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David Roberts painted this view of Edinburgh as seen from the heights of Castle Rock, depicting landmarks such as the colonnaded Royal Institution (now the Royal Scottish Academy) at the far left, the recently completed Gothic revival Scott Monument to its immediate right, Calton Hill and its monuments in the center distance, and the extinct volcano Arthur’s Seat at the far right. The modernity of the scene is emphasized by the industrial smokestacks and railroad tracks, which divide the shadowed medieval Old Town on the right from the sunlit Georgian New Town on the left. For all its topographical specificity, however, the painting was executed in Roberts’s London studio from prints and photographs. Nonetheless, when exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1847, one critic felt it gave viewers “the most complete representation of the most picturesque city in the world . . . as if they had visited the city itself by railway.”

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016