A celebrated and successful landscape painter, Joseph Farquharson is known particularly for his dramatic Scottish landscapes and scenes of sheep in glittering, technicolour snow. We were delighted to present two works, The Garden at Finzean and Harbour Quay at Dusk, by Farquharson in our 15 July auction of Scottish Paintings & Sculpture.
Joseph Farquharson was a Scottish Laird, as well as a celebrated and successful landscape painter, known particularly for his dramatic scenes of sheep in glittering, technicolour snow. He inherited his family estate of Finzean in Aberdeenshire in 1918, following the death of his brother, though he had already lived and painted there for many years. Mostly, he painted ‘en plein air’ in the more rugged, distant reaches of the landscape his family owned, but in this charming scene, entitled The Garden at Finzean, he turns his artistic attention to what he could see closer to home, in the domestic garden of the estate.
Farquharson utilises a favourite compositional device of a lane, drawing the viewer into the scene, and revealing that the landscape does unfold beyond our immediate view. Yet his focus is on the colourful patterning of flowers in this busy border, their vivid cheer under the bright sunshine of this Scottish summer’s day contrasting beautifully with the shade created by the distant trees and unseen plants on the opposing border. The varying colours and textures of nature, across dawn and dusk, summer and winter, had an enduring appeal for Farquharson – and he could find this unfolding, day by day, year by year, across Finzean.
Capturing shadows and the glow of the last of the day's sun, Harbour Quay at Dusk, is a lovely example of Farquharson's ability to portray different scenes in nature. We were delighted to present Harbour Quay at Dusk and The Garden at Finzean in our 15 July auction of Scottish Paintings & Sculpture.
Lyon & Turnbull’s Scottish Paintings & Sculpture specialists host two auctions per year from our Scottish auction house based in Edinburgh. Successfully selling around 90% of Scottish Colourist works handled in the last eight years, a record unmatched by our competitors – selling Scottish art in Scotland has always been a Lyon & Turnbull lynchpin. Our specialists are experts not only on the works of Scottish artists, but also on the workings of the art market, and it is this combination that fuels our on-going success in the field.
Learn more about our Scottish Paintings & Sculpture Department ⇒