Space for art to

When the Scottish National Portrait Gallery opened on Queen Street, Edinburgh, in 1898, it was partly thanks to this newspaper that such an impressive collection of art could be admired by interested members of the public.

John Ritchie Findlay was both proprietor of The Scotsman and founder of the gallery, housed in an impressive Gothic building of red sandstone designed by Dr Rowand Anderson.

Various artistic movements have emerged in Scotland over the years – from the portraits of Allan Ramsay with their neoclassical influences to the Glasgow Boys, the Scottish Colourists and the post-war “Scottish Realism” of John Bellany and Sandy Moffat, whose names first gained recognition when the pair, while students at Edinburgh College of Art, displayed their paintings on the railings of Castle Terrace during the 1963 Edinburgh Festival.

More recently, Scottish artist Martin Boyle represented Scotland at the Venice Biennale in 2009, with an exhibition of his striking sculptures.