Sir James Guthrie PRSA HRA RSW LLD (British, 1859-1930)


George Smith, Esq signed and dated 'James Guthrie '89' (lower left)oil on canvas260 x 278 cm. (102 3/8 x 109 7/16 in.)
|ProvenanceR.L. Smith, PittodrieThence by descentExhibitedThe Royal Glasgow Institute, 1890Munich, Glaspal, 1890Paris, Salon, 1891LiteratureCaw, J, Sir James Guthrie, London, 1932, pp. 41, 50, 216Presented to the sitter to commemorate the Jubilee of the City Line"...he was asked to paint Mr George Smith in commemoration of the Jubilee of the City line. Here again he was faced by a conundrum in representation; but one of his cousins, having noticed the fine figure Smith made on horseback, suggested there might be a solution in that direction. So Guthrie, probably accompanied by Crawhall, surreptitiously stalked his sitter, when he went riding in the Great Western Road, and designed the spirited and slashingly painted George Smith Esq. which appeared at the Institute of 1890, in the chief place in what was popularly called, for in it the work of the advanced young had been concentrated, the 'Impressionist Room'. A very large canvas...it showed Mr Smith seated easily on a fine horse, his legs thrust forward and his head turned towards the spectator, as if he had just pulled up sharply...Unconventional, arresting, and exceedingly bold and confident in drawing and painting, it aroused great interest and was the cause of much difference in opinion, only exceeded by the angry discussion of the qualities, but rather the impudence and demerits, of Henry's Galloway Landscape in the same controversy provoking room. In Paris, where it went in 1891 along with the Dr Gardiner, it was, however, received with enthusiasm. Courbet and Velasquez were names mentioned in connection with it there, and Guthrie was awarded a medal by the Salon jury. (Caw, p.41)