Art Appreciation Lecture Series 2015 Meet the Masters: Highlights from the Scottish National Gallery “The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania” Sir Joseph Noel Paton Craig Judd 2/3 September 2015 Born off Wooer’s alley in Dunfermline Fife to damask workers to knighthood and works acquired by Queen Victoria the career of Joseph Noel Paton (1821-1901) is literally one of rags to riches. Studying briefly in London 1843, he became close friends with John Everett Millais and was invited to be a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood an offer he rejected. Nevertheless much of his work is infused with the same spirit of self conscious moralising conservatism. “The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania”(1847) and its companion piece “The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania” (1846) easily captured critical and public imagination, won prizes and provided the inital entré for the artist into the Royal Scottish Academy.Paton was an avid antiquary and folklorist swept up in the tartan led fantasies of the Prince Albert Queen Victoria/ Balmoral Scottish Revival consequently many of his works are skilled programmatic illustrations derived from literature. Also a skilled watercolourist Paton became the Queens Limner for Scotland in 1865. “The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania”(1847) represents the high water mark of a billabong of Victorian taste. A surprisingly wild and sensual mass of swirling flesh it depicts the happy conclusion of William Shakespeare’s “A Midsummers Nights Dream”.This lecture will introduce the genre of Fairy Painting as well as discuss the often overlooked career and broader cultural contexts of Sir Joseph Noel Paton. Slide list: 1. Joseph Noel Paton, The Bluidie Tryst (1855) Oil on Canvas (73 × 65 cm) Glasgow Art Gallery and Museum, Scotland 2. Joseph Noel Paton, Home (ca. 1855–56) Oil on Panel Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia USA 3. Joseph Noel Paton, In Memoriam (1858) Oil on panel 123 × 96.5 cm Queens Collection 4. Joseph Noel Paton, The Man with the Muck-Rake (1875–9), Ferens Art Gallery, Hull City Museums 5. Richard Dadd, Puck (1841) Oil on canvas 61x61cm Harris Museum and art gallery UK 6. John Anster Fitzgerald The Fairy’s Lake (1865) oil on canvas 152x203mm Tate Gallery London References: Jeremy Maas, Jane Martineau etal “Victorian Fairy Painting” Royal Academy 1997 Laurence Tailarach-Vielmas “Fairy tales ,Natural History and Victorian Culture” Palgrave Connect 2014 Jeremy Paxman “ The Victorians” Random House 2010 For access to all past lecture notes visit: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/meet-the-masters/ Proudly sponsored by For access to all past lecture notes visit: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/members/current-members/member-events/meet-the-masters/ .