Attrib. Sir David Wilkie RA Stirling Castle

An original early 19th-century graphite drawing, Attrib. Sir David Wilkie RA, Stirling Castle.

An intriguing sketch attributed to Sir David Wilkie (1785–1841) showing the distinctive skyline of Stirling Castle atop Castle Hill. Surrounded on three sides by the steep cliffs of the Stirling Sill geological formation, the castle has a strong defensive position and is one of the most important castles in Scotland. There is a further graphite sketch on the verso which shows the castle at closer range, with the Stirling Old Bridge in the foreground.

Sir David Wilkie was a superb draughtsman and he produced numerous sketches and studies in a range of media, from highly finished coloured drawings to rapid pencil sketches and studies in pen and ink.

Wilkie's Journals and Letters record his travels around Scotland and his interaction with the landscape: 'Wherever Wilkie went he looked about him with an artist's eye, and felt with a Scotsman's heart'. In 1817 he writes to his sister from Blair Athol: 'At Stirling I arrived too late for the Perth coach, but at such a place it was no hard matter to find amusement. I went up to the Castle, and, after seeing every thing that is commonly shown to strangers, I began making some drawings of the Palace and Parliament House, which have been very fine buildings.'

Wilkie ends up unexpectedly staying in Stirling for three days after gaining acquaintance with the Governor of Stirling Castle, General Graham. He did not, however, translate any of his drawings of this area—described in his journals as 'the palaces and castles of old Caledonia'—into any fully worked up colour compositions.

After visiting Stirling, Wilkie goes on to the Borders, where he lodges with Sir Walter Scott—with whom he was to become great friends—and finds 'I have never been in any place where there is so much real good-humour and merriment'.

Provenance: From the Collection of Dr E.M. Brett of Hampstead.