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of enlightened collectors was paralleled by an increase in the number of artists working
in Scotland and in the number of works which they produced. It was the dealers who
brought these two groups together and provided an outlet for the artists’ work.
In Glasgow, La Société des Beaux-Arts at 232 West George Street represented
the ‘Glasgow Boys’, putting on exhibitions for Edward Atkinson Hornel (1864–1933),
George Henry (1858–1943) and Joseph Crawhall (1861–1913), and as early as 1891 an
exhibition was held of the works of Degas and other Post-Impressionists. In 1906 Reid
took up McTaggart and, according to Caw, ‘put up prices at once by trying to secure
almost every fine picture by that painter which “came on the market”.’ Two letters, the
first written on 2nd February 1911 by Reid and the second written on 21st February
the same year by George Proudfoot, Peter McOmish Dott’s partner in The Scottish
Gallery, illustrate the different approaches by the two dealers and also demonstrate the
competition for business between the two galleries. Both dealers were interested in
selling works by McTaggart entitled Cornfields to Blyth. The picture in The Scottish Gallery
is documented as being 52 by 35 inches. The picture in Glasgow is referred to in George
Proudfoot’s letter: ‘Mr Reid’s snow picture is 54 by 35 inches and is in a rather heavier
frame than our picture.’ Reid demands ‘promised payment’ and a picture by George
Houston for his painting: ‘You are remembering you promised me £50 at Martinmas.
Also I would very much like to have the Houston now.’ Proudfoot, in contrast, is more
sympathetic to Blyth’s position: ‘You are quite right not to decide about the McTaggart
too hurriedly. It is an important purchase and one you should be sure about.’
The outcome of the competition is documented in a purchase receipt of 3rd
April 1911, from The Scottish Gallery: Cornfields Midlothian by McTaggart was sold to
Blyth for £285 along with the purchase of a landscape by George Houston. The difference
between the characters of the dealers is further illustrated in a letter dated June 1917,
from Reid to Blyth: ‘If you are serious in thinking about the Xmas Morning there is no use
in talking nonsense to us.’
McTaggart was born at Aros, by Machrihanish on the Mull of Kintyre in 1835
and came to Edinburgh when he was 16. He was one of a group of students that included
Hugh Cameron, George Reid, George Paul Chalmers and William Quiller Orchardson,
who studied under Robert Scott Lauder between 1852 and 1861. Under Lauder’s tuition,
the use of colour – particularly the use of different tones and gradations of light and
colour – was given equal emphasis to draughtsmanship.
McTaggart became a ‘Scottish Impressionist’, leaving behind the typically
Victorian subject matter and finely detailed technique apparent in his production until
the 1880s in favour of broad application of oil paint and sparkling landscapes made en
plein air, as much about light as location. It is not hard to see how these works would
have appealed to Blyth. At their best his paintings elicit a strong, emotional response akin
to orchestral music, quite apart from their ‘subject matter’ which became increasingly
irrelevant. Besides Turner there is no other example of a British painter with such
ambition, matched by sheer painterly ability, who is able to express his wonder in front
of his landscape subject and invest it with such power and universal relevance.
Stanley Cursiter pays tribute to Peter McOmish Dott, who was senior partner
by the time Blyth began to collect. He was a man ‘of fine taste, generous and warm
hearted and a real friend to many of the artists he encouraged and supported’. And this
sympathy must have won the trust of the young enthusiast. Dott was uniquely qualified to
introduce McTaggart, by then the grand old man of Scottish painting. In 1900 he agreed
to purchase 29 works by McTaggart for £5,000 and the pictures were subsequently
exhibited in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dundee. It is doubtful whether Blyth would have
seen this exhibition but Dott later sent Blyth the guide he had written, entitled Technical
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