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Quitting the Manse

Publisher: Moon, Sir Francis Graham · 1796-1871Printmaker: Doo, George Thomas · 1800-1886Primary artist: Harvey, George, Sir, PPRSA RSA · 1806-1876

Quitting the Manse

Harvey first exhibited his original oil painting at the Royal Academy in 1847 (cat.540) and showed it again at the RSA in 1848 (cat.186). The…

Harvey first exhibited his original oil painting at the Royal Academy in 1847 (cat.540) and showed it again at the RSA in 1848 (cat.186). The respective catalogues carried a short text explaining the subject matter as; "An incident int he disruption of the Scottish church in 1843, when nearly 500 ministers, for conscience sake, and what they esteemed the cause of truth, gave up stipends, and manses, and social position - in a word, everything which men most tenaciously regard, and the abandonment of which may therefore safely be taken as the test of honesty, and a good conscience."

The painting was thereafter taken on a mini tour of Scotland, primarily to raise interest in securing subscribers for the present engraving for Henry Graves & Co, by Stacpoole (etching) and Atkinson (engraving) to Harvey's satisfaction, and for which copyright Graves had paid Harvey 325 guineas (Papers of henry Graves & Co, BL Add.MSS 46140 fo.208 11.3.1848) ; and was shown in the following locations;

Until 17 August 1850, Port Street, Stirling (shown by Mr Finlay, printseller, of Glasgow) [Stirling Observer, 1850-08-17]

[by 22nd] to 29 May 1850 Alexander Hill, Edinburgh (plus Roberts’ Destruction of Jerusalem’) [Scotsman 1850-05-22]

13 July 1849 for 10 lawful days (ie excluding Sundays) Peter R Drummond, 28 George Street, Perth [Perthshire Advertiser 1849-07-12] Drummond's advert makes specific reference to Graves' impending engraving after the picture ("on the part of Messrs Henry Graves & Co, for pubishing on a large and important scale a high class engraving..") and cites Prints at 3 guineas each and Proofs at 5 guineas each.

On and about 19 April 1849 Public Buildings, Montrose (shown by Messrs Hay, carvers and gilders, Aberdeen) [Montrose, Arbroath and Brechin Review 1849-04-20]

By 23 February 1849, Mr Finlay’s Galleries, Buchanan St, Glasgow [Greenock Advertiser 1849-02-23]

The Scotsman of 1848-03-08 carried an advert for Alex Crichton at 54 Princes Street, Edinburgh, in which he refers to himself as an agent for the proposed engraving.

The identity of some of the figures was early idnetified in the press as including portraits of known figures who had been associated with the disruption. These include the leading Scottish judge Henry Lord Cockburn, the nobleman the Marquess of Breadalbane and the MP Fox Maule, 11th Earl of Panmure in a group to the left of the composition. The same trio, alongside Lord Rutherford feature in a prepartory study in the SNPG (PG 1497). Breadalbane and Fox Maule were responsible for raising Parliamentary Select Committee investigations into the discrimination being faced by those adherents of the Free Church in 1846 and 1847 respectively. The expelled minister is based on the Rev Dr John Bruce (1794-1880), Minister of St Andrews Church, Edinburgh, where the Disruption began and the elderly lady on his arm is probably based on a mrs Erskine, the mother-in-law of Robert Paul, an Edinburgh banker who was an early adherent and whose memoirs recollect going to Harvey's studio to see "grandmother's portrait" in the large painting 'Quitting the Manse'. Robin H Rodger, RSA Documentation Officer has identified the bald-headed man standing to the left end of the wall behind the foreground action as Alexander Colquhoun Stirling Murray Dunlop MP (1798-1870), a Church lawyer who was largely responsible for drafting the Protest and Deed of Demission. Rodger has also speculated that the prominent foreground left figure of the old man with a head of grey hair may be based on Rev Thomas Chalmers the first Moderator, who chaired the famous gathering at Tanfield in May 1843 commemorated in D O Hill's monumental painting. Chalmers was Chaplain of the Royal Scottish Academy and the clothing and accessories shown here allude to his being a shepherd leading his human flock. There is an interesting parallel here to the tartan-clad figure of Hugh Miller who sits prominently at right of foreground centre in Hill's painting.

A Proof after letters