Dundee Art Galleries & Museum: 272-1987-279
Artist: Richeton, Léon
Date: 1877
State: 2/2
Size: 33cm x 24.1cm
Medium: Etching
| Alternative Title(s) | Rob Roy (after John Pettie) |
| Details | Etching. Black on cream paper. The remarque portraits of a girl and a man are unidentified although it is possible that the male is a self-portrait of Richeton. The odd, egg shaped object at the far left is a mystery. The name ‘J.Pettie’ is included in print at bottom right. Below the print (beside remarque) ‘etched by Léon Richeton after J. Pettie R.A.’The remarque portraits and signature look to have been printed rather than added in graphite. |
| Description | The scene depicts the aging Rob Roy (1671-1734) and is taken from a painting by John Pettie (location unknown). It was likely inspired by Pettie’s, and Orchar’s, interest in the novels of Sir Walter Scott and the growing interest in Scottish Romanticism and History. Orchar and Pettie were close friends and Pettie’s nephew Martin Hardie provides a useful insight into both men’s interest;
It is more than probable that at this time Pettie was steeping himself afresh in the novels of Sir Walter Scott. In the summer of 1877 he stayed, first with his friend Orchar at Dundee, and then spent a long holiday at Callander in the very heart of the Scott country, within easy drive of the Trossachs and Loch Katrine, the Pass of Leny, and the Braes of Balquhidder. George Paul Chalmers was there also, worrying over his “Glee Maiden” so, too, were the MacWhirters, Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Gow, and George Lawson, the sculptor. Amid scenery full of romantic suggestion, Pettie could not rest content with fishing and good fellowship, but must throw off his coat and begin a picture of “Rob Roy” afterwards exhibited in the Academy of 1878. Martin Hardie, John Pettie R.A., H.R.S.A. London, A. & C. Black, 1908. A banquet, held in Orchar’s honour on 14th January 1885 at Dundee’s Queen’s Hotel saw the collector receive a telegram reading ‘Messrs Cameron, McWhirter [sic], Hunter, Morris, and Pettie, representing Mr Orchar’s friends in London, desire to do honour to Mr Orchar. We convey our hearty good wishes to him.’ The Dundee Courier and Advertiser, 15th January 1885. Newspaper Clipping, Dundee Central Library; Local History Centre: Lamb Collection 217(74). Born in Edinburgh, Pettie relocated to London in 1862 sharing a studio with William Quillar Orchardson. He was elected an RA in 1873. Pettie was also elected a member of The Etching Club on 13th November 1876 having been proposed by its founder Charles West Cope and seconded by John Callcott Horsley. He was elected unanimously. This link to some of the major etchers of the period, including Samuel Palmer, James Clarke Hook and Francis Seymour Haden would have subsequently provided Orchar with an introduction to their work. The Etching Club Minute Book. 13th November 1876 – 20th January 1885. Special Collections 86.BB.59. National Art Library, Victoria & Albert Museum, London. The Orchar Collection includes eleven paintings by Pettie such as The Laird (1875) and A Highland Outpost (1883). It was a measure of Orchar and Pettie’s close relationship that as well as a portrait of Orchar himself (1885) Pettie also painted Orchar’s son, James Steel Orchar, in his University of St Andrews robes (1881). Both paintings are in The Orchar Collection. |
| Exhibited Dundee | It is likely that this print was the one exhibited at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibition, Albert Institute, 1879 (West Gallery, No. 1159) and either already in Orchar’s collection or subsequently bought by him. Dundee Fine Art Exhibition Catalogue 1879, The McManus: Dundee’s Art Gallery and Museum. Various other etchings by Richeton were also shown, and were for sale, at the Dundee Fine Art Exhibitions including Portrait of Thomas Dixon after Alphonse Legros (1881 exhibition, No. 896 £2.2) and Portrait of Professor Blackie (1882 exhibition, No. 888 £4.0). |
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