Glimpses of old Glasgow

Part I. Historical

Progress in Art

THE art history of Glasgow is generally assumed to date only from the period, in 1753, when the brothers Robert and Andrew Foulis, the famous printers, established their Academy of Art. Art and art patronage, there is no doubt, existed in the city before that time, and we are not without evidence of earlier appreciation and encouragement of artistic work. Limiting our remarks to painting, we find that in 1670 the Town Council ordered from London two portraits - one of Charles I., the other of the reigning monarch, Charles II., for the adornment of the Town Hall. The city was already apparently in possession of a portrait of James VII., painted in 1618; and these works, with the portraits of the later monarchs down to George III., are still with us, and may be seen in the Corporation Galleries in Sauchiehall Street. But of serious impulse towards the development of a local school of artists there was nothing till the Foulis brothers launched their long-projected scheme. The Academy continued to exist for twenty-two years - from 1753 till 1775; but, pecuniarly, its existence was disastrous. Premature and ill-starred as it was, however, its artistic outcome was not unworthy of the efforts and sacrifices of the gifted and broad-minded men who directed it. Several men who attained artistic eminence owed their training to the Foulis Academy, and of these may only be mentioned David Allan, the painter, and James Tassie, the gem engraver. Had the Academy done nothing more than develop the bent and talents of the latter gifted but imperfectly-appreciated artist, it would have justified its existence.

[page 179]

But the Foulis ideas and their academy were in advance of the times in Glasgow, and for about half-a-century afterwards we hear little more of an education and encouragement. It happens that in 1812, more probably from political motives than from any artistic impulse, the city became possessed of a very remarkable statue of William Pitt, the work of John Flaxman. That work - Flaxman's chef-d'oeuvre - we have still with us in the Corporation Galleries. It is esteemed the most successful single figure produced in modern times; and, indeed, one of the finest pieces of sculptured portraiture of any period.

In 1821 there was formed in the city an "Institution for promoting and encouraging the Fine Arts in the West of Scotland;" but this body with the long name had but a short life, for it expired after holding two or three exhibitions. Next in 1825 there was formed the Dilettanti Society, which was endowed with more vigorous vitality. In 1828 it held its first exhibition in rooms in the Argyle Arcade: among those contributing on that occasion being John Graham, later known as John Graham Gilbert, Horatio M'Culloch, and Daniel Macnee, three young men who were destined to become well and widely known. Graham Gilbert, needing no incentive but his love of art, became one of our foremost figure painters; and the fine collection of old masters he brought together, bequeathed to the city by his widow, contains many of the gems of the Corporation Galleries. M'Culloch, at the time of his premature death, was the acknowledged chief of landscape painters in Scotland; and it need only be said of Macnee, that prince of raconteurs, that, devoting himself exclusively to portraiture, he rose to the presidential chair of the Royal Scottish Academy, and worthily wore the knighthood which accompanies that honoured position. Launched under conditions so favourable, the Dilettanti Society held five annual exhibitions in the Argyle Arcade, then five others in Buchanan Street; and, in 1838, it also died of inanition.

[page 180]

But out of the ashes of the Dilettanti Society grew up the West of Scotland Academy - an institution devised on an ample scale with members, associates and all the lofty and exclusive privileges of a Royal Academy excepting the charter. The role it was called on to play, however, was in no way different from that of its predecessors: being a mere exhibiting body. For fourteen years - from 1840 till 1853 - it carried on a series of annual exhibitions, first in the rooms formerly occupied by the Dilettanti Society in Buchanan Street, and subsequently in the Argyle Arcade. The academy was conducted under the permanent presidency of Graham Gilbert. John Mossman, the eminent sculptor, was one of its most active promoters and supporters. Among those who rallied around it were Daniel Macnee, Robert Greenlees, A. D. Robertson, Gilfillan, and J. Milne Donald - the latter a man whose landscape art has exercised no small influence on the school of painters yet among us.

Into the management of the affairs of the West of Scotland Academy, no lay element was allowed to intrude. The body which succeeded it as organiser of exhibitions in Glasgow - the Institute of Fine Arts, which still flourishes in our midst, is composed principally of laymen; but its council consists of a mixed board of artist and lay members. As an exhibiting body its activity began in the year 1861, when its first exhibition was held in the Corporation Galleries, rented from the Parks and Galleries' Committee of the Town Council. The Institute has had, on the whole, not only a useful, but a flourishing career. It continued to occupy the Corporation Galleries with its annual exhibitions till 1879; and in 1880 was held its first exhibition in its own permanent home in Sauchiehall Street.

[page 181]

Among its most devoted friends are to be reckoned the late John M'Gavin, who bequeathed to its funds a sum of £5,000 and Mr. D. E. Outram, under whose will the institute benefited by a like amount. With a fine building, with an increasing appreciation of art among an increasing constituency, and with a vigorous and original school of local artists, the Institute of Fine Arts may well be pleased with its achievements, and content with its position.

