“She had pictured a smooth surface of ice, like Duddingston Loch . . .”

Duddingston Loch owes its international fame to a painting by Sir Henry Raeburn, entitled The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch (ca. 1795), popularly known as “The Skating Minister”. The Edinburgh Skating Society often met on this small lake on the outskirts of Edinburgh, and Reverend Walker was a member. The painting is held in the National Galleries of Scotland, who tell us more about him in this clip  and on their website.

Duddingston Loch would certainly be a familiar location to Claire, who spent most of her girlhood in Edinburgh. It is even possible that she knew the painting as well, since it remained in the subject’s family until 1949, and Claire's family moved in those circles.

 

Ice floes on a tidal river

© Elsie Grant