RSA Scottish Art

Design for the Waverley Market, Edinburgh

Small web image of Design for the Waverley Market, Edinburgh Artist: John Dick Peddie
Title: Design for the Waverley Market, Edinburgh
Year: c. 1870
Medium: pencil, ink & watercolour on paper
Dimensions:
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Source: RSA Diploma Collection
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Description: John Dick Peddie was part of the architects' firm, Peddie & Kinnear, along with Charles Kinnear. Their work includes the vast, domed banking hall in the Royal Bank of Scotland in St Andrew Square, Edinburgh, and extensive commercial premises at 91-115 Hope Street, Glasgow.This coloured drawing, Design for the Waverley Market, Edinburgh, belongs to a series of Designs for the Improvement of Edinburgh made by Peddie in the 1860s and 1870s. From left to right it shows the 19th-century shop fronts of Princes Street, Register House and the statue of the Duke of Wellington, the galleried levels of Waverley Market (never built), the Balmoral Hotel and Calton Hill in the background. In the foreground we see the corner of Princes Street Gardens and the entrance to Waverley Railway Station. Peddie has attempted to illustrate the city faithfully and has taken the time to include many details that do not relate to the design he is proposing. The drawing is intended to show the effect of the finished building within the other features of the area. Peddie's rendering of the scene shows an awareness of the pale northern light and the busy, ornate buildings of the city. Thin washes of colour have been used to tint the image, while the majority of the scene is rendered in ink or pencil. The distant Calton Hill has been shown hazily fading into the blue. The very painstaking task of drawing this image is intended to give as accurate a view as possible of the scene, not to show Peddie's expressive abilities. Peddie's ornate drawing style has not compromised the solid forms present in this image. There is a real sense of these buildings and forms having a three-dimensional integrity, which is not provided by careful shading but by very skilful work on perspective and outline details. Do you recognise the Edinburgh shown in this image? Can you appreciate Peddie's careful representation of the scene when you see how much or how little it has changed?