Bruce J. S. Macpherson, Brownsland, Stobo, Scottish Borders
1. What is your object and how did it come to be in your possession?
The object which I am nominating for the Macphersoniana project is one already in the Museum, donated by my father, Sandy (TAS) Macpherson. It is the copy of a picture described as The Shooting Quarters of the Duke of Abercorn (Ardverikie House), painted by the Aberdeen artist James Giles RSA who lived from 1801 to 1870.
The picture is not in our possession but being familiar with the artist’s works, it is evidently a ‘Giles’ – the brush strokes, the treatment of the trees and the animals being typical of his style. As a young man, Giles travelled to Europe and it was in Italy that he found colour in the skies (something of a rare commodity in Aberdeen) and the light in this picture and the magnificent sweep of firmament reflects this influence beautifully.
2. Why have you chosen this object for the Macphersoniana project?
I have chosen this object for the Macphersoniana project because it tells us a story and speaks to me and possibly others at many different levels.
The country depicted I am familiar with and recall happy childhood summers fishing, walking and picnicking across much of the vista before us. The picnics included a joint annual birthday party for my Great Uncles Archie and Niall on the wonderful sandy beach in the foreground of the picture. Famously, on one occasion, Uncle Niall lost his sgian dhubh. Like the legendary gold at Loch Arkaig this family treasure may await someone’s discovery one day, unless it has been consigned to the depths of Loch Laggan for all time.
Loch Laggan, as featured in the painting, is filled at our end by the waters of the river Pattack as it flows west; this is an interesting geographical feature of the land as those of us familiar with Badenoch, behind us, will know that the river Spey runs through it to the north east. We are reminded that Macpherson country sits at a crossroads, straddling routes running north and south, east and west. Over time, these routes will have seen the passage of all manner of goods and chattels – people, cattle, armies, messages, good and bad tidings, even tourists. Following Culloden, the Prince is said to have passed through the Window on Creag Meagaidh beyond the far right reaches of the picture; short of it and closer to our stance lie the remains of St Kenneth’s Chapel, the end point of an ancient coffin road linking Loch Laggan with the upper reaches of the Spey and beyond to Inverness. And to our left, unseen, tracks lead us through the heather to Ben Alder and Cluny’s famous Cage.
To me this picture speaks of change. The loch before us is now dammed at its far end and is of a different shape to that painted by the artist. The waters flow from the loch through tunnels drilled deep into the hills to fuel the power station at Fort William, a feature of our industrial heritage in itself. In a decade, the dam will mark its centenary.
Between the two events, the painting of the picture and the building of the dam, this area was famously visited by Queen Victoria in 1847. Giles’ picture is not connected with the Queen’s visit, although he is strongly associated with the Royal Family elsewhere; in the Family’s possession remain many of his works. Giles’ paintings of the old castle at Balmoral, commissioned by his friend, the then Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen, inspired the Queen to lease and subsequently purchase the Balmoral estate. The Queen’s interest in her northern realms and the laying of railway tracks in the 1860’s heralded major changes to the Highlands both culturally and economically.
3. Why is this object important to you and what does it mean to you?
This object is important to me because it brings together not just gently teased threads of time and place and people but family too. James Giles, the artist, was my great great grandfather. In 1934 his grand daughter, Elsie Margaret Giles, was to marry Dr James Archibald Stewart Macpherson, the eldest of seven and one of a family which features prominently in the annals of the clan and Association. Giles wasn’t to know this; indeed, he never met his grand daughter. But this rather lovely painting and his presence in Macpherson country in the late 1830s is a merry bit of happenstance and well worth recording for all that.
4. What does this object tell us about what it means to be a Macpherson?
My great great grandfather captures the beauty of this part of Scotland very well. He is not the first artist to have been inspired by the landscape and the Museum library abounds with reference to other artists, poets, musicians and writers who, over time, have been captivated by such views. People who live in the Highlands or have been there to visit will know this truth.
We are all Macpherson in different ways, we come to the clan and we gather for different reasons; but there is a collective will to our endeavour, a shared sense of belonging and an association of name and place that for many, for whatever reason, draws us home.
Macphersoniana 