Andrew Young

Christie's, London, 15 November 2007, lot 88, where purchased by the present owner

Royal Glasgow Institute, 1912, no.352

The canvas is lined, otherwise the work appears in excellent overall condition, clean and ready to hang. Ultraviolet light reveals an area of retouching in the upper right corner and along the right edge. Some further flecks through the sky and foreground. Held in a gilt plaster frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A Scottish Fair depicts the annual summer fairground on Burntisland Links, Fife, which Andrew Young is reputed to have painted as a wedding present for the couple pictured in the centre of the composition looking directly towards the viewer. The subject has allowed Young to create a panorama full of character and amusement, as the eye is led through the composition from elegantly dressed couples, dancing sailors, a nun, scrapping children to circus performers. As well as a painter, Young worked successfully as a photographer and the set-up of the present painting, with numerous figures looking directly out of the picture as if their attention has been momentarily caught, recalls how one might stage a photograph. The detailed observation of the painting is also testament to Young's work as a miniaturist and the overall result is a highly technical and engaging work.  

Young lived and worked in Burntisland, chronicling the civic history of the community there through his painting and photography. He trained at the Edinburgh School of Art and in 1885 moved to Paris, studying under Bouguereau and Fleury. When his allowance ran out he returned to Scotland and opened his photographic studio in Burntisland. He was a significant contributor to Cassell & Company's Sights and Scenes in Scotland, circa 1900, a subscription-only publication in four volumes with around 225 large scale photgraphs, 'Dedicated by Special Permission to Her Majesty Queen Victoria'. Young continued to exhibit his paintings in institutions such as the Royal Scottish Academy and the Royal Glasgow Institute and the present work testifies to his impressive talent.