Leo Webster
Senior Specialist
Lot 7AR
John Bellany CBE RA HRSA LLD(Lon)(British, 1942-2013)Mr Gold
21 May 2025, 12:00 BST
EdinburghSold for £3,520 inc. premium
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John Bellany CBE RA HRSA LLD(Lon) (British, 1942-2013)
Mr Gold
signed 'Bellany' (verso)
oil on board
75.5 x 55.5cm (29 3/4 x 21 7/8in).
signed 'Bellany' (verso)
oil on board
75.5 x 55.5cm (29 3/4 x 21 7/8in).
Footnotes
Provenance
Gifted by the artist to John Dickson, fishmonger of Port Seton; thence by descent to the present owner.
Exhibited
Edinburgh, Castle Terrace railings, Festival Exhibition, 1963 (see department for photograph from the exhibition).
Port Seton Library, John Bellany: Port Seton Remembered, 28 April-9 June 2000.
Painted in 1962 whilst Bellany was studying at Edinburgh College of Art, the present work depicts a life model from the college, Mr Gold. It is with this painting that the artist was awarded the Andrew Grant Travel Scholarship in this same year.
During his and Sandy Moffat's famous inaugural protest exhibition of 1963 outside the Royal Scottish Academy, the present work was hung high on the railings. Thus highlighting the significance of this painting both when considering the early development of Bellany's work, but also the counter-establishment declaration that it embodies.
The work was gifted by Bellany to his lifelong friend and past employer, John Dickson. Mr Dickson had Dickson's fishmonger in Port Seton, and it is likely that the experience of having worked at the fishmongers in part went on to shape much of Bellany's artistic output. His early subjects frequently featuring the fishermen, boats, and filleted fish that he felt was synonymous with his Port Seton home. The work has since been handed down through the Dickson family to the present owner.