Fidra

Painting of the month for February, reviewed by Patrick McConnell

Stevenson’s Lighthouse, Fidra Island

In this painting of a lighthouse on an island in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, Helen deftly captures the essence of the contradictory elements of the tranquility of the backgrounding scene and the wilder weather just offshore.  On the foreshore rest black rocks wrapped in wrack, lashed by the white-tipped curling of waves from a lively sea, depicted in cerulean shading into cadet grey. The island rises sharply in soft tans and olives in mid-frame. Behind lies a deliciously rendered outline of a hill in winter colouration, under an ice blue sky. Our eye then alights upon the lighthouse in  ghost white: it is this that unites the picture before us.

The name Fidra is derived from Old Norse for ‘leather island’, indicating the presence of Viking invaders that plagued the coastal communities of Scotland and elsewhere. Formed over 335 million years ago by volcanic activity, the island and its lighthouse provide a distinctive landmark, readily visible from Yellowcraigs and its beach.  It is now home to breeding puffins, with a thousand birds found at the last count.  Splendid views can be had from the John Muir Way, which provides a delightful coastal walk through a country park.

Paintings of lighthouses have displayed a notable diversity in how the subject has been portrayed over time. Lighthouses have featured in artworks both as symbolic and as real element of the landscape. The very name offers comfort and safety in a troubled or difficult world. It is perhaps little wonder that many charities and benevolent initiatives to assist people make use of the name and the symbolism.

Two artists who seem particularly drawn to the subject of lighthouses include Paul Signac and Eugen Boudin, offering contrasting takes by French painters on the subject. Signac deploys his pointillist skills in the depiction of Lighthouse Groix,  situated in Concarneau, while Eugen Boudin uses a naturalistic approach to the lighthouse at Honfleur and at Tourville, Portrieux. Compare the diverse approaches employed by Joseph Wright of Derby and his dramatic lighthouse on fire, Edward Hopper’s lighthouses at Two Lights and Portland Head from the same year, the Armenian artist Ivan Ayvazovsky’s Neapolitan Lighthouse, and the Dutch artist Willem Hendrik Mesdag and his stormy Lighthouse in Breaking Waves.  

The image and symbol of the lighthouse has been pronounced throughout history. The celebrated Pharos of Alexandria was one of the Seven Wonders of the World, a stunning achievement of engineering in the reign of Ptolemy 1 and finished by 280 BCE. This has formed the archetype of lighthouses ever since.  Britain as a maritime nation has a long history of lighthouse construction.

Scotland is surrounded by some of the wildest seas and most dangerous rocks,  with distinctive challenges for building systems for guiding shipping through navigational hazards. 

The Scottish family of Stevensons built some remarkable and long enduring lighthouses around the coast of Scotland. This family became well known as engineers specialising in lighthouse design and construction, particularly Robert Louis Stevenson’s grandfather Robert Stevenson. The Bell Rock located in the distant north-west provides the most extreme example of this engineering ingenuity. The lighthouse on Fidra was built by the Stevenson family in 1885. The story goes that Robert Louis Stevenson based his map of Treasure Island upon the shape of Fidra.

Two particular memories of visions of lighthouses during long walks come readily to mind. One consists of standing on a cliff at the very edge of Tiree, an island far to the north-west of the mainland and were able to spot the top of this distant lighthouse on the far horizon. Another derives from a vacation in Catalunya, following a coastal path from Calella de la Palafrugell (also depicted by Helen on this website) along to the Far de Sant Sebastia. Walking through a morning mist along the Costa Brava,  after emerging through a stretch of pines above a high cliff,  the mist dramatically cleared to reveal the old lighthouse on the cliff, the turbulent sea far below. 

Helen’s painting helps to remind us that, amidst the apparent beauty of a winter’s day, we all rely on the delivery from perils of the sea by the light beaming across the horizon, guiding us through troubled waters towards safe havens.