Lot 19: Mungo Burton, A.R.S.A. (1799-1882)

Mungo Burton, A.R.S.A. (1799-1882)
At the Place of Rest
signed 'M.Burton N.6' (on the stretcher)
oil on canvas
40 x 50 in. (101.6 x 127 cm.)

Possibly Edinburgh, Royal Scottish Academy, 1869, no.327.

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Mungo Burton was born in Colinton, Edinburgh. Known for his amiability and kindliness, he was popular with his professional colleagues, and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Scottish Academy from 1838-1880. Burton painted in both oil and watercolour, producing portraiture and genre, and his work is represented in the Paul Mellon Collection (Yale, U.S.A.).

The present lot, thought to have been painted in the 1860's, is evocative of Thomas Faed, with whom Burton exhibited on numerous occasions at the Royal Scottish Academy. In the rich tradition of Scottish genre painting, scenes of rural life and hard toil were very much to the Victorian taste and found a ready market with the public. Similar to a work by Faed, each figure in Burton's painting is an individual study, and the deftly handled expressions encourage the viewer to empathise with the group. The young girl comforting her grandmother contrasts the youthful exuberance of the boy, who appears to be in a state of excitement, possibly about a journey ahead. This supposition is enforced by the wagon in the distance and the horse-man's crop echoing the young boy's. The young girl glances upwards towards her father, her conspicuous melancholy mirroring the worry and strain seen in his face.

The size of the work and attention to detail make it unlikely that Burton would not have exhibited the painting, and as far as records show, he did not show anywhere but the Royal Scottish Academy. Titles listed that conjure the subject matter include Her Mother's Grave and The Anxious Family, both exhibited in 1842, but these are too early. At the Place of Rest (1869) seems to be a likely title, as it is chronologically plausible, and ties in with the subject-matter. It also propels a device used by Faed and other Victorian artists of presenting the viewer with information, but not enough to fill or explain all of the narrative; the viewer is encouraged to piece together the story for himself, and speculate as to who the gravestone belongs to: is it the mother's, the grandfather's, or perhaps that of another sibling? The age of the stone makes the latter implausible, and the perceptive ability of the audience is subtly challenged.

A work of strong visual narrative and merit, At the Place of Rest belongs to the rich tradition of Scottish genre painting of Wilkie and Faed. However, much work needs to be done on Burton - a prolific, but essentially undiscovered hand.

We are grateful to Helen Smailes of the National Gallery of Scotland for her help in preparing this catalogue entry.