Glenbuchat Heritage

29 'Summer' by ?Andrew Geddes

’Summer’ by Andrew Geddes

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The above picture shows:

1 A version of a portrait entitled ‘Summer’ displayed in Castle Newe
2 Detail of the title of the portrait, ‘Andrew Geddes 1784 – 1844 - Summer’
3 The original Portrait ‘Summer’ by Andrew Geddes held at the National Gallery of Scotland.


Andrew Geddes ARA (5 April 1783 – 5 May 1844)
Andrew Geddes, portrait painter and print-maker, was born in Edinburgh and attended Edinburgh University. He worked as a clerk for five years; only after his father's death was, he able to study at the Royal Academy Schools in London. He returned to Edinburgh in 1810 and set up a portrait studio; he was back in London by 1814. With a fine sense of texture and colour, Geddes excelled at 'fancy pictures' - portraits of sitters dressed in exotic costume. His European travels enriched his art, in particular, a visit to Holland in 1839, where he admired the etched work of Rembrandt. Geddes was also an important collector of Old Master drawings, paintings and prints.

Geddes made his chief success as a portrait painter, but he produced occasional figure subjects and landscapes, and executed some copies of the old masters as well. He was also a good etcher. His portrait of his mother, and a portrait study, called Summer, are in the National Gallery of Scotland, and his portrait of Sir Walter Scott is in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.


There was evidently some debate in the Forbes family about the provenance of the picture and it apparently was examined by Helen Smailes, the Senior Curator of British Art at the National Gallery of Scotland.


National Gallery of Scotland
From Helen Smailes Senior Curator of British Art
3 March 2006

“Finally, concerning Geddes. Having now seen your little oil, I regret that I stand by my assessment that it is very unlikely to be an autograph work by Andrew Geddes. First of all, Geddes is not known to have undertaken compositional sketches in oil for subject pictures or, indeed, any other kind of works in oil. The handling of the picture bears little or no resemblance to Geddes’ own handling and there are some passages which suggest that the artist concerned had a slender grasp of anatomy and had not acquired the confidence to model fabric with the subtlety which is apparent in the original painting in the National Gallery of Scotland. I also think that the artist concerned has failed to grasp — or certainly to render - the very subtle effect of cast shadow which was evidently a dominant feature and intention of the whole composition. That it was a dominant intention of the original composition is apparent from the fact that the same effect is predominant of the second known autograph full- scale version of summer (I brought the photograph of the work in question with me).

The medium of your picture is quite complex and would appear to be oil on paper laid on prepared board. As the painting is undocumented it is difficult to speculate about its probable status. It would seem to be a 19th century copy and may well be almost contemporary with the original work in our collection. I believe I explained at the time that Geddes’ painting was actually exhibited publicly three times in close succession: first of all, as far as we know, at the British institution in London in 1826, then at the Carlisle Academy of Fine Arts later that year (we assume) and finally, in 1828 at the Royal Institution in Edinburgh. On the latter occasion, as my Geddes' book details, the artist was fortunate enough to secure a sale from the Directors of the Royal Institution who were then beginning to build a collection of modern Scottish art with an ultimate view of forming a national gallery for Scotland. Geddes' Summer had a certain topicality as the Rubens on which it is loosely based had also been exhibited publicly so circumstances would suggest that there was quite an incentive for copying and copying was permitted both at the British Institution and at the Royal Institution in Edinburgh. This is all speculation - faute de mieux – but l hope that you may allow us to keep your photograph for the file of documentation on Summer. My principal task for the foreseeable future is the in-depth cataloguing of some 560 Scottish paintings in our permanent collection including, of course, the Geddes.”

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