David Cox at the Smith
Until this Sunday only, there is a small exhibition of 14 works by the eminent English watercolourist, David Cox (1783 – 1859). The works are from the Stirling Smith’s own collection, and are part of the bequest of the founder, Thomas Stuart Smith. The exhibition is curated by intern Annika
Lady Arabella Stuart (1575 – 1615)
This sad token of the short life of Lady Arabella Stuart is a ‘protest portrait’ and is one of the hundreds of pewter pieces in the Stirling Smith collections. Arabella was an English noblewoman of Scottish descent, a great-great-granddaughter of
Gil Blas
Featured today is one of T. S Smith’s lesser known paintings. It is an illustration for an episode in the novel ‘Gil Blas’ written by Alain-Rene Lesage in 1735. Few today know anything of this novel, but it was read, appreciated and referenced by many other writers including Jonathan Swift,
A bit of Scottish Theatre History
This booking form for the MacRobert’s First Spectacular Family Pantomime in 1978 – 1979 is one of a small collection of treasures gifted by Stirling designer Michael Chatfield. Forty years on, the MacRobert has one of the best of the traditional Scottish pantos, eagerly anticipated each year by the fans
The Pity of War
Anda Paterson RSW RGI GSWA (born 1935) is one of the best known and most prolific Scottish artists working today. Her work is represented in many public collections, including Aberdeen, Dundee, Inverness and Glasgow Art Galleries. She is known for her depictions of ordinary people going about their daily
Heroic Stirling Postman
The photograph of postman John Wardrop Thomson (1883-1962) and his Albert Medal are part of a recent collection of memorabilia gifted to the Stirling Smith by John and Brenda Calderbank of Stockport. The medal was presented by King Edward VII for an extraordinary act of heroism in Stirling Station on
Stirling by Horatio MacCulloch
This is one of three works by the eminent Scottish landscape painter Horatio MacCulloch (1805 – 1867) in the Smith collections. The view looks towards the old town of Stirling and the castle on the rock from the hills at Bannockburn. The bottom half of the composition is seen in
Scottish Seaweed
Today’s featured story can be seen at the Smith in The Colours of Nature exhibition by the Scottish Society of Botanical Artists. Although botanical art is centuries old, the SSBA is a young organisation and this is their second annual exhibition. Botanical art is very different from flower painting as
Lunchtime, 1984
A feature of the Painting Stirling exhibition at the Stirling Smith is the work of the eminent American – British artist, Mary Louise Coulouris (1939 – 2011). She trained at the Chelsea and Slade Schools of Art in London, and in the Ecole des Beaux – Arts and Atelier 17
Old Coffee House, Bow Street
In 1902, the architect J S Fleming published a book, The Ancient Castles and Mansions of the Stirling Nobility. It had hundreds of drawings, mainly of the buildings in the Top of the Town which have long since been demolished. Another artist, Alexander Douglas Junior, visited some of the buildings