Publication Account
Date 1987
Event ID 1016849
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016849
Hospitalfield is interesting on several counts. The former house provided the model for 'Monkbarns' in The Antiquary by Sir Walter Scott. The present house, which still contains remnants of the former, was the private residence of the artist/educator, Patrick Allan Fraser who acted as his own architect He also intended the house to act as a school of art, which it still does.
Fraser was far from orthodox in his approach to the design of the house. The building was erected in stages without the benefit of an overall plan. His inspiration was drawn from medieval domestic architecture, many of the elements being used entirely out of context. He based the art gallery on a medieval hall. English, Scottish and European elements are used indiscriminately. The entrance halL staircase and upper hall are finished in polished ashlar, hung with paintings and using mirrors to create the impression of additional corridors. Subsequent additions to the gallery wing incorporate the foundations and lower wall of the previous house.
The whole building is romantic in concept yet functional in its internal organisation. The intrinsic art-work is the work of local craftsmen working under Fraser's direction, whereas the art objects displayed in the house represent the work of the fashionable Scottish artists of the period.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Fife and Tayside’, (1987).
