Evening at Stirling by Henry Alexander Bowler (1824-1903). Oil on canvas. 29 1/2 x 25 3/4 inches (75 x 65.5 cm). Private collection. Reproduced here by kind permission of Auktionshaus "Rotherbaum" OHG.
Bowler exhibited this Scottish landscape at the Royal Academy in 1857, no. 1076. Bowler specialized in landscape and genre subjects, but unfortunately over time his teaching and other official duties left him little time for his own art. Most of the sixteen works in oil and watercolour he exhibited at the Royal Academy and at the British Institution were landscapes and this is a notable example. Stirling is a town in central Scotland best known for Stirling Castle. Because of its location it is regarded as the "gateway to the Highlands" and the Highlands can be seen in the midground of this painting. The foreground is dominated by a road surrounded by the tall trees of a forest with the town seen in the mountain valley in the distance. The prominent mountain in the midground may be Ben Venue as seen from the southeast from woodland to the south of Loch Katrine.
This painting was bequeathed to the Doncaster Museum & Art Gallery in 1927 by the artist's son Henry Archer Bowler. It was deaccessioned in 1971 and sold at auction at Henry Spencer's saleroom in Retford, Nottinghamshire. It was most recently offered for sale at Auktionshaus Rotherbaum OHG in Hamburg Germany on 27 June 2020, lot 577. It is now in a private collection.
Bibliography
"Henry Alexander Bowler Sold at Auction Prices." Auktionshaus "Rotherbaum" OHG, currently ahown on Invaluable.com at https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot/henry-alexander-bowler-1824-kensington-1903-london-577-c-a6940db84e. Web. 25 July 2024.
Wood, Christopher. The Pre-Raphaelites. Aventel, New Jersey: Crescent Books, 1981. 68-69.
Created 24 July 2024