Masterpieces
from the Bute Collection
A group of Friends visited the Hunterian Museum at Glasgow
University to see the exhibition of paintings from the collection of Lord Bute.
We were introduced to this by Dr Peter Robinson, curator. Many of us had heard
of Lord Bute as a Prime Minister in the reign of George III but we were
interested to hear of his previous life as a tutor to the young George III and
then of his subsequent career. His interests were Art and Botany and indeed he published
a nine volume book on Flora. He was a friend of Linnaeus and knew Joseph Banks
who was the botanist with Captain Cook on his voyage to Australia. Both these
interests are covered in the exhibition.
The paintings on show at the Hunterian are mostly small
paintings from Dutch and Flemish artists and they are hung as they would have
been at Mount Stuart. This is a delightful exhibition and we are most grateful
to Dr Robinson for giving his time to explain it. Many of us will visit again.
