Charles Nasmyth

The Strange and Divisive Genius of William McGonagall: A Painting by Charles Nasmyth
Edinburgh Art Fair, 19–21 September 2025

Talk

Saturday 20th, 3pm - 4pm

Back in 2005, Andy McDougall, Director of Edinburgh Art Fair, invited Charles Nasmyth to showcase the original artwork from his book The Comic Legend of William McGonagall at the inaugural fair.

Now, back at McDougall’s invitation, Nasmyth has produced a painting to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the first Edinburgh Art Fair, appropriately with a work revisiting the subject of William McGonagall.

The large-scale acrylic painting on canvas is a parody of a Transfiguration picture, which uses dark humour to challenge attitudes to the way we look at ‘high’ and ‘low’ Art. The controversial poet is shown defying gravity and transfigured between statues of Shakespeare and Calliope, the Greek Muse of Epic Poetry. The statue of Shakespeare is loosely based on the one on London’s Leicester Square.

The quotation on the scroll is from Twelfth Night and reads: There is no darkness but ignorance, which might be taken as the underlying theme of the painting.

Many will feel that the image of an orange colossus about to be swallowed up by a hole in the ground, who looks rather familiar, is a further reference to Shakespeare’s quotation.

He is also a parody of a figure that appears in Michelangelo’s Last Judgement on the wall of the Sistine Chapel. The figure is one of the damned. Those wishing to know more about the painting and the many figures that appear in it are invited to read the Notes on the Painting.

Key to the painting's characters;

1 William McGonagall

2 William Shakespeare

3 Calliope, Greek Muse of Epic Poetry

4 Hugh MacDiarmid Poet

5 Norman MacCaig Poet

6 Hamish Henderson Poet and Folklorist

7 Minerva McGonagall (Maggie Smith) from Harry Potter

8 Donald Trump after Michelangelo

9 Cherub – Antonio Gramsci Philosopher

10 Cherub – Dennis the Menace

11 Plump Lady with a brolly – Donald McGill