oil on canvas, signed
framed

image size 55cm x 45cm, overall size 79cm x 69cm

Provenance: exhibited Royal Scottish Academy 1928 no 168.
Note: William Macdonald was an Edinburgh painter who had trained in Paris and Madrid. He was a close friend of Cadell and Peploe and was a well established figure on the Edinburgh art scene by the early years of the 20th century. In 1925 he married fellow artist Beatrice Huntington and the couple settled in Edinburgh in 1928. Their gracious New Town flat in Hanover Street remaining their home for the rest of their lives. It housed a collection of paintings by both artists as well as works by their friends and contemporaries. Cadell painted a now well-known portrait of Macdonald (Portrait of a Man in Black) in the early to mid-twenties. He depicted his sitter as a smart and debonair character and by all accounts Macdonald was a stylish and handsome individual, at complete ease in any company. Macdonald's particular affinity for the arid landscapes of southern Spain had earned him the nickname William 'Spanish' Macdonald. Beatrice shared his love of travel and together they explored the Continent, returning frequently to the French Riviera and to southern Spain, choosing as their base the picturesque Mediterranean fishing village of Cassis in the South of France where they sometimes stayed with Samuel Peploe and his family. Kirkcudbright was another favoured location and they visited regularly staying with Jessie M King and EA Taylor. Macdonald often focussed on the juxtaposition of human architecture with monumental nature and "Houses at Ronda" reflects this with large trees in the foreground and imposing buildings behind. Like several Scottish artists before and after him, he appears to have had what we might nowadays describe as "environmental concerns". His broad brush strokes and strong compositional structure show colourist influences and yet Macdonald had a style which was distinctly his own. The Macdonalds spent much of the World War II years in Canada allowing them to continue to paint. Both William and Beatrice exhibited widely both at home and abroad throughout their lives.