Sir William Russell Flint, R.A., P.R.W.S. 1880-1969

Chicago, W. Russell Button;
Private collection

Royal Glasgow Institute of Fine Art, 1918, no.1

The present picture was painted in 1918 beside the sheltered waters of the Gareloch on the Roseneath peninsula in the borderland between the Highlands and Lowlands of Scotland, where Flint painter a number of pictures during his periods of leave from the Royal Air Force. He was stationed on the lower Clyde and found the stretches of water on the Gareloch idyllic for painting. Here a pretty female artist contemplates her work, while her young model dressed as an Amazon or Greek maiden, awaits an invitation to inspect the picture. The whole scene is bathed in brilliant summer lights, which flickers from the water and the white sands and the foreground is patterned with the dappled shade of leaves from the over-hanging branches. The watercolour captures a mood of tranquil relaxation, far removed from the horrors of the war that was ravaging Europe. Another watercolour painted at Roseneath is included in this sale (March Snow, Roseneath, lot 73).