The Last of the Clan by Thomas Faed RA, 1826-1900. 1865. Oil on canvas, 84 x 114 cm. (framed: 110 x 139 cm). Fleming Collection, Id: 288. Photograph and comment by Jacqueline Banerjee; photograph taken with permission, for the review of the exhibition linked below. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
An emigrant ship is about to be cast off, during the notorious Highland Clearances. The ship itself is left to our imagination: the focus is not on the brave menfolk setting off to find work in other lands, but on the older and younger folk, the parents, wives and children, left desolate on the quay. The proud Scottish spirit in this instance is not theirs: these are broken people; the artist upbraids the English for their injustice by graphically conveying the misery it caused.
Link to related material
- The painting in its frame
- Closer view of group round the mooring rope
- "A Window into Scottish Art" at the Lightbox, Woking (23 April - 3 July 2022) [Review]
Bibliography
Lightbox Final Fleming Object List (provided by The Lightbox, Woking, for reviewers of the exhibition there).
Created 18 May 2018