KENNETH MACLEAY R.S.A., R.S.W. (SCOTTISH 1802-1878) ‡
A VICTORIAN FRAMED WATERCOLOUR OF "THE CHISHOLM" DATED 1869
Auction: Day 2: Thursday 21 August - Lots 297 - end
Description
presented in crest gilt wooden frame, presentation plaque underneath ‘The Chisholm by K. Macleay RSA 1869 James Sutherland. Chisholm of Chisholm 27th Chief of Clan Chisholm Erchless Castle, Strathglass, Invernesshire, Motto: To the rough I am rough, Badge: Fern, The Chisholm boasted that there were only three person in the world entitled to the prefix “THE" THE KING: THE POPE; THE CHISHOLM"’
Dimensions
47cm x 60cm, 86cm x 103cm (frame)
Provenance
The John Kirk Collection
Footnote
Heraldry:
Crest: Gules a boar's head couped Argent
Note:
Accompanied by a note, ‘The social and political realities of contemporary life in the highlands were barely mentioned in the royal publication. By the mid-1830s many of the Chisholms had emigrated to America. The 27th Chief, who sat to MacLeay in 1869, returned from Canada to assume his inheritance. Among the clan chiefs he was exceptional in equipping his clansmen at his own expense for their sittings to MacLeay. Scottish Private Collection'
Note:
The Chisholm clan had originally been granted lands in Berwick as early as the 13th century by Pope Alexander IV but eventually found themselves much further north in Invernesshire and were keen to guard this land. They were strong Jacobite supporters and were present at both the Jacobite risings of 1715 and 1745. 30 members of the clan including the chief were killed at Culloden.
James Sutherland Chisholm (1806-1885) was born in Montreal as his father had been a part of the founding group to establish Glengarry in Canada. He returned to Scotland after he ascended the Chiefdom and had married his bride Annie Cecilia MacDonell in Canada in 1861. It is perhaps for this reason, he chose to commission this portrait marking his arrival as the 27th Clan Chief.
Kenneth Macleay (1802-1878) was the leading portrait miniaturist in Scotland, but due to the development of photography, looked to expand and offered larger ‘cabinet’ sized portraits. Many sitters were keen to be immortalised, not least James Sutherland Chisholm of Chisholm. Many of Macleay's sketches and works are held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery of Scotland. He is also renowned for his watercolours of Highlanders and Highland chiefs which culminated in the seminal publication of Highlanders of Scotland. London: Mr. Mitchell, publisher to the Queen, 1870, detailing and depicting the principal Clans and the retainers of the Royal household at Balmoral, in the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria.
Chisholm died in 1885 at his Scottish home in Erchless Castle, and was survived by his son Roderick Donald Matheson Chisholm of Chisholm.