The Border Widow

Artist William Bell Scott (Edinburgh, Scotland, 1811 - 1890)

Date1861

Mediumoil on canvas

ClassificationsPaintings And Drawings

DimensionsOverall: Height: 74.6 cm, Width: 56 cm
Frame: Height: 104.1 cm, Width: 83.8 cm

AcquisitionBequeathed in 1895 by the artist.

CopyrightOut of copyright - CC0

LocationOn Display - Gallery 09

Object numberABDAG003867

Keywords

About MeWilliam Bell Scott was a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite set. This painting illustrates the border ballad "The Lament of the Border Widow" published by Sir Walter Scott in "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border". It is said to tell the story of Cockburne of Henderland, a Border freebooter, who was hanged over the gate of his own tower, by James V, in the course of his expedition of 1529.

The model for the romantic heroine in the painting was Alice Boyd whom Bell Scott met in Newcastle. They became intimate friends and formed a much talked about ménage à trois with Bell Scott's wife. Alice's home, Penkill Castle, Ayrshire, was the inspirational setting for Bell Scott's painting. In a letter written to Alice, Bell Scott imagines her at Penkill and in his reverie, describes almost exactly the setting of this painting: It would be quite dark out of doors at that hour, with perhaps a crimson bar seen through the trees - black silhouettes against the sky.

ADOPT AN ARTWORK. This artwork is available for Adoption. To find out more please email AAGMSupport-Us@aberdeencity.gov.uk

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Exhibitions

Gallery 09 - Balmoral Phenomenon