Renaissance Paintings in the Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

The last time I was in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh the Renaissance rooms were closed for repainting so, when I was in Edinburgh last week, I made a point of visiting those rooms and I'm glad that I did. It's not a big collection, just four medium sized rooms covering over 200 years of art - it doesn't make for a significant collection but the Gallery has some very nice pieces indeed. I've picked out a few of those pieces here to demonstrate how interesting they are. The Gallery is undergoing some major works at the moment but don't let the building site outside put you off going, it's definitely worth a visit.

One of the first and earliest works is a gorgeous triptych by Bernardo Daddi, a small, portable altarpiece of a crucifixion with other scenes from 1338. It's really interesting because of the scenes painted on the 'wings' of the triptych. There's the crucifixion of Saint Peter above a nativity scene with the shepherds on one wing and the generosity of Saint Nicholas giving gold to the virgins above the Virgin and Child scene on the other 'wing. That's an odd combination of images. What's that all about?

I suspect it's down to the donor who paid for the work specifying which scenes they wanted on his or her own personal altarpiece. I wish the Gallery had displayed this in its own glass case so we could see what was on the front of the two wings and see what it looks like when closed. Still, it's a fascinating and beautiful object, very calming in its simplicity.

Another work on the wall beside the Daddi is attributed to Lorenzo Monaco and Workshop but it bears little resemblance to other paintings I've seen by him so I assume the attribution is really to his workshop. Fra Angelico worked in his workshop at the time of this painting and this certainly bears no resemblance to anything completed by the Fra. A much lesser pupil must have been involved in painting this work. I'm afraid the absence of folds in the Virgin's cloak rather did it for me - where are the intricate folds seen in virtually every other painting of this scene? Maybe a good cleaning of the painting will unearth them but I doubt it really.

Beside this is a Botticelli Virgin and Child but it's not terribly remarkable (although I liked the tabernacle frame) so I'll move on to the 'Master of the Embroidered Foliage'.

It always makes me a bit sad when I see attributions of paintings by the subject matter or a particular skill, like the 'Master of the Embroidered Foliage' - there was a real person behind the skill we see in this painting but we don't know what his/her name was. Maybe one day an art historian will find a reference in an obscure diary or receipt from the time and link it to this painting and we'll know the name of the master.

It's a really lovely painting and you need to inspect it up close to understand the alias of the painter - the detail is incredible. The brush strokes do look like embroidery, but why? Every leaf is painted individually and, around the Virgin's cloak trailing in the grass, you can see so many different types of leaf. It's a beautiful piece. Let's hope a PhD student does their thesis on this painting at some point in the future and identifies the artist.

The collection has a few Raphael's, mainly attributed to his workshop and a lovely small Filipino Lippi (that needs a clean) but the next big works are by Titian.

The highlight for me was 'Diana and Actaeon' from 1556-59 by Titian. Actaeon the hunter stumbles across a curtain in the woods and, pulling it aside, he spies the goddess Diana at her bath. In revenge for the intrusion Diana turns Actaeon into a stag and he's torn to pieces by his hunting dogs. So the message is, if you find a random curtain in the woods don't pull it open since you don't know who or what might be on the other side.

I wasn't expecting to see this painting in the Scottish National Gallery but it's jointly owned with the National Gallery in London so I assume it spends some time in Scotland and then moves to London before returning to Edinburgh. It's a large painting and very dramatic but I can't help but feel a bit sorry for silly Actaeon, he really ought to have known better.

Another Titian in the collection is 'Venus Rising From the Sea' from 1520-25. Venus was born in the sea and this painting depicts the moment when she strides ashore for the first time, wringing water out of her hair. The painting is on a much more human scale rather than the other large paintings in this room. The face of Venus is the cover photo in the Gallery guide.

There are, of course, many more paintings in the Renaissance rooms covering a lot of territory but these were some of the ones that stood out to me. The rest of the gallery is full of paintings up to the modern period. Many of the paintings have a Scottish theme, glorying in battles and hunt scenes showing off the highlands to good effect. It's well worth a visit if you're in Edinburgh with an hour to spare.

The Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh

There are three Scottish National Galleries in Edinburgh: the Scottish National Gallery, The Scottich National Portrait Gallery and the Scottish Museum of Modern Art. The National Gallery and Portrait Gallery are about 10 minutes walk apart, with the Modern Art museum about 45 minutes walk away.

