First Study for the Ballantrae Road
1907
Medium
drypoint in black
Dimensions
plate: 9.05 × 17.3 cm (3 9/16 × 6 13/16 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.1984
Art Historical Context
Muirhead Bone's *First Study for the Balltrae Road* (1907) invites visitors into the rugged beauty of Scotland's Ayrshire coast. This intimate drypoint print, measuring just 9. × 17.3 cm, captures a preliminary vision of the windswept road near Ballantrae, Bone's keen eye for topography and atmosphere. As a leading British etcher of his time, Bone bridged the 19th-century etching revival with modernist precision, often drawing from direct observation during his travels. The drypoint medium—scratched directly into a copper plate with a steel needle—lends the work its signature velvety texture ...
About the Artist
Muirhead Bone · 1876–1953
Sir Muirhead Bone was born in Glasgow on March 23, 1876, into a world of shipyards and industrial architecture that would profoundly shape his art. He trained initially in architectural draftsmanship before studying at Glasgow School of Art, developing a draughtsman's eye for structure and mass. He began printmaking in 1898, and though his first known print was a lithograph, he became celebrated a...