James Duncan- An Enlightened Victorian

Benmore House with James Duncan's Gallery: Andrew Watson's Collection

In November, we were delighted to welcome Dr Andrew Duncan to give a talk about James Duncan- An Enlightened Victorian.  James Duncan was a 19^th Century sugar refiner, based in the West of Scotland, who was also an art collector and philanthropist. He owned Benmore Estate in Argyll and built a gallery there to house his substantial and important collection of paintings. Unfortunately circumstances conspired to necessitate the sale of most of these paintings in the 1880s and now many of these hang in galleries in the UK and USA.

Christmas Shopping Evening 2018

 On the 20th November, Friends enjoyed the annual Christmas Shopping Evening in Kelvingrove, courtesy of the Kelvingrove staff, cafe and the shop.

As well as our glass of fizz and mince pie we enjoyed a raffle, 25% off in the shop, a musical recital and a talk on the exhibition “Brushes with War”.  Some friends also toured the exhibition.  A busy night!

The music was provided by our Honorary member Dr Jim Hunter and Douglas Lawrence on the fiddle. Douglas was introduced as “the best fiddler in the country” and he certainly was!

Courtesy of Frances Dryburgh

The highlight of the evening came when Dr Hunter presented Chairman, Liz Dent, with a piece of music which he had composed specially for the Friends. It is a lovely tune which we enjoyed very much and hope to be able to play often at Friends’ events

I don’t think there are many Friends’ organisations which have their own theme tune!!

Liz Dent

William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum

On the 5^th November, some Friends were welcomed to the Hunterian   Art Gallery by Mungo Campbell, Deputy Director, for a tour of the current exhibition, William Hunter and the Anatomy of the Modern Museum.

This well presented exhibition celebrates the William Hunter Tercentenary and his unique and encyclopaedic collection, left to Glasgow University after his death. There is something for everyone here from paintings by 18^th century masters to anatomical specimens.

We were grateful to Mungo Campbell for his excellent tour and for agreeing to repeat it on the 12^th November because we had so many wishing to see it.

The exhibition is free of charge and runs until 6^th January 2019.