Happy 850th birthday, Glasgow!
As part of the city-wide celebrations, The Hunterian is diving into its collection, bringing out works of art and objects connected to its long history with a year-long programme of events.
From inserting Glasgow-inspired art into permanent displays, to Friday Focus talks and exhibitions, the programme explores Glasgow’s rich heritage through art and objects.
Here, we focus on three paintings currently on display in the Hunterian Art Gallery – each offering a unique perspective on Glasgow’s ever-changing identity.
Packed with stories, these paintings invite us to reflect on Glasgow’s evolving skyline, ambition and resilience, encouraging us to consider how artists have chosen to portray their city over the centuries.
Modern Glasgow’s budding identity: John Knox and the Clyde
John Knox (1778–1845), a Paisley-born artist, was among the first to depict Glasgow’s rise to prominence. His Glasgow Green (1824), acquired by The Hunterian just a few months ago, captures the city’s outline against the backdrop of its oldest park.
Knox was one of the first to paint Glasgow as it was morphing into a bustling industrial and commercial hub.
In Glasgow Green, the Clyde takes centre stage, flowing serenely as if unaware it had become one of the busiest arteries of transatlantic trade.
However, Knox does hint at the many ships that were making their way right into the heart of the city, by including a forest of masts in the upper left corner of the painting.
He also makes sure he depicts several of the industrial kilns that were taking over the East End of Glasgow – eventually leading to the removal of the University to its present location in the West of the city. They are easily spotted thanks to their cone shape and the billowing smoke they send towards the sky, day and night.
But it’s not all commerce and kilns.
Knox balances the hustle of city life with moments of calm: strolling mothers, playful dogs and washerwomen laying linen on the grass. There are even cows in the middle ground of the painting, multitasking as lawnmowers and milk suppliers for the city inhabitants.
Aimed at nurturing civic pride, the artist’s depiction of Glasgow’s social, commercial, architectural and industrial heritage invites comparison with Europe’s most celebrated cities.
While Knox’s views of Glasgow were not limited to the Green, it’s clear that this landmark, dominated by the Clyde, held a special place in his heart. He produced more views of Glasgow Green than of any other city sites.
It’s easy to see why.
Just half a mile from the busy merchant heart of Glasgow, the Green offered a temporary escape from city life: a place where people could breathe, unwind and enjoy a moment of nature.
Note the numerous prominent landmarks included in the painting’s background, celebrating the country or city’s rich history – from medieval Glasgow Cathedral to the Nelson Monument, less than a decade old.
Knox’s ability to capture this balance, between the industrious energy of Glasgow and the serenity of its Green, complements the contemporary development of the city’s image.
On the one hand, it can be seen as a centre for culture, industry and commerce – while also as the gateway to Scotland’s wild and majestic landscapes on the other. It also invites comparison with today’s Glasgow, that still promotes itself as a city of culture with a rich industrial and commercial past.
Sundown: George Henry’s Dreamy Clyde
If we fast forward 60 years, the Clyde is no longer just a river; it’s a full-blown industrial powerhouse.
Along comes George Henry, one of the Glasgow Boys, with his poetic Sundown (1887). Where Knox gives us bustling details, Henry opts for moody vibes.
Henry wasn’t interested in drawing every brick and boat. Instead, he plays with light, capturing the glow of warehouses shimmering on the river like fairy lights at a party.
Henry’s approach reflects the eagerness of the Glasgow Boys to experiment with the pioneering approaches to light developed by artists such as the French Impressionists.
Here, Henry matches the interest of these avant-garde artists in the simplification of forms brought on by sunset, mist or moonlight to create a poetic interpretation of a working river rather than a specific spot.
Not concerned with reality, or with people – the banks of the river are eerily empty – his painting speaks of the ambition of painters such as the Glasgow Boys.
It highlights their determination to embrace a modern approach to art, that matched Glasgow and its wealthy industrialists and merchants’ ambition to present itself as the proud ‘Second City of the Empire’; to counterbalance its industrial image with cultural achievements; with institutions such as the Glasgow School of Art emerging as symbols of artistic innovation.
