GEORGE HOUSTON RSA RSW (SCOTTISH 1869 - 1947),
DUNTRUNE CASTLE
oil on canvas, signed
71cm x 91cm
Framed
Provenance: Private Glasgow collection. Acquired J&R Edmiston Auctioneers, 166A Bath Street, Glasgow 18 September 1968 (lot 44) where catalogued "Wooded Landscape and Loch".
Note: Duntrune Castle is located on the north side of Loch Crinan and across from the village of Crinan in Argyll, Scotland. In 1562 Donald McGillespic Vic O'Challum received the lands of Poltalloch from Duncan Campbell of Duntrune in return for certain services. Two hundred years later, the O'Challums (now anglicised to Malcolm) bought out the Campbells. Today their direct descendants still occupy Duntrune and farm the land. Situated at the narrows between deep water and a tidal loch, Duntrune was built to guard the glens of Kilmartin and Kilmichael from seafaring marauders. Always a Campbell stronghold in those days, it was never the scene of a major conflict, and is now accepted as the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland. The vaulted rooms on the ground floor date from the 12th Century, and the remainder of the keep from the 16th. The ghost is well-authenticated, handless piper, whose musical warning "Cholla mo Run, Seachain a Dun" saved his master Colkitto McDonald from a Campbell ambush. Four thousand years before the first Campbell, neolithic man gave up a nomadic hunting life to settle where the land drained easily and responded to his simple implements. The Scots of Dalriada came later, attracted not only by the fertility of the area, but also because it was central to their kingdom and all outposts were easily reached. So it is today. (This text from the Duntrune Castle website, with the kind consent of the Malcolm family of Duntrune).

Condition Report
No evident craquelure, small patch repair visible to reverse of canvas.