Studio RT Ltd

Description

We are offering for sale this bright and breezy oil on canvas by the Scottish artist James Alfred Aitken, who has signed the painting in the lower left hand corner J. A. Aitken RSW. This dates the painting to between 1878, when he became a founding Member of the Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolours, and his death in 1897. The painting depicts a sunny, breezy coastal scene, cleverly contradicted by the dark, wooden hulk of a derelict barge, which has been left to decay on the shore, at the mercy of the waves.

James Alfred Aitken, 1846-1897, was born on the 5th November 1846 in Edinburgh. He showed an early talent for art and became a pupil of Horatio McCulloch, who was a great influence on his work. The family moved to Ireland for some years, where he entered the Royal Dublin Society School, under Henry McManus. He began exhibiting at the Royal Hibernian Academy. He became as Associate Member of the RHA in 1871, but resigned in 1890.

He returned to Scotland and settled in Glasgow where he married Annie Millar, the daughter of a merchant. He painted Irish and predominately Scottish scenes in oils and watercolours, although he turned to watercolours towards the end of his life. He was a founding Member of the Royal Scottish Institute of Painters in Watercolours in 1878.

There are 8 of his paintings in the National Collection, where they can be viewed at BBC-Your Paintings and a small landscape is in the National Gallery of Ireland. Auction results for this artist can be viewed at the usual internet sites.

Hi died of kidney failure (Brights disease) at 116 Mains Street (now renamed Blythswood Street), Glasgow, on 21 December 1897 at the early age of 51.

Please note that there is considerable confusion between this artist and the English Artist James Aitken and his son John Ernest Aitken, who both moved to the Isle of Man in 1911 and painted primarily in watercolours. We have tried to only give accurate information about James Alfred Aitken.

The painting is framed in a 3" gilt frame and slip and will be supplied wired and ready to hang.

Image size: 19" x 11" - 48.25cm x 28cm

Frame size: 25" x 17 1/8" - 63.5cm x 43.5cm

Medium: Oils on canvas

Condition: Very good. There is one old repair to the canvas, as shown. There is virtually no craquelure and the surface is clean and taut. The frame and slip are in very good condition.