We were recently gifted a painting all the way from Luxembourg! It has travelled nearly 1000 miles to reach Ballachulish, before making its way to Dundee where it was assessed for conservation by picture restorers Egan, Matthews & Rose. Read more of the painting's story below...

Adopting the Painting

The minimum donation to adopt this object is £20. Your adoption will last for two years.

After clicking Donate, please enter this amount before continuing. Donations less than this amount will still count towards our fundraising but will be considered a donation rather than an adoption.

From June 2023 anyone donating £50 or over will be recognised through their very own leaf on the