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The major retrospective charts the remarkable career of Sir Joseph Noel Paton, a painter who was incredibly popular during his lifetime with barriers often needed to keep crowds in check when his work went on display.
The show at Dunfermline Carnegie Library & Galleries seeks to introduce him to a whole new audience and features more than 50 oil paintings, drawings and engravings, including sketches of Queen Victoria and her children, done shortly after Prince Albert’s death.
The exhibition opens on September 14 and offers a chance to admire the artist’s naturalistic style, which was greatly influenced by the 19th-century British art movement, the Pre-Raphaelites.
Lesley-Anne Lettice, exhibition curator, said: “This is a celebration of a hugely diverse career and its influences – Paton’s family, friends and upbringing all found expression in his work.”
Born at Wooers’ Alley Cottage in Dunfermline in 1821, Paton was part of a creative family.
His sister Amelia was a well-known sculptor and his brother Waller was a successful landscape artist.
Although the cottage was demolished in the 1920s, people can follow the recently created Paton trail between the Glen Bridge and Buffies Brae to see where the house once stood.
Paton was the Queen’s Limner in Scotland, the art equivalent of Poet Laureate.
The exhibition includes the certificate and seal he received in 1866, as well as rarely seen drawings that were templates for stained glass memorials in Dunfermline Abbey.
One of these was commissioned by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, who asked Paton to create a window depicting four historical figures with links to the Abbey – Robert the Bruce, William Wallace, King Malcolm III and his wife, Margaret.
The so-called Patriots’ Window was unveiled on June 21, 1884.
Large preparatory drawings for two biblically inspired scenes – the Resurrection and the Last Supper – which make up the Abbey’s Great West Window, are also part of the show.
Domestically themed works include The Lullaby, a tender portrait of his wife Maggie and young son Diarmid, which is being loaned by one of Paton’s descendants.
There is also a painting of his five-year-old son Callie, who died from diphtheria.
Family life was important to Paton, who nicknamed his large, noisy brood of 11 children ‘the Infantry’.
Illustrated notebooks, personal objects and correspondence from artists John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rosetti and Ford Madox Brown will also feature.
There are letters from Oscar Wilde and Lewis Carroll, as well as Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Beatrice, thanking him for a sketch sent as a wedding present.
Exhibits from the Dunfermline library’s collection include an edition of the National Shakespeare, which was illustrated by Paton and commissioned by Queen Victoria.
Ms Lettice said: “The exhibition is packed full of colourful paintings and beautifully detailed sketches.
“It really is a feast for the eyes and a fitting tribute to the man Andrew Carnegie described as Dunfermline’s greatest son.”
Admission is free.
A programme of events, aimed at all ages, will accompany the exhibition.
A special page dedicated to the forthcoming exhibition, featuring highlights which will be included in the show, can be found at onfife.com.
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