Spring in Glasgow: A Celebration of Life Amidst Adversity
Now let’s leap another 60 years to the Second World War. Within these intervening years, and following the First World War, Glasgow was no longer a thriving industrial and commercial hub.
Shipyards were struggling, unemployment was high. The once prosperous Glasgow art market was not so buoyant anymore, with many considering its cultural art institutions lacking in the vibrant, forward-thinking atmosphere that had defined it in the late Victorian and Edwardian period.
The author of our next painting, John Duncan Fergusson, one of the Scottish Colourists, was for a time a fully-fledged member of the Parisian and London avant-garde.
Together with his lifelong partner, the influential modern dancer Margaret Morris, Fergusson had recently moved to Glasgow – partly to escape the war and partly to reconnect with his Celtic roots.
The artist saw Glasgow as the most modern of Scotland’s cities – a city with great potential but one that struggled to embrace once more the modernity and innovation he championed.
Gifted to the University of Glasgow in 1952 after Fergusson received an honorary degree, Spring in Glasgow clearly held special meaning for the artist.
It features a young woman in a floral hat, the University of Glasgow’s tower standing proudly in the background. It is springtime in every sense of the world – bright, vibrant and full of hope.
Stylistically, the painting showcases Fergusson’s by now established approach – bold lines, rhythmic composition, a sculptural sense of form, and a love of pattern. All elements of his mature style are on full display.
The sitter, Eileen Cassavetti, wasn’t just any model. She was a University of Glasgow graduate who became Fergusson’s muse and friend.
Decades later, in 2004, Eileen turned up unexpectedly at a Paris exhibition, where she regaled curators with tales of her Saturday painting sessions with the artist in 1940, that took place before she was called to London for war duty.
She described how Fergusson loved her flowery hat, a homemade treasure stored in a red, white, and blue box, also depicted in the painting. Eileen also shared how a bomb blast in Glasgow damaged the work mid-process, leading to weeks of frustration for Fergusson as she was no longer in Glasgow by then.
She also told how he persevered, eventually finishing the piece after requesting a photograph of Eileen in her iconic hat.
The result? A painting that celebrates resilience, beauty, and the artist and city’s ability to rise from adversity – be it bombs or economic hardship.
From Knox’s civic pride to Henry’s poetic abstraction and Fergusson’s wartime vitality, these paintings tell stories of a city that does not stand still, a place of reinvention, a mix of industry and culture, grit and glamour.
Glasgow 850 at The Hunterian
Glasgow 850 marks Glasgow’s 850th anniversary with a year-long programme of events that reflect on how the city has transformed.
As part of the city-wide celebrations, The Hunterian at the University of Glasgow will host a series of exhibitions, displays and events across its venues that explore Glasgow’s rich heritage.
Building Memories at Kelvin Hall from 29 March 2025 to 18 January 2026, will use related objects and artworks from The Hunterian collections to explore three Glasgow buildings that no longer exist, the 1888 International Exhibition building, the University of Glasgow’s Old College and 78 Southpark Avenue, where Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh lived from 1906 to 1914.
Bird, Tree, Bell, Fish, Ring at the Hunterian Art Gallery from 20 June to 28 September 2025, is co-curated by University of Glasgow students and will combine a fascinating selection of items from The Hunterian collections which represent the symbols on the Glasgow coat of arms.
Views of Glasgow at the Hunterian Art Gallery from 5 December 2025 to 26 April 2026, will feature stunning representations of the city by both native and adopted artists, including John Duncan Fergusson, Joan Eardley and John Knox, who have immortalised Glasgow’s evolving identity on canvas.
Glasgow residents will also have the opportunity to visit the Mackintosh House at the Hunterian Art Gallery for free every Sunday between 10.00am and 12 noon, from February until December 2025 (terms and conditions apply).
There are more brilliant blogs stretching right across our collection for you to explore – covering coins, medals and much more!
