More from the Vaughan bequest transfer (see last post.)

Fittingly, this one is of Edinburgh:-

The West Gate, Canterbury:-

Shipping:-

The Doge’s Palace and Piazetta:-

Storm at the Mouth of the Grand Canal:-

Bellinzone, Switzerland:-

Ostend Harbour:-

Plymouth:-

Every January the Scottish National Gallery in Princes Street, Edinburgh, displays its bequest of works by J M W Turner. The terms of the bequest by Henry Vaughan dictated that these works could only be shown in January in order to protect them from damage by light.

In 2025  there was a variation to this practice in that the Edinburgh Gallery swapped its collection with that of the National Gallery of Ireland.

The day we went there was a long queue to get in (in normal years there isn’t) but we did we get to see a lot of Turners new to us.

Clovelly Bay North Devon:-

Chatel Argent above Villeneuve:-

Beech tree:-

A river in the Campagne:-

Old Dover Harbour and Shakespeare’s Cliff:-

Stained Glass with Scottish Royal Coat of Arms:-

Dining table:-

Thrones in throne room:-

King’s bedchamber:-

A small chamber:-

The Long Gallery. Another ornate ceiling and many portraits of Stuart monarchs:-

The separate Stuart room also contained many portraits:-

Including James VI*:-

A smaller room further contains portraits of the so-called Pretenders to the throne subsequent to the “Glorious Revolution.” These kings who weren’t, from left to right here, were Prince Henry Benedict Stuart, James ‘VIII and III’ and Bonnie Prince Charlie. The first and third were brothers. Their portraits flank their father’s:-

*James I of England, Wales and Ireland.

This week we again visited the Beyond Caravaggio exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery again as it was its last week.

Apart from the four Caravaggios I thought one of the most striking uses of light was in “Christ Before the High Priest” by Gerrit van Honthorst but the reproduction below doesn’t really do it justice.

Two even more impressive paintings were by an artist dubbed The Candlelight Master (whom the information labels suggested may possibly have been Trophime Bigot.)

One was “A Boy With a Lantern” of which I can find no example to show here. The other is from the Royal Collection and is called “Christ in the Carpenter’s Shop.”

This last one, “A Man Singing by Candlelight” by Adam de Coster, is absolutely stunning on the wall.