Sam Bough, ARSA, RSA, RSW
(1822 – 1878)
Sam Bough was born in Carlisle to James Bough, a shoemaker, and Lucy Walker, a cook. He had no formal art training but showed an early aptitude for painting and benefited from the company of local artists. He was strongly influenced by the work of Turner and of Horatio McCulloch.
Failing, at first, to make a career as an artist, he worked as a theatre scene painter in Manchester and, later, in Glasgow where he settled in 1848 and married the opera singer, Isabella Taylor. Here he continued painting and mingling with fellow artists in Scotland, ultimately achieving a reputation as a topographical and landscape painter.
In his mid-thirties, Bough moved to Edinburgh, hoping to emulate Turner’s many paintings of harbours and fishing villages e.g. Moonlight, St Monance”, “Pittenweem”, and his “plein air” style was soon adopted by aspiring Scottish artists. His prolific output of paintings was hung in the Glasgow Institute and in the National Gallery. He helped found the R.S.W, of which he became the first Vice President. Examples of his work can be seen in many important collections throughout the country: Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Leeds, Newport, Ulster, the Fitzwilliam in Cambridge and the V & A, London.
His entertaining presence in the taverns of the Royal Mile attracted the attention of Robert Louis Stevenson, who commissioned him to paint a view of his home in Swanston. No doubt Bough’s ability to recite all of Burns’ poems from memory, combined with an irascible temperament, held an audience. When he died, aged 56, and was buried in Dean Village, it was the author of Treasure Island who wrote a warm, affectionate obituary in the Edinburgh press.
Work in the Anderson Trust Collection
(4) “The Clyde from Dalnotter Hill 1854” (watercolour)
Here, the central focal point of Dumbarton Rock reminds one of the many famous people who stopped to visit: Keats, Dr Johnson and Boswell, Wordsworth and his sister and Turner en route to Inverary, among others.
This ancient volcanic plug, now a fraction of its original size, was an obvious defence site. Dumbarton Rock was climbed by Romans and Vikings, including King Olaf from Dublin,who besieged it and left with ships full of treasures and slaves. The very young Mary Queen of Scots stayed here before sailing to France.
(from article by Kath Buchanan 2007)
