Loch Leven and Benarty Hill

George Campion made his artistic reputation producing crowded watercolors of battles and celebrations, but he also painted the subtle beauty of nature. Though the simplicity of this view of Scotland’s Loch Leven may seem amateurish, closer inspection rewards the viewer with a gorgeous play of light on the hill and in the evening sky. Campion seems to have known just when he wanted to stop, often leaving parts of his images unfinished, as in the foreground here. On the island we see Loch Leven Castle, where Mary, Queen of Scots, was imprisoned, 1567-68, and forced to abdicate. Campion painted this view shortly after archeologists had turned up significant relics, including Mary’s scepter.