Lot 54
JOSEPH MILNE (SCOTTISH 1857-1911)
YACHTS ON THE SILVERY TAY
Estimate: £800 - £1,200
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Day Sale | Lots 1-102 | Thursday 05 December from 2pm
Description
Signed, oil on canvas
Dimensions
30.5cm x 46cm (12in x 18in)
Footnote
Joseph Milne was born in Aberdeen in February 1859. He was to become the eldest of 10 children. His father and uncle were both comb-makers. As a young child in the 1860s, his family moved to Edinburgh where he would later study at the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) Life Class, winning the RSA Chalmers Prize in 1885. His first RSA exhibit was A Doorway in 1877 (no.126). He continued exhibiting at the RSA each year until 1902. He was a professional landscape artist all his career.
Although he lived in Edinburgh for much of his life, Milne painted in Holland, near Sheffield, on the River Tyne, and in London, as well as in Scotland. His exhibits appeared at the RSA, the Royal Glasgow Institute and the Royal Academy. However, he seems to have had a strong connection to the River Tay and there are various examples of his River Tay paintings – from Perth, down river past Kinfauns and Newburgh, to Dundee and Tayport. His exhibit at the Royal Academy in London in 1892 (no. 970) was By the Banks of the Silvery Tay. Yachts on the Silvery Tay is consistent with Milne’s maritime pictures.
In 1908 Milne and his family returned to Scotland after a period in London, and they settled in Dundee. Joseph’s eldest son was the artist John Maclauchlan Milne RSA; father and son painted together in Perthshire and Fife before Joseph’s early death in January 1911.
We are grateful to Maurice Millar, author of The Missing Colourist: The Search for John Maclauchlan Milne RSA (privately published in 2022 and available via The Missing Colourist website) for writing this catalogue note.
