Two Daughters of George Alexander, Advocate

Artist John Alexander (Aberdeen, Scotland, 1686 - c.1766)

Date1740s

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 76.7 cm, Width: 92 cm
Frame: Height: 89.6 cm, Width: 105.4 cm

AcquisitionPresented in 1966 by G S Jameson.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationView by Appointment - Aberdeen Treasure Hub

Object numberABDAG000029

Keywords

About MeJohn Alexander was the great grandson of the first Scottish portrait painter, George Jamesone, whose daughter Marjory married a lawyer named John Alexander. The two sisters in this tender double portrait are more members of the same important local family - probably the artist's maiden aunts.

John Alexander was a Jacobite and as a result spent some time in Rome in the 1750s. This portrait predates this period and shows a certain naivety of execution, although Alexander displays a sensitive treatment of his sitters: their feminine silk dresses, fine linen fichus and bonnets are set off with pearl buckles and delicate touches of sky blue and pink, whilst the interplay between them - one with her arm over the shoulder of the other, as she picks a fruit from the bowl proffered by her sister - captures the tender love of the two. In their straightforward gaze and evident ease there is a hint too perhaps at their affection for their nephew as he captures an honest yet kind likeness of his aunts for posterity.

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Despite the evident stiffness of the sitters, the painter still manages to represent the intimate and loving relationship of the two sisters through their close interaction.