As a factor in the art activities of Glasgow, the Art Club also deserves honourable mention. Begun in a very unpretentious manner in 1867 as a kind of sketching club, holding monthly meetings for mutual improvement and criticism, it grew continuously and gradually till it acquired a small home in Bothwell Circus. In 1886 the club was reconstituted on an enlarged basis; a lay section consisting of art amateurs was formed, the club leased commodious premises at 151 Bath Street, and there it entered on a prosperous career as a social institution. These premises were soon found to be too cramped for the necessities of the institution, and the club acquired the two houses, 187 and 189 Bath Street, which, altered and adapted in a clever manner, now form its home. Life classes are supported by the club for its artist members. Occasional lectures are delivered on art subjects, and on several occasions the club has organised special exhibitions of pictures; but the important feature of the institution is the bringing together in social intercourse, of the artists of the West of Scotland, and the influential sections of the public desirous of fostering art, and who seek the guidance of artists and experts.

[page 182]

Let us now go back to the time when the Dilettanti Society and the West of Scotland Academy were struggling to support and develop a native school among us. At that time there were several collectors in Glasgow, but none more eager, more persistent, and more successful in building up a collection of the old masters of the various European schools than Mr. Archibald M'Lellan, coachbuilder and magistrate of Glasgow. The time was favourable for such an undertaking, for in the early half of the century the works of the great pioneers of art were comparatively neglected, and what would now cost a king's ransom could then be picked up at a comparatively modest cost. But the task undertaken by Bailie M'Lellan required an independent judgment, a trained eye, and an extent of knowledge then and now rarely found. All these M'Lellan possessed. With rare penetration he built up his collection, which became fully worthy of the high aim of its founder, which was nothing less than the establishment of a municipal gallery of art adequate for the great city Glasgow was destined to become. With a view to this great public benefaction M'Lellan built the spacious and beautifully proportioned range of galleries in Sauchiehall Street, where the pictures yet remain, and he bequeathed his entire collection to the city. Unfortunately, when he died in 1854, his affairs were found to be involved, principally owing to an extensive building scheme he had entered into in connection with the erection of his galleries; and it became necessary for the town to pay something for the property, or to lose entirely the benefit of the bequest. After much haggling and acrimonious debate the property was, in 1856, acquired for £44,500, being £19,500 for the pictures, and £25,000 for the extensive block of buildings. The purchase was stigmatised as a job; the pictures were pronounced by men who knew no better, to be rubbish and second-rate copies; and the property acquired unwillingly, was administered in a grudging spirit.

[page 183]

After a few spasmodic and feeble attempts to make the collection publicly useful, the institution fell into entire neglect; the halls were used for concerts, balls, bazaars, and dinners - for all purposes but their legitimate use; and the pictures were looked on as an encumbrance - a hindrance to the free use of the halls for commercial purposes. In this way the existence of the M'Lellan pictures was almost forgotten; but notwithstanding this strange neglect, several notable gifts and bequests were made towards the strengthening of the collection. Among these may be noted the gift, subsequently increased by a bequest of a large number of ancient and modern pictures, from a well-known citizen, Mr. William Euing. A still more important addition was made to the galleries in 1877, when by the death of Mrs. Graham-Gilbert of Yorkhill the Corporation succeeded by her bequest to the fine series of old masters collected by her previously deceased husband, as well as to a large number of his own works. On the receipt of this valuable gift an earnest effort was made to improve the condition and usefulness of the institution, the collections were placed under a trained and experienced curator, a code of regulations was adopted, a proper catalogue was compiled and printed, and by degrees the galleries began to take their proper place not only among the art institutions of the city, but among the galleries of the world. The Glasgow Gallery has, indeed, since the appointment of the curator, in 1877, been discovered, and now it is recognised, all the world over, that the city possesses a collection worthy to rank with the great Continental galleries, embracing some pictures of the first importance in the history and achievements of art. One or two of the pictures in the M'Lellan collection alone were they now brought to the hammer, would bring more than the entire collection cost in 1856; and in the Graham-Gilbert series there are works of not less importance and value.

[page 184]

Never were the prospects of art brighter in Glasgow than they are at the present day. We have a vigorous and intelligently-conducted school of advanced art-instruction in the School of Art; we have a band of young artists known and esteemed all over the world for the boldness and originality of their conceptions, and the power with which they express their ideas; the Institute of the Fine Arts is well founded and thriving; numerous minor art associations are full of eagerness and vitality; the public galleries are well appreciated by citizens and visitors; and their fame having spread abroad, they have taken their place among the institutions with which the art historian of the future has to reckon.