§ JOHN MACLAUCHLAN MILNE R.S.A. (SCOTTISH 1886-1957) THE QUARRY AT TORRIDON Signed and dated '23, oil on canvas

(63.5cm x 76cm (25in x 30in))

Provenance: Sotheby’s, Gleneagles, 29 August 1995, lot 1002 Literature: M. N. Millar, The Missing Colourist: The Search for John Maclauchlan Milne RSA, privately published, Glasgow, 2022, p. 77 (listed)

This painting comes from a series of works created as a result of a trip Maclauchlan Milne made to Torridon in the north-west Highlands in 1922 or early 1923. Two others were shown at the Royal Scottish Academy's annual exhibition of 1923, where they were singled out for praise by the artist E. A. Taylor, who detected in them an interest in the work of Paul Cézanne. (E. A. Taylor, The Studio, Vol. 86, December 1923, no. 369, pp. 342-343 quoted in M. N. Millar, op.cit., p. 77). In addition to the quarry dramatically rendered in the present painting, Maclauchlan Milne was also drawn to subjects in the area including the mountains Beinn Alligin and Sgurr Ruadh. The artist's biographer, Maurice Millar, has pointed out that several Torridon works were included in Maclauchlan Milne's solo exhibition, held at Alexander Reid's gallery, La Société des Beaux Arts, in Glagsow in 1924. (ibid., p. 78). The boldness of technique, form and composition of The Quarry, Torridon, as well as the brightness of the light illuminating the scene, link this work to Maclauchlan Milne's French work of the decade. He was to re-kindle his interest in the Scottish Highlands in the 1930s, culminating in the Arran landscapes of the concluding period of his career. We are grateful to Alan Lawson, curator of the forthcoming Maclauchlan Milne exhibition at Roseangle Gallery, Dundee (25 June-23 July 2022) and to Maurice Millar, the artist's biographer (op.cit.), for their assistance in researching this painting.