Absolutely Fabulous

Years ago we rescued an oil painting from the outdoor lots at an auction in St Boswell. It had been kept in a shed, fixing a hole in the roof. It was filthy, decorated with pigeon splatter.

The greens and browns in the landscape were bitumen based, and the whole picture was going brown. Mrs Oons thought, there’s a castle in the middle, clearly visible. We could at least cut that out. We took it to a Highland dealer who took a long look and said “go and have some lunch while I think about this”.

We came back and he said “it’s a Horatio McCulloch. I wouldn’t cut it if I were you”.

Mrs Oons researched some more and thinks it might be “the missing St Boswell John Thompson of Duddingston”. Circumstantially possible. Mebbes aye, mebbes naw. Either way it’s knackered. So today we talked to a professional restorer, who was unconvinced. So we probably look for a conservator in Edinburgh. Maybe not possible to restore. Likely more expensive than the painting is worth. Still, fascinating to check it out.

Meanwhile there was this absolutely fabulous hare on the premises. See also the extra. Well, the hare thinks it’s fabulous anyway.