| Description | Letter to Alexander Macdonald of Kepplestone from Dr. John Brown, 23, Rutland Street, Edinburgh, regarding a picture of a horse, comments on other pictures in the exhibition, 'Mima is a vapid, wersh young woman', Chalmers' 'Legend' is the most fanciful picture in the exhibition, Reid's portrait of White has made him look less interesting than he is, Pettie's laird's face is 'too pink and white for a country laird', his portrait of Hunter as a swashbuckler is exaggerated, Cameron's hayfield is better, 'full of space and daylight, but the hay is like tow', 'Patio in Palma - a Study' by Lockhart is perfect, though his painting of smashed china is not so good, 'The Leslie picture does not interest me', another by George Reid is very good and Sam [Bough]'s wood is also good, and sold, it is Rubislaw Glen, 'Alma Tadema totally uninteresting - I suppose 'awfully' clever', 'Noel Paton's shabby little devil, "The Devil and the Undying Worm", should never have been painted', it saddens him now to go to the exhibitions as he sees the ghosts of pictures long ago, and of the painters, he has questioned George Reid about Macdonald's health, he introduced Brown to Rajan, 'a wonderful little fellow, with eyes as keen and fell as his etching needle', 14 February 1879 |