The return of Brodie’s rock star

There’s been excitement at Brodie Castle as one of its most famous paintings, A Philosopher and his Pupils by Willem van der Vliet, has returned from being on tour.

The painting, which is treated like the ‘rock god’ of the collection at the Moray castle now takes pride of place in the recently refurbished Picture Gallery.

During 2017, the painting had been on loan to the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, where it was fêted and applauded during its time on display. It formed part of a large and prestigious exhibition Caravaggio and His Followers, which toured through 2016 and 2017 to the National Galleries in London, Dublin and Edinburgh.

It was seen by over 300,000 visitors, including Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on the opening night in London. The exhibition was designed to highlight those artists who were influenced by the ground-breaking work of the famous Italian artist Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio (1571-1610).

Our painting has returned to Brodie Castle and, after allowing it to rest and acclimatise, is now hanging alongside the work of other Dutch artists to showcase the fabulous art collection here at Brodie.