Robert Ronald McIan
Robert Ronald McIan (* 1803 in Scotland , † December 13, 1856 in Hampstead (London) ) was a Scottish painter who painted romantic and traditional subjects.
history
RR McIan was born in Scotland in 1803 and became passionate about acting at a young age. As a teenager, he went to London to join the Theater Royal in Covent Garden . With his extrovert character he blended very well with work on stage and life in London in the 1830s. Shortly afterwards he began to discover and develop his second passion, painting.
He submitted his first works to the Royal Academy of Painting in 1835. He then published a series of pictures showing events from the martial history of Scotland such as the Battle of Culloden .
Collaboration with James Logan
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In the early 1840s, encouraged by the positive response to his work, he left the stage to concentrate fully on painting. A chance encounter with the writer James Logan led to the collaboration of the work The Clans of the Scottish Highlands , in which Logan wrote the text and McIan painted the illustrations.
Since Queen Victoria's interest in everything Scottish was well known at the time, RR McIan and James Logan carried out extensive research on the Scottish highland clans and then published their joint work in two splendid volumes by Ackermann and Co. in 1845 and 1847.
The two volumes contain a series of 72 hand-colored prints of the Scottish Highland Clans depicting the clan tartans and were the first comprehensive and fully illustrated work on the Scottish clans to depict each clan with its history and a picture of its Belted Plaid . The two books are still considered to be the authoritative reference work on clans and their tartans, published as a reminder a hundred years after the uprising of 1745. They reflect the great interest in everything Scottish that prevailed in London and the USA at the time.
Allegedly, McIan's models were dedicated actors and there was much debate about the accuracy of his work in terms of clothing, tartan patterns, and other details. It is now widely believed that McIan used his artistic freedom to some extent in his interpretations and that his descriptions reflected the romanticizing view of Scotland at the time.
With his next publication Gaelic gatherins or the highlanders at home on heather, river an loch in 1847, he worked again with James Logan and showed everyday scenes from the lives of the inhabitants of the Scottish highlands .
McIan was married to the painter Fanny until his death in 1856 and painted until he died of a debilitating illness.
Publications
- James Logan & Robert Ronald McIan: The Clans of the Scottish Highlands Ackerman & Co. 1845 and 1847
- James Logan & Robert Ronald McIan: Gaelic gatherins or the highlanders at home on heather, river an loch .
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | McIan, Robert Ronald |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Scottish painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1803 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Scotland |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 13, 1856 |
| Place of death | Hampstead (London) |