The Cuillin Hills, Isle of Skye

1865–71

Not on view

Born on the Channel Island of Guernsey, Naftel worked as a drawing master, sending works to London to establish a reputation. He joined the Old Water-Colour Society (formally the Society of Painters in Water-Colours) in 1856, traveled through Britain and Italy, and eventually moved his family to London. A new focus on Scottish landscape after 1865 responded to growing public interest in the region, stimulated by Queen Victoria’s purchase of Balmoral Castle. The bright tonality in this sheet relies on new chemically based pigments, used to describe the rounded granite Red Cuillin Hills along a rocky valley. Beyond, we glimpse the jagged, taller peaks of the Black Cuillin Hills. These two geologically distinct ranges shape the Isle of Skye, in the Inner Hebrides.

Artwork Details

Title: The Cuillin Hills, Isle of Skye
Artist: Paul Jacob Naftel (British, Guernsey 1817–1891 Richmond upon Thames)
Date: 1865–71
Medium: Watercolor and gouache (bodycolor) over graphite
Dimensions: Sheet: 9 5/16 × 19 5/8 in. (23.7 × 49.9 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Purchase, Friends of Drawings and Prints Gifts, 2022
Object Number: 2022.46
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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