The Weird Wife o’ Lang Stane Lea

	Artist: James Giles
	Title: The Weird Wife o’ Lang Stane Lea
	Year: 1830
	Medium: oil on canvas
	Dimensions:
	Suggested topic: fantasy and imagination
	Source: RSA Diploma Collection
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Description: James Giles was an established landscape painter and enjoyed the patronage of both the royal family and the northern aristocracy.The Weird Wife is an unusual subject as it contains references to the supernatural (the strange figure and the hare) and pre-history (the standing stones). This did not fit in with the picturesque or classical landscapes that were popular at the time.The image describes a stone circle at Castle Fraser in Aberdeenshire and the distinctive silhouette of the hill of Bennachie on the horizon. This view is, in fact, impossible but has been created by the artist. Stone circles like this were often destroyed by churchmen as they were considered sites of pagan worship, and people like this weird wife would have been viewed as dangerous and ungodly. But who is the weird wife? She is possibly a witch, possibly just a lonely old woman. She may relate to a local myth, or this may simply be a dramatic scene imagined by the artist.The composition follows a circular shape taking in the figure, hare, rocks, moon and hill. Much of the painting's mystery comes from the fact that our eye follows this circuit round the image, but we can never find a spot to focus our attention on. A tiny glimpse of the woman's face may tell us more about what is going on and who she is, but then there would be less of a mystery for us to consider. The viewer is left with a few facts and an atmospheric view. What conclusions do you draw from this scene?The mood of the painting is sinister and intriguing.The artist conceals information from us using darkened tones in the landscape off to the left. Why is this person visiting such a remote spot on a cold morning or a gloomy evening? What is the hare doing and why does it appear to watch the figure? The moon and obscured sun are behind the scene so what is causing the glowing light from the right? Could it be a fire? Giles has created a mood of such mystery that we leave this picture with more questions than answers.