Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). View source
The Skating Minister (Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch)
Henry Raeburn · Rococo & Neoclassicism
- Artist
- Henry Raeburn (1756–1823)
- Date
- c. 1795
- Dimensions
- 76.2 x 63.5 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
This small painting shows a Scottish clergyman in a black coat and tall black hat, skating gracefully across a frozen loch near Edinburgh with his arms folded across his chest. Behind him, a pale wintry landscape of hills and a hazy sky.
A closer look
The skater is the Reverend Robert Walker, minister of the Canongate Kirk and a member of the Edinburgh Skating Society, one of the first skating clubs in the world. He glides in perfect balance, one leg raised behind him, his body in profile like a silhouette against the light background, and the faint marks of other skates are scratched into the ice. The contrast between the dignified, serious minister and the playful, elegant motion gives the picture its charm and gentle humour. It has become one of the best-loved images of Scotland.