View from Edinburgh Castle, from a Sketch taken by the Bishop of Glasgow in 1848

Location

Country: UK
City: London
Place: Department for Work & Pensions, Caxton House, Tothill Street

The title of this work indicates that the image is inspired by a sketch made by the Bishop of Glasgow in 1848. Walter John Trower, Rector of Wiston in the diocese of Chichester, was consecrated as Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway in September 1848. Trower remained Bishop until 1859. He then served for a short time as Sub-Dean of Exeter Cathedral, before becoming the Bishop of Gibraltar (1863–68). Trower was also an author and amateur artist. His sketch of the view seen in this print was made in the year he became Bishop of Glasgow and Galloway. The sketch was later redrawn by professional artist Adam Arnst and engraved by the firm of Schenck & MacFarlane. Trower died, aged 73, on 24 October 1877.

According to lettering beneath the image, the print was ‘SOLD FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE TRAINING SCHOOL (ST ANDREWS HALL) OF THE SCOTTISH EPISCOPAL CHURCH’. In 1857 this episcopal training school, or church school, was awarded a Privy Council grant of £200 for education. However, just six years later, in July 1863, the school building was advertised for sale in the Midlothian newspaper 'The Caledonian Mercury'.

Little is known of the artist Adam Arnst. He lived in Edinburgh throughout his career and exhibited at The Royal Scottish Academy between 1860 and 1876, showing 20 works there in total. Arnst’s subjects were mainly landscapes, topographical views and portraits. He is known to have painted a portrait of the famous Leicestershire huntsman Tom Firr (died 1902) and he also produced illustrations for ‘The Reference Edition of Shakspear’s [sic] Plays’, complied by John B. Marsh and published in Edinburgh in 1865.

Places

Scotland, Edinburgh

Subjects

railway, topography, townscape/cityscape, island, hill, sea, cliff, Scottish, military uniform, kilt, bearskin, cannon, bridge (urban), house, church, battlement/crenellation, tunnel, spire

Materials & Techniques

lithograph, colour lithograph

Artist

Adam Arnst
Francis and MacFarlane, W H Schenk

Title

View from Edinburgh Castle, from a Sketch taken by the Bishop of Glasgow in 1848

Date

after 1848

Medium

Colour lithograph

Dimensions

height: 65.00 cm, width: 100.50 cm

Acquisition

Purchased from Grosvenor Prints, December 1997

GAC number

17290