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A fine painting depicting a scene from Sir Walter Scott's (1771-1832) 'The Monastery: a Romance' (1820). The lawless adventurer Christie of the Clinthill has brought the imprisoned Protestant preacher Henry Warden to the Sub-Prior of the Monastery of Kennaquhair to be dealt with as a heretic. However, Warden and Father Eustace had been close friends at college and the latter urges his friend to save his life by returning to the Church before the scene is interrupted by Edward, a protagonist of the novel.
There is a label on the verso which has torn along the central split in the panel. The name of the artist can be read partially as 'Thms. [...]nlayson' with the address '6 Union Place'. A Thomas B. Finlayson was registered as living at 6 Union Place, Edinburgh, in the Post-Office Edinburgh and Leith Directory of 1870-71. Details of the scene are also inscribed on the label, though it is indistinct in places. A similar illustration of the scene, engraved after Sir David Wilkie RA (1785-1841), can be seen in the collection of the British Museum. On panel.
Condition
There is extensive stable craquelure and bitumen deterioration across the painting. There is a vertical split to the panel at the centre and a further split at the upper-left corner measuring 18cm that have been reinforced by two wooden slats screwed on the verso of the panel. There are some small losses to the panel at the edges and some sparse marks of gold paint to the surface from a previous frame. Inspection under UV light reveals some in-painting around the edges of the splits, at the lower edge, and to a small area on the head of the far-right figure.
