Alexander Hunter, Mothers & Children in Edinburgh, Exhibition – 1888 watercolour
An original 1888 watercolour painting, Alexander Hunter, Mothers & Children in Edinburgh, Exhibition Year 1888.
A wonderful evocation of late-Victorian Edinburgh by Surgeon Major Alexander Hunter FRSE FRS (1816–1890).
Hunter was a surgeon in the East India Company's Madras Army and was also a skilled and trained artist. He was a pioneer of photography in India and in 1850 he founded the Madras School of Art, the first school of art and design in India.
Hunter retired and returned from India in 1873, so this drawing was produced relatively late in life, not long after his return to Edinburgh, where he had been a young man and student. He resided at 18 Belgrave Crescent in Edinburgh's New Town.
In this fantastic drawing we get a sense perhaps of Hunter documenting society life with the curiosity of a tourist after all those decades abroad.
In watercolour with pen and ink. On pale blue paper. There is a partial graphite sketch on the verso.
Details
- Signed: No.
- Inscribed: Inscribed lower right.
- Dated: Dated lower right.
- Height (cm): 17.4 Width (cm): 24.8
- Height (inches): 6.85 Width (inches): 9.76
- Condition: Overall in good condition for its age.Some age toning as shown, particularly around the periphery of the sheet.
- Presented: Unframed.
- Stock Number: JY-430
This drawing forms part of a wonderful collection of works by Surgeon Major Alexander Hunter FRSE FRS (1816–1890) that we have for sale. Hunter was a fascinating figure who had a profound role in the arts in India, an influence that endures to this day. In these drawings, produced between 1873 and 1889, we see Edinburgh, and the landscapes of Scotland and Ireland, through Hunter's eyes, returned home after a life's career in India.
Full of character, colour and humour, the Edinburgh pictures serve as snapshots of Victorian life in the city. Edinburgh had a large professional class in law, medicine and religion, and a substantial wealthy population. Hunter documents not only society dances and marriage celebrations but also the philanthropic responsibilities that were felt by many in Scotland's capital in the late Victorian era. They also tell a story of Edinburgh’s past as an imperial city for which India held a special place.
Born in Chittagong in India, Alexander Hunter was the son of an East India Company civil servant. The family moved to Edinburgh to live at 1 Doune Terrace around the mid-1830s. Alexander, along with a cousin James, were among the first students to join the newly founded Edinburgh Academy. In 1839 he qualified as MD and FRCS from Edinburgh University. Hunter had an interest in art from a young age, and alongside his medical studies he had been a pupil of the Royal Scottish Academy and a draughtsman in the dissecting room of the Edinburgh Infirmary. He was also a pupil at the Life Academies and Schools of Design and Modelling in Edinburgh and Paris.
In 1842 Hunter was nominated for an assistant surgeon post in Madras, and this was the start of enduring connection with the city—both medical and artistic. Whilst working as Resident Surgeon of the Madras Presidency, in 1850 Hunter set up India's first arts institution, the Madras School of Art. To help finance the school, he sold his own library, etchings, drawings and paintings. Hunter went on to have an instrumental role in arts education in colonial India—and the School of Art itself, still in existence today as the Government College of Fine Arts, is a profound symbol of the beginnings of the merge of East and West.
For Hunter, art, technology and medicine were interrelated disciplines and he was interested in engaging the humanising effects of the arts. In India, he experimented in pottery and a range of crafts, and was involved in the encouragement of local industry. Keen that his school include programmes in industrial arts and crafts, its name was changed to Madras School of Art and Industry. Hunter noted some of the problems involved in craft production in India and he championed Indian products as often superior to and more durable than those produced and sold cheaply in Britain. The Madras School of Art was an obvious partner for the Edinburgh museum and Hunter supplied George Wilson, the Museum's first Director, with materials and tools which were used and produced in the Madras school.
Hunter was also a pioneer of photography. He established Madras Photographic Society, one of the earliest photographic societies in the world.
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Somerset & Wood was founded in 2015 near Bath, UK in the beautiful Cotswold market town of Bradford on Avon. Today the Gallery is run by founding owners Ayumi Ellingham and Olivia Nicholls. The Somerset & Wood project grew out of a desire to share our interests in art, history and design, and to champion the sometimes underrated field of British drawings and watercolours. We bring to the project combined professional arts backgrounds, in museums & galleries, art dealership and illustration. After completing a first class MA in English at the University of Cambridge and an MSc in History of Art with distinction at the University of Edinburgh, our Art Historian, Olivia Nicholls, worked for many years at the National Galleries of Scotland, and subsequently as an independent editor and art historian.
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With over 2,500 artworks in stock, priced from under £50 to over £1,000, Somerset & Wood is a rich storehouse of 19th- and early 20th-century visual culture. Notable artists whose work we have handled include Louis-Philippe Boitard, Paul Sandby RA, Thomas Hearne, William Payne, Joshua Cristall POWS, Richard Westmacott RA, Nicolas-Martin Petit, Joseph Powell PNWS, David Cox OWS, William Turner of Oxford, Henry Barlow Carter, Paul Jacob Naftel RWS, Frank Brangwyn RA RWS RBA, Conrad H.R. Carelli, Winifred Sandys and Alice Des Clayes ARCA. At the same time, we recognise that value is as much about authentic personal connection as it is about the machinations of the art world. We have equal interest in researching and bringing lesser-known artists into prominence, in serving collectors of items of local historical interest and in reuniting family members with their ancestors' lost work.
We present our large volume of stock in carefully curated collections, which help provide context and tell the 'story behind the picture'. We believe in offering in-depth research and explanatory information, regardless of price. Somerset & Wood is, as a result, more than just an online shop; we are part gallery, part archive, part research project.
Come in for a browse and see for yourself. We hope you will come away with a piece of history, a piece of a story, something that feasts your eyes, pulls at your heartstrings or ignites your imagination.
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We are delighted that our pictures resonate with art-lovers worldwide. We welcome a diverse international client base, ranging from public collections, established collectors and dealers to novice art-buyers or those simply searching for something to look good on their wall.
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Somerset & Wood also sells to museums and galleries throughout the UK. Our clients have included: The British Library; Historic England Archive; W.W. Spooner Charitable Trust in association with The Wordsworth Trust; Victoria Art Gallery Bath; Leicestershire County Council Museums; Alnwick Castle, Northumberland; Rozelle House and Maclaurin Galleries, Ayrshire.
Somerset & Wood Images
We welcome requests to reproduce Somerset & Wood images. Recently our images have been reproduced in the following publications:
- National Portrait Gallery 'Rowney guide' (updated online, 2019)
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- Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 'A Return to the Grand Tour, Microcosmic Jewels from the Collection of Elizabeth Locke' (Richmond VA, 2019)
- The Scotsman (2018)
- Victorian Web www.victorianweb.org (2018)
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