Self Portrait

Artist James Cassie (Inverurie, Scotland, 1819 - 1879)

Datec.1840

Mediumoil on board

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

Dimensions30.4 x 25cm
Frame Size: 47.8 x 43 x 7.7cm

AcquisitionPurchased in 2012 with assistance from the National Fund for Acquisitions.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG017721

Keywords

Self-Portrait

About MeJames Cassie RSA was a well known local artist and was held affectionately in artistic circles in Aberdeen. Although principally a painter of sea and landscapes, he first made a living from portrait painting. This youthful self-portrait in oil must have been painted c.1840, at around the age of twenty. It is a lively and intimate study of this energetic, enthusiastic young artist and an engaging image which conveys something of Cassie's reputedly benign nature.

Cassie spent most of his life in the city, only moving his studio to Edinburgh in 1869. He is well represented in Art Gallery's collection, with many fine landscapes, which characteristically capture the effects of light and weather in the Scottish countryside. A childhood accident had left him permanently lame and as this limited his ability to travel, much of his work is local. Working outside the mainstream, his scintillating views of the Aberdeenshire coast are executed with an almost Pre-Raphaelite attention to detail.

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Cassie, aged 20 when he did this self-portrait, painted mainly in and around Aberdeen because a limp following a childhood accident limited his travel.