Charles Lees (1800–20 February 1880) was a Scottish

portrait painter Portrait Painting is a genre in painting, where the intent is to represent a specific human subject. The term 'portrait painting' can also describe the actual painted portrait. Portraitists may create their work by commission, for public and pr ...

who specialised in sporting and recreational subjects.

Life

Lees was born in 1800 in

Cupar Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fif ...

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, Scotland.Charles Lees
/ref> He began his career in art training under the eminent Edinburgh

Sir Henry Raeburn Sir Henry Raeburn (; 4 March 1756 – 8 July 1823) was a Scottish portrait painter. He served as Portrait Painter to King George IV in Scotland. Biography Raeburn was born the son of a manufacturer in Stockbridge, on the Water of Leith: a fo ...

. He went to Rome for six months, and on return spent the majority of his working life in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, having his studio at 19 Scotland Street. Lees also taught drawing. In the 1830s ''Charles Lees, portrait painter'' is listed as living at 9 Elder Street in

Edinburgh's New Town The New Town is a central area of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It was built in stages between 1767 and around 1850, and retains much of its original neo-classical and Georgian period architecture. Its best known street is Princes Street ...

. He died in

on 20 February 1880 and was buried with his wife Elizabeth Christie of Baberton, and their children, in

Warriston Cemetery Warriston Cemetery is a cemetery in Edinburgh. It lies in Warriston, one of the northern suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. It was built by the then newly-formed Edinburgh Cemetery Company, and occupies around of land on a slightly sloping si ...

. The grave stands on the north side of the main east-west path in the upper section.

Portrait painting to sporting and recreational subjects

Charles Lees achieved initial renown as a

, his accomplishments leading to his election to the

Royal Scottish Academy The Royal Scottish Academy (RSA) is the country’s national academy of art. It promotes contemporary Scottish art. The Academy was founded in 1826 by eleven artists meeting in Edinburgh. Originally named the Scottish Academy, it became the ...

in 1830. He later served as the Academy's Treasurer. Lees is perhaps best known for his work specialising in sporting and recreational subjects, particularly

golfing Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

and

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns sliding ...

, to which he turned from the 1840s.

"The Golfers"

In 1847 Lees completed his depiction of the 1844 grand match at

St Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

in an oil painting, ''The Golfers'', which has been cited as being "the most famous golfing work of art in the world." It shows the annual autumn meeting of October 1844, the scene being set at the 'Ginger Beer Hole' on the

Old Course at St Andrews The Old Course at St Andrews, also known as the Old Lady or the Grand Old Lady, is considered the oldest golf course. It is a public course over common land in St Andrews, Fife, Scotland and is held in trust by the St Andrews Links Trust under ...

. The match that Lees painted was between

Sir David Baird General Sir David Baird, 1st Baronet, of Newbyth, GCB (6 December 1757 – 18 August 1829) was a British Army officer. Military career He was born at Newbyth House in Haddingtonshire, Scotland, the son of an Edinburgh merchant family, and enter ...

and Sir Ralph Anstruther of Balcaskie against Major Hugh Lyon Playfair of St Andrews and John Campbell, Esq. of Glensaddel. As a portrait painter Lees had painted the true likeness of the actual players and spectators, and a key survives naming them. The original oil painting is owned by the

Scottish National Portrait Gallery The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. The gallery holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Co ...

. An engraving was made by Charles E. Wagstaffe (born 1808) from which prints were produced. In 2006 the National Galleries of Scotland produced a monograph on the painting: 'The Golfers', by P. Lewis and A. Howe.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, Charles 1800 births 1880 deaths 19th-century Scottish painters Scottish male painters Painters from Edinburgh People from Cupar Royal Scottish Academicians Scottish portrait painters Sports artists Scottish expatriates in Italy 19th-century Scottish male artists