Loch Katrine

Loch Katrine, in the Trossachs, had carried powerful Romantic associations since Walter Scott's 1810 poem The Lady of the Lake, and it remained one of Scotland's most visited and painted landscapes through the nineteenth and into the twentieth century. Lavery painted the loch in 1913 during one of his periodic returns to Scottish scenery, approaching it not as a Romantic set piece but as a study in atmospheric light and still water. By 1913 Lavery was far removed from conventional Highland romanticism; his eye, trained by years of Continental plein-air practice, sought tonal relationships rather than scenic drama. The result is a painting in which the landscape's fame is almost irrelevant — what matters is the quality of diffused Scottish light on dark water and distant hills. The National Galleries Scotland holds the work.

Lavery handled the loch surface with horizontal strokes of cool grey-blue and silver, building reflections without literal detail. The surrounding hills are massed in soft greens and grey-purples, blurring at their summits into overcast sky. The composition is deliberately calm, relying on horizontal structure and tonal harmony rather than dramatic incident.