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The Parliament Close & Public Characters of Edinburgh, Fifty years Since

Primary artist: Kidd, William, HRSA · 1796-1863 Primary artist: Wilson, John (“Jock”) · 1774-1855 Printmaker: Dobbie, Thomas · 1812-1844 Printmaker: Le Conte, John · 1816-1877 Printer: McGlashan, Alexander · 1815-1877 Primary artist: Fraser, Alexander George, ARSA · 1785-1865 Primary artist: Roberts, David, RA HRSA · 1796-1864 Primary artist: Wilkie, David, Sir, RA HRSA · 1785-1841 Publisher: Hill, Alexander · 1800-1866

The plate is inscrinbed beneath the image; "The Original Picture in the possession of Robert Bryson FRSE, The Figures painted by/ Sir David Wilkie, Alex Fraser & Wm Kidd, - the Architecture & Landscape by David Roberts John Wilson &c."

Thomas Dobbie who carried out the etching on the print is listed in the Edinburgh PO Directories as an Engraver at 7 Sciennes from 1833-34 to 1844-45. He then disappears the following year and appears again the next year still at 7 Sciennes but now as a warehouseman. The following year (1847-48) and thereafter until at least 1850-51 he is given as Conservator, Scott Monument, Princes Street.

It depicts a scene from before 1796, the year when the Goldsmiths' Hall, seen on the left of the picture, was burnt down. Some of the characters shown in the painting, based on caricatures by John Kay, are identified on its description page at Commons. The location of the original oil is not known but it was reproduced in 'The Story Of Scotland', First Press and Scottish Daily Record Group, 1999-2000 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Parliament_Close_and_Public_Characters_Fifty_Years_Since.jpg)

The lead statue of King Charles II was supplied by James Smith, Surveyor of the King’s Works in 1685 but was imported, probably from Holland. It has been repaired on at least 3 occasions, including by Henry Snell Gamley RSA in 1922.(Pevsner, The Buildings of Scotland: Edinburgh, Penguin Books, 1984, p.203)

One of the buildings has the name PETRIE/ Engraver on its frontage. The Edinburgh PO Dir [1794-95] records John Peterie, Engraver at 3 Parliament Close.

Hill’s publication of this print coincided with a move by many in Edinburgh to stem the loss of, or at least record, many of the older parts of the City which were being ruthlessly demolished by the City Council under the guise of improving health, sanitation, and public safety, and it makes interesting comparison with early photographic depictions of the Old Town in for example the RSA’s Keith Album (RSA 1995.040). Luckenbooths were a feature around St Giles since the 17th century. Luckenbooth Street, which ran to the North of St Giles was demolished in 1802 whilst the luckenbooths in Parliament Square, depicted here, were demolished in 1817. (ref; https://artisansinscotland.wordpress.com/2016/06/30/june-luckenbooths-outside-st-giless-church-south-side-j-hs-storer-1819/)