RSA Scottish Art
Reading the War News
 | Artist: William Fleming Vallance |
| Title: Reading the War News | |
| Year: 1881 | |
| Medium: oil on canvas | |
| Dimensions: | |
| Suggested topic: | |
| Source: RSA Diploma Collection | |
| View full screen image of this work | |
| Open print version of this work | |
| Description: William Fleming Vallance originally specialised in portraits and scenes of everyday life, and later painted marine subjects. Reading the War News combines the naturalistic study of a Fife fishing fleet and its crew with one of the most important historical events of the nineteenth century. Although the painting appears at first glance to represent an ordinary day out fishing in the First of Forth on a calm day, they are actually reading the news of the Battle of Waterloo of 1812. Compare this to a more famous painting of the same subject The Chelsea Pensioners reading the Waterloo Dispatch, by David Wilkie (1822, Apsley House, London). At this point in history, with no radio, television, internet or telephones, news of distant events was hard to come by. You can see the eagerness with which the crew are straining to see the paper. The painting is beautifully observed. Vallance has demonstrated a superb understanding of foreshortening in his shaping of the right-hand boat. The prow of this boat points into the distance where other fishermen have congregated. The dappled water reflects the pale sky, and the overall tone of the painting is split between the dark shapes of the boats and the pale milky light. The mood here is one of excitement amidst the becalmed boats. The misty atmosphere adds a note of mystery to the scene, but the real focus is the white sheet of newspaper and the excited faces. This is an interesting moment to capture. Vallance could have chosen to depict the victory on the battlefield, or a jubilant crowd in a busy city street. Instead he has chosen this scene, where men far away from the action are catching up with events that took place days earlier. Why do you think Vallance chose this scene to represent such an important historical moment? | |
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