Claudia Massie

The splendour of Edinburgh’s new Scottish galleries 

You get the sense that the National Galleries of Scotland are, at last, proud of their Scottish collection

The ornamental finesse of Phoebe Anna Traquair’s silk and gold thread embroidered panels, ‘The Progress of a Soul: The Entrance, Despair, The Victory’ (1895-1902), underlines her elite status in the arts and crafts movement. Credit: National Galleries of Scotland. Bequest of the artist 1936 
issue 30 September 2023

For nearly 50 years, the Scottish collection at Edinburgh’s National Galleries has been housed in a gloomy subterranean space beneath the main gallery, rarely visited, never celebrated. If you didn’t know it was there, don’t be ashamed. Just 19 per cent of visitors ventured into the bowels to find the jumble of Scottish paintings, dimly lit and hanging on colour-sucking, mucky green walls above a depressing brown carpet.

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