Rubislaw

Category

Library Item

Item no

1438

Title

Rubislaw

Description

James Skene's watercolour drawing shows the painter's ancestral home at Rubislaw in Aberdeenshire.

Artist / maker

Skene, James

Date

1802

Type

Watercolour

Location

Edinburgh and Scottish Collection

Skene was decended from Thomas Skene, who inherited the Rubislaw estate from Sir George Skene of Fintray, a wealthy Aberdonian merchant who became Provost of Aberdeen (1676-1685) and lent his name to Provost Skene's House, now a museum in the centre of Aberdeen. Sir George Skene acquired Rubislaw in 1687. The title later passed to Skene's advocate father, another George Skene (1736-1776), who died the year after James Skene, was born. In 1783, his widow left Aberdeenshire for the sake of her children's education. Skene's journal Reekiana contains a vivid description of the family's journey from Rubislaw to Edinburgh. James Skene's elder brother, also George Skene died in 1791, leaving James, the youngest of four surviving siblings to inherit.
Rubislaw was demolished in 1886. Its garden contained the Earl Marischal's sundial which was later moved to Schivas House in Aberdeenshire.

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