Lot 144
GEORGE LESLIE HUNTER (SCOTTISH 1877-1931)
STILL LIFE OF APPLES AND TANKARD
Scottish Paintings & Sculpture | 692
Auction: Evening Sale
Description
Signed and indistinctly dated, oil on board
Dimensions
23cm x 38cm (9in x 15in)
Provenance
Provenance: William McNair, Troon
Footnote
Still Life of Apples and Tankard is a dignified still life in which Hunter reveals an assured use of oil paint and colour to realise light and shade, form and reflection. Whilst paying homage to past masters, bravura touches such as the brushstrokes of cream and red in the tankard’s stem reveal a confidence which matches the accomplishment of the image as a whole.
This painting formerly belonged to the solicitor William McNair, who was one of Hunter's most important patrons, along with his business partners William McInnes and Ion Harrison at the Glasgow shipping company of Gow, Harrison & Co. As Bill Smith and Jill Marriner have related: 'Often Hunter would arrive at the Company's offices, bringing with him sketchbooks and all manner of other things to show to and discuss with his friends.' (Bill Smith and Jill Marriner, Hunter Revisited: The Life and Art of Leslie Hunter, Atelier Books, Edinburgh, 2012, p. 73). McNair sat for Hunter on at least two occasions, as seen in the portraits now in the collections of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum and the Hunterian Art Gallery, University of Glasgow.