BEN LEDI BY DAVID YOUNG CAMERON

DAVID YOUNG CAMERON (1865-1945) 

Ben Ledi  (879 m - 2,884 ft)

United Kingdom (Scotland)

1. In Ben Ledi - Late Autumn, oil on canvas, 1908, National Galleries Scotland

2. In Ben Ledi, pencil, National Galleries Scotland

The mountain 

Ben Ledi  (879 m - 2,884 ft), in Scottish Gaelic Beinn Leitir is a mountain in Perthshire, Scotland, classified as a Corbett. It lies about 6.4 kilometres (4 miles) north-west of Callander, near the village of Kilmahog. It is situated in the Trossachs, an area often regarded as having some of the most romantic scenery in the Highlands.

Ben Ledi is particularly well known through Walter Scott's poem Lady of the Lake. Supposedly in ancient times, Beltane rites were observed on the summit.  There are what is thought to be possible references to these Beltane rights in some of the Gaelic names on the mountain: Creag Ghorn; 'Rock of Embers' and Creag Loisgte; 'Burned Rock'. In 1791 the Rev Doctor James Robertson being minister of the parish at the time, was required to write a description of the parish for the First Statistical Account of Scotland. In his report he mistakenly took the name Ben Ledi to mean 'hill of god' which suited the purposes of the kirk of the day. The name is in fact a corruption of Beinn Leitir which translates to 'the Hill of the Slope', which is a very suitable description of the long south shoulder used to access the summit. A cairn was built on the top in 1887 to commemorate Queen Victoria's jubilee.

A small lochan, Lochan nan Corp, lies at 655 m above sea level about 1.5 km to the north of the summit. The name means "the little loch of the dead", and was thought to be named for an accident to a funeral party at which 200 lives were lost.  In truth the lochan is on the old coffin road from Glen Finlas to St Bride's chapel close to Loch Lubnaig. The pass is therefore named the Bealach nan Corp - Pass of the Dead - and the lochan is named after the pass. The lochan is not deep enough to reach past your waist nor of sufficient area to accommodate any large funeral party.

The painter 

Sir David Young Cameron RA  was a Scottish painter and etcher. He was educated at The Glasgow Academy. From around 1881 he studied at the Glasgow School of Art and in 1885 enrolled at the Edinburgh Schools of Art. Cameron became a skilled etcher making a name for himself in this medium and gaining international recognition by the 1890s. He was elected associate of the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers (RE) in 1889. In 1895 he was elected Fellow of the RE. He exhibited regularly from 1889 to 1902, before resigning his membership in 1903.

His subjects included architectural studies, of which he produced a number of popular 'sets' and landscapes. He received various medals and awards for his etchings. It was during this time that he published a number of sets of etchings (such as "The Clyde Set", "The North Holland Set" and "The North Italian Set"). In general his prints feature areas of great darkness, offset by highlights. 

He became highly sought after by collectors, until the Great Crash of 1929 brought a collapse in prices for prints in general. He exploited his popularity by producing an unprecedented number of states of his prints, and is believed to hold the record at twenty-eight states in one case.

As well as becoming well known as an etcher the artist also produced a great many oil paintings and watercolour sketches of landscapes and architectural subjects. Cameron's earliest known oil painting dates to 1883. His work was influenced by the Glasgow Boys and the Hague School. 

After 1907 Cameron's work showed a greater focus on Scottish landscape subjects and from 1908 to 1917 he moved from etching to painting. Around this time he largely stopped including figures in his compositions, apart from in his architectural studies. By this time his works were receiving wide critical acclaim and he was well known both in the UK and abroad. Around 1908 his work began to lighten in colour, prior to this Cameron's work had been criticised for being too dark with a heavy use of brown tones. Visits to France and Italy in the 1920s seemed to have a further influence on his works and brought about a much brighter palette. His painting can be characterised by an interest in tone and design over colour and detail. At the same time there was a shift in influence away from the Glasgow Boys and their decorative style and he became known for his atmospheric highland landscapes.

In 1917-18 Cameron was commissioned by the Canadian Government to paint the war in France. Cameron was knighted in 1924 and was a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1921 to 1927 and the Scottish National Gallery, and was the King's Painter and Limner in Scotland 1933