Casket believed to have belonged to Mary, Queen of Scots to come to the Stirling Smith
A silver casket believed to have been owned by Mary, Queen of Scots and which was acquired by National Museums Scotland in 2022 has undergone fresh conservation work ahead of going on tour to Kirkcudbright and Stirling. An iconic piece of Scotland’s national heritage, the casket will go on display
Easy Tiger finds Permanent Home at Stirling Smith
The much-loved Easy Tiger by the Mach brothers is now part of The Stirling Smith’s permentant collection! Director, Caroline Mathers said: ‘We are delighted to give Easy Tiger a permanent home at The Smith. We would like to thank the National Fund for Acquisitions as well as David and Robert
Simón Bolívar
Three years ago, a much-neglected canvas, torn, battered and with paint loss, listed as ‘Man in Uniform. Artist Unknown’ in the Smith collections was the Stirling Story. Today, after painstaking restoration and framing, he can be seen in his full glory as Simón Bolívar (1783 – 1830), The Liberator, known
Star of Snowdon
Snowdon is the ancient poetic name for Stirling. In 1859, the Star of Snowdon Purity Brooch was a piece of Stirling-inspired jewellery made for the women of the Drummond family to celebrate the inauguration of the Virgin Martyrs Monument in the new Valley Cemetery. The cemetery was created with money
The Neish Collection
Today’s Stirling Smith object is an elegant writing stand, made for Shoreham Old Church in West Sussex. It is engraved with the words ‘For ye use of ye Great Vestry Room, Saml. Coupers Vestry Clerke 1745’ and is in the Neish Collection of British Pewter. Alex Neish has spent a
Stirling Builders
A special exhibition from Historic Environment Scotland ran throughout the summer at the Stirling Smith and finished on Sunday 12 August. Called ‘Stirling Builds’, it looked at many of the best-known buildings in the city from drawings of the pre-Reformation Church of the Holy Rude to the Wallace Monument competition
Langgarth House
Langgarth is one of Stirling’s great villas, designed by the architect William Leiper (1839 – 1916). Built in 1897, it was originally one in a group of four on the St Ninians Road. The others were Viewforth (Stirling Council headquarters), Springbank (demolished to make way for Central Regional Council’s headquarters
Raploch Lion Roars Again
Last week, the latest addition to the Stirling Smith collections was unveiled by Stephen Kerr MP. It is a reproduction of a long-lost Raploch stone, re-carved anew by stonemasons James Innes & Son of Doune. The original stone was on a tenement in Back O’Hill Road / Albany Crescent, designed
William Littlejohn
The Stirling Smith has a collection of some 850 major works of art which show different aspects of the history of Scottish, British and European art. This work by William Hunter Littlejohn (1929 – 2006) is one of two in the Smith collections, featured in a brand -new book on
Bruce and de Bohun
With the approach of the 704th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn this weekend, it is worth re-visiting one of the Smith’s more famous paintings. ‘Bruce and de Bohun’ was painted by artist John Duncan (1866 – 1945) as an entry in the national competition run by Kelvingrove Art Gallery