Volunteer man was coachman of the Aberfeldy and Callander coach, and had only been able to give MacLeay short sittings on alternate days, which had caused 'a good deal of delay'."

My copy is by Haggerston Press, dated 1986. Which version does your copy contain?

I own the same copy, Calgacus.