187
by Scott Burns And Ramsay, Engraved by R. Paterson, William P. Nimmo, London
and Edinburgh, 1878) the first comprehensive collection of The Poets and Poetry Of
Scotland
8
with an astonishing 170 poets anthologized; to one of the earliest Tourist’s
Guide to the Trosachs
9
; and the twentieth century rise of biological investigations
across all of Scotland, with such notable works as Alexander Edward Holden’s
Plant Life in the Scottish Highlands—Ecology and Adaptation to Their Insect
Visitors
10
—the first study of one of the last and largest native forests in all of Britain,
namely the 140 square miles of Scots pine at Rothiemurchus, and smaller groups at
the Moor of Rannoch and near Loch Tulla
11
. As far as ornithological expeditions
into the Highlands, they began in earnest by 1871 and were recorded in the annals
of the Scottish Naturalist, and eventually, the book series known as Scottish Birds
12
.
George Fennell Robson was the artist at the origins of this naturalist’s Scottish
history. A sampling of his observations suffices to incite some token of his genius:
Image No. VIII. Ben Venue, he cites a Dr. Graham calling it the “climax of sublimity”; and in No. IX, also of Ben Venue, states that “The mind of the painter, stored
with such materials, must unite them in one grand harmonious composition, which
like the sculpture of the ancients, shall combine in a perfect whole the scattered
beauties of imperfect individuals.” Of Loch Lomond No. III, there on the edge peering out beyond old yews and oaks, remains scarcely visible of a disintegrated church
above the quieted vale of “wheat and oats,” Ben Lomond far beyond the darkening
scene, 3240 feet above the islands of Inch Murrain and Tavannach, where stands the
very man who owns much of the scene in question, His Grace the Duke of Montrose
with his dog. This is no image of reversion or solitude-inspired rebellion, as in the
case of the iconic Caspar David Friedrich “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,” painted
precisely 1 year prior to Robson’s work in the Grampians. Rather, a celebration—
true to Longinus—of a melancholic moment that may, after all, be key to appreciating the harsh beauty of the Highlands. The village of Luss is not visible but Robson
makes clear that this most celebrated of all the Lochs is “one of the most interesting
and delightful scenes in Britain; not that such a number of scattered objects is
Elizabeth S. Eustis, and John Bidwell, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, in association
with David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston and the Foundation For Landscape Studies, New York,
2010.
8 By James Grant Wilson, Blackie & Son, London, 1877.
9 Thomas Nelson And Sons, London, Edinburgh And New York, 1899.
10 Photographs by Robert M. Adam, Oliver And Boyd, Edinburgh, 1952.
11 ibid., pp. 83–95; see also, Smout, T. C., MacDonald, R., and Watson, F., A History of the Native
Woodlands of Scotland 1500–1920, Edinburgh University Press, 2nd edition, Edinburgh, 2007.
12 The Journal Of The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 1958; See also, the
Avibase for all reported bird species in Scotland, at: https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?regi
on=UKsc&list=howardmoore®ion=UKsc&list=howardmoore; See also, https://www.gov.
scot/policies/biodiversity/. Accessed April 9, 2019; and https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity, Accessed April 9, 2019; and Scotland’s Nature In Trust – The National Trust for Scotland
and its Wildland and Crofting Management, by J. Laughton Johnston, Poyser Nature History, In
association with the National Trust for Scotland, Illustrations by John Busby, Academic Press,
London, 2000.
20.1 Beauteous, Befallen
by Scott Burns And Ramsay, Engraved by R. Paterson, William P. Nimmo, London
and Edinburgh, 1878) the first comprehensive collection of The Poets and Poetry Of
Scotland
8
with an astonishing 170 poets anthologized; to one of the earliest Tourist’s
Guide to the Trosachs
9
; and the twentieth century rise of biological investigations
across all of Scotland, with such notable works as Alexander Edward Holden’s
Plant Life in the Scottish Highlands—Ecology and Adaptation to Their Insect
Visitors
10
—the first study of one of the last and largest native forests in all of Britain,
namely the 140 square miles of Scots pine at Rothiemurchus, and smaller groups at
the Moor of Rannoch and near Loch Tulla
11
. As far as ornithological expeditions
into the Highlands, they began in earnest by 1871 and were recorded in the annals
of the Scottish Naturalist, and eventually, the book series known as Scottish Birds
12
.
George Fennell Robson was the artist at the origins of this naturalist’s Scottish
history. A sampling of his observations suffices to incite some token of his genius:
Image No. VIII. Ben Venue, he cites a Dr. Graham calling it the “climax of sublimity”; and in No. IX, also of Ben Venue, states that “The mind of the painter, stored
with such materials, must unite them in one grand harmonious composition, which
like the sculpture of the ancients, shall combine in a perfect whole the scattered
beauties of imperfect individuals.” Of Loch Lomond No. III, there on the edge peering out beyond old yews and oaks, remains scarcely visible of a disintegrated church
above the quieted vale of “wheat and oats,” Ben Lomond far beyond the darkening
scene, 3240 feet above the islands of Inch Murrain and Tavannach, where stands the
very man who owns much of the scene in question, His Grace the Duke of Montrose
with his dog. This is no image of reversion or solitude-inspired rebellion, as in the
case of the iconic Caspar David Friedrich “Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog,” painted
precisely 1 year prior to Robson’s work in the Grampians. Rather, a celebration—
true to Longinus—of a melancholic moment that may, after all, be key to appreciating the harsh beauty of the Highlands. The village of Luss is not visible but Robson
makes clear that this most celebrated of all the Lochs is “one of the most interesting
and delightful scenes in Britain; not that such a number of scattered objects is
Elizabeth S. Eustis, and John Bidwell, The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, in association
with David R. Godine, Publisher, Boston and the Foundation For Landscape Studies, New York,
2010.
8 By James Grant Wilson, Blackie & Son, London, 1877.
9 Thomas Nelson And Sons, London, Edinburgh And New York, 1899.
10 Photographs by Robert M. Adam, Oliver And Boyd, Edinburgh, 1952.
11 ibid., pp. 83–95; see also, Smout, T. C., MacDonald, R., and Watson, F., A History of the Native
Woodlands of Scotland 1500–1920, Edinburgh University Press, 2nd edition, Edinburgh, 2007.
12 The Journal Of The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, Vol. 1, No. 1, Autumn 1958; See also, the
Avibase for all reported bird species in Scotland, at: https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/checklist.jsp?regi
on=UKsc&list=howardmoore®ion=UKsc&list=howardmoore; See also, https://www.gov.
scot/policies/biodiversity/. Accessed April 9, 2019; and https://www.nature.scot/scotlands-biodiversity, Accessed April 9, 2019; and Scotland’s Nature In Trust – The National Trust for Scotland
and its Wildland and Crofting Management, by J. Laughton Johnston, Poyser Nature History, In
association with the National Trust for Scotland, Illustrations by John Busby, Academic Press,
London, 2000.
20.1 Beauteous, Befallen