Lot 104
SAM BOUGH R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1822-1878)
A FISHING PORT AT SUNSET
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture
Auction: Evening Sale ft. A Century of Scottish Colourists | Lots 88 to 168 | Thursday 04 June 2026 from 6pm
Description
Signed, extensively inscribed (see note) and dated April 1st 1863 verso, oil on board;
and three other views within the same mount, ‘A Mountain Pass’, ‘The Drove Road’ and 'Troops Parading in Edinburgh' (4)
Dimensions
each 10cm x 10.5cm (4in x 4.25in)
Footnote
The inscription reads: ‘Sam Bough to the Misses Macbeath - Memorandum by the donor. This picture is to be the property of the first Miss Macbeath who changes her surname by the Holy Contract of Matrimony - and it is earnestly entreated by Mr B. that the young ladies wont [sic] fall out and fight about it.'
Samuel Bough is one of the most influential Scottish landscape painters of the 19th century. Though born in Carlisle, he spent most of his career in Scotland, moving to Glasgow in 1848 and settling in Edinburgh in 1855. This four-panel ensemble - unseen in public since its completion over 163 years ago - captures the spontaneity, loose handling and atmospheric sensitivity that established Bough as a precursor to the Scottish Impressionists. Unique in both format and execution, the panels display a freedom so boldly Turneresque that they verge on abstraction.
The ensemble was created for the daughters of Bough’s friend, David Macbeath, a Berwick-Upon-Tweed-based wine merchant with a home in London. Conceived as a unified work, the panels evoke the four seasons through contrasting scenes of coast, countryside and city, linked chromatically by a progression from mustard yellow through ochre and russet to a deep red-brown.
The first panel, likely a sunrise, shows a coastal scene characteristic of Bough’s life-long interest in the small East Coast harbours. Ships in the middle distance and a rowing boat in the foreground create depth, while the luminous handling of light recalls works such as Dysart on the Fife Coast (1862), though the brushwork here is far more radical and experimental. The second panel presents a summery pastoral landscape: rolling foothills, water to one side, and loosely rendered cattle. It recalls compositions such as Bough’s Borrowdale views and reflects his enduring fascination with mountainous terrain, from the Lake District to the Scottish Highlands. The scene was likely inspired by sketches made during his extensive travels in 1862. In the third panel, an autumnal mood prevails. Mist drifts across a valley beneath distant, snow-capped peaks. Bough rarely painted wintry subjects, making this atmospheric treatment particularly striking, as he balances delicacy with dramatic impact. The final panel shifts to urban Edinburgh, depicting a rain-soaked Princes Street animated by a military parade. Quick diagonal strokes suggest bayonets, lending energy and movement to the foreground. The viewpoint corresponds to known sketches by Bough and situates the scene near his George Street studio, with St Giles’ Cathedral visible in the distance.
The ensemble is documented in an 1863 letter from Bough to Macbeath, in which he describes ‘four sketches in the one frame’ intended for the latter’s daughters - Anne, Helen and Eliza. With characteristic humour, Bough proposed that the panels should belong to whichever daughter married first. Anne eventually fulfilled this condition in 1874, becoming the rightful owner. Bough’s warm relationship with the Macbeath family is well attested in his correspondence from 1862 to 1877. He frequently stayed with them in London and maintained an affectionate interest in the daughters, whom he dubbed ‘the three Graces.’ His letters reveal both familiarity and playfulness, offering a glimpse into the personal context behind this extraordinary and highly individual work.