Description
Signed, inscribed and dated '52, oil on canvas
Dimensions
101cm x 152cm
Footnote
Note:During the early 1850's Sam Bough frequently painted in Cadzow Forest, the property of the Duke of Hamilton. Bough lived in Bothwell Street on the outskirts of Hamilton leaving to work all day until the gloaming had set in. Bough was often accompanied by fellow artists Alexander Fraser and Thomas Fairburn and duing the summer spent much of the time sketching out of doors. Sidney Gilpin in his biography of Bough states "Some of Bough's best work in oils was done during his Hamilton period and on subsequent visits to the locality.Few men could depict the salient points of the sturdy oak with greater truthfulness and vigour, and in this respect the ancient forest with it's peculiar breed of cattle presented excellent ground-work for study"
The white cattle referred to are first mentioned in old Irish sagas dating back almost 2,000 years. The Chartley and Chillingham herds of England and the Cadzow herd in Scotland date to the mid-thirteenth century when herds in England and Scotland were enclosed in hunting chases. Writers of the time differed as to the origins of the herds although the famed authority Rev. John Storer believed they were the direct descendants of the Wild White Bull that roamed the forests which once covered the British Isles. By the 1940's the Cadzow was one of only six herds which still existed and in 1973 when the Rare Breeds Survival Trust was formed these remaining herds were given the communal name "White Park".