The Scottish National Gallery is a few hundred yards walk from Waverley Station, on the other side of the incredibly gothic memorial to Sir Walter Scott. It's small (-ish), but it really is quite lovely. The Renaissance rooms were closed for re-hanging when I was there otherwise my view might have been totally different. It has a nice selection of works, lots of Scottish themed works (as you'd expect) but lots of international works as well.

There were paintings of heroes and battles, of history and antiquity, a bit of this and a bit of that from named artists and those you've probably never heard of, but all interesting and worth seeing. I was enchanted by the painting of Oberon and Titania and their realm of fairy folks by Sir Noel Paton, a very Victorian fascination with the faerie world and Shakespeare. The rooms were smallish and comfortable and I was pleased it was so full on a weekday afternoon. Free entry helps, of course.

The best room, in my view. was the late 19th Century room of Impressionists and Post-Impressionists with it's Van Goghs and Sargent and Gaugin. I loved Vincent's twisted, tortured 'Cyprus Trees' and Sargent's beautiful and serene 'Lady Agnew of Lochnaw'. These paintings were worth seeing so why were there no postcards in the shop? So typical of galleries these days.

About 10 minutes walk across the road and over a hill (there are lots of hills in Edinburgh) is the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, a rather lovely gallery, much smaller than the National Portrait Gallery in London but, I think, better, Whenever I think of the London gallery I think of rooms full of old Victorian men with beards wearing black frock coats. That's not a real reflection of the gallery but it's what my head summons up about it. The Scottish gallery is full of colour and light and I loved the different colours on the walls, the strange range of portraits and the attempt to make them relevant to the viewer. I'm really pleased I visited the gallery.

The entrance hall was rather splendid, a painted Victorian gothic hall with statues of the Scottish great and the good, marvellous painted walls with their strange tales of an invented past. On the sides of the balcony is a procession of men and women through the ages leading up to the (present) Victorian day. I loved the hall and the incredible contrast with the very modern cafe through a door on the right. The entrance hall alone could be the subject of a blog post but I must move on to some of the paintings in the gallery rooms.

The first painting that grabbed my attention on entering the galleries proper was a portrait of 'Tom Derry or Durie' by Marcus Geeraerts the Younger dated 1614. What an astonishingly real portrait this is, especially for portraiture in this country at the time. Look at that face. That man lived and could live today - watch out for him on the 159 bus tomorrow because he could be there, only dressed in a jacket and shirt rather than a ruff.

I also loved the full-length portrait of 'Kenneth Sutherland, 3rd Lord Duffs' by Richard Waitt with his wig and mini-kilt and his faithful hound. I couldn't help but crack a smile and wonder what on earth was going on back in those days to wear that get-up.

It was also a pleasure to see Dora Carrington's portrait of Lady Strachey (Lytton Strachey's mother) and the self-portrait by a young Duncan Grant.

All in all, I was very pleased with the Scottish National Galley, it's well curated and the works are well hung - there's something there for everyone to engage with. It's not just showing old paintings, it's trying to tell a story of particularly Scottish history through portraiture and it succeeds very well in doing that. It doesn't overdose on any particular period or theme but calmly moves the viewer forward through history into different coloured rooms with some great portraits. The shop beside the entrance hall has a great guide to the gallery with some lovely reproductions and text - I bought it. I think a lot of galleries could take lessons from this gallery. Well done people.

The third gallery was the Scottish Museum of Modern Art which is split over two buildings about 45 minutes walk outside the city centre, down roads of lovely old stone buildings but with the endless traffic of all modern cities. Having spent a lot more time in the Portrait Gallery than anticipated, I didn't have time to explore the modern art and focused on the Emil Nolde exhibition that I've already blogged about. It's in an old country house in its own grounds so is limited to what it can do by the architecture but I was impressed by the Nolde exhibition and, if that's an example of the kind of exhibitions it puts on, I'd be more than happy to return again. Preferably in sunshine rather than rain.

I'm very pleased to have visited the Scottish National Galleries and would be happy to explore them again, preferably when they're fully open next time. The Scottish Portrait Gallery was my favourite on this visit, for the colour and the story-telling, but I'd still like to see the Renaissance collection in the Scottish National Gallery. Next time...