The Sublime and the Beautiful features 16 top works the gallery acquired over the year, comprising paintings and sculptures from 1650 to the present.
McTaggart was particularly celebrated for his landscapes, painting most of his largest canvases outdoors. Though his expressive paint handling and en plein air technique invites comparisons with European contemporaries, he remained staunchly Scottish in identity.
This late work, Bait gatherers – sunset, was completed in 1907 in Machrihanish, the seaside area which offers the longest continuous stretch of sand in Argyll. The artist returned to the west of Scotland every year after 1876. He painted this work and two or three others on site during one of his last visits.
It remained in the artist’s family until c.1980 and was privately acquired by the gallery. Offered framed in a replica of the type of frame made for McTaggart by Doig, McKenchie and Davies, it is also the cover of the exhibition catalogue.
Other highlights in the show, running from May 31-July 20, include a topographic view of Loch Lomond by James Knox and John Duncan’s portrait of a woman painted in Celtic Revival style.
Works range in price from £1400-95,000.
