Joseph Noel Paton - Paolo and Francesca

Pencil, watercolour and bodycolour heightened with white and gum Arabic, three images in a
common mount, 13 × 8 ins

Paton painted another version of this work in oils from which an engraving was
made however both the print version and the oil lack the lunettes that are featured
here. Paton is regarded as one of the most important Scottish artists of the Victorian Period. He trained in London at the Royal Academy Schools where he became friends with John Everett Millais. Despite winning a prize in the Westminster Hall Competition, he chose to return to Scotland to live in Edinburgh. His brief time in London and his close acquaintance with Millais was to have a lasting and influential effect on his work. Millais tried in vain to persuade him to return to London to participate in the Pre-Raphaelite circle. It was at that time that Paton was to meet John Ruskin, attending his lectures in Edinburgh and following his artistic ideals and teachings.

Paton is best known for his fairy pictures The Reconciliation of Oberon and Titania and The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania (both National Gallery of Scotland.)