ALEXANDER FRASER (THE YOUNGER) RSA (SCOTTISH 1828 - 1899)
ON THE AVON (LANARKSHIRE)

oil on canvas, signed
framed

image size 35cm x 60cm, overall size 50cm x 76cm

Note: Alexander Fraser RSA was a Scottish landscape painter who is also known as Alexander Fraser the Younger as his father, Alexander George Fraser (1786–1865), was also a Scottish painter. Fraser was the biographer of the Scottish artist, Horatio McCulloch.
Note 2: It is likely that "On The Avon" was the original version of "On the Avon, Haymaking Time" which is widely regarded as one of Alexander Fraser the Younger's finest works. The larger, version is held in the collection of The National Galleries of Scotland and their website describes it: Painted as a speculation rather than to commission, this idyllic landscape was Fraser’s most important exhibit at the Royal Scottish Academy in 1863 and was considered by the artist to be one of his best pictures. The setting is the River Avon in Lanarkshire, Fraser having leased a house there in 1862 within easy reach of Cadzow Forest. Although he was one of the first Scottish landscapists to work directly from nature, this ambitious composition was probably worked up in his Barncluith studio. Rural pursuits such as gleaning or haymaking were themes favoured by John Linnell, a distinguished English landscape painter much admired by Fraser, and also by his younger contemporaries Hugh Cameron and John MacWhirter".
The National Galleries of Scotland painting is recorded as 89.80 x 119.40 cm and they suggest the date painted as 1862/3. The version offered here is significantly smaller so it's highly likely that Fraser painted the smaller picture first, liked it and then decided to paint it as a larger work. The National Galleries of Scotland picture can be seen at this link: On the Avon: Haymaking Time | National Galleries of Scotland.
Fraser’s childhood interest in painting was nurtured by his father Alexander George Fraser, an able amateur artist, who gave him elementary tuition. He enrolled at the Trustees’ Academy in Edinburgh, supplementing his studies by attendance at the life school of the Royal Scottish Academy (RSA). By the early 1850s he had abandoned Scottish genre and devoted himself exclusively to landscape. Fraser was among the first Scottish painters to work en plein air direct from nature. He was a good friend of Samuel Bough and Horatio McCulloch. After a time spent working in England, he returned to Edinburgh where he enjoyed most recognition as annual exhibitor at the RSA from 1847, and was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts from 1861 until his death in 1899. Sixty-five of Fraser's paintings are held in UK public collections including: Glasgow Museums, The National Galleries of Scotland, The Hunterian, Dundee Museums, Paisley Art Institute, Sheffield Museums, Kirkcaldy Museums, The RSA, Hospitalfield, Rozelle House, Perth & Kinross and The City Art Centre (Edinburgh).