Discover the MacDonald Room 2

Many of the Victorian paintings at Aberdeen Art Gallery have come from the collection of Alexander MacDonald. Alexander MacDonald was a 19thC granite merchant in Aberdeen. He lived in the Kepplestone area. He loved art and displayed his collection of paintings in rooms specially designed for the purpose.

In the MacDonald rooms at Aberdeen Art Gallery you can find one of the best collections of Victorian narrative (tells a story) art. There was a craze of the time for all things Scottish.

John Phillip's charming painting of a baptism shows the inside of a19th century Scottish home. The painting includes lots of Jacobite (supporter of Bonnie Prince Charlie) symbols.

A wild Scottish landscape can be seen in Landseer's large view of a flood.

This oil painting by William Bell Scott is called The Border Widow. The painting was inspired by a traditional border ballad collected by Sir Walter Scott from the Forest of Ettrick. The ballad tells the story of the execution of Cockburne of Henderland, a Border robber, who was hanged over the gate of his own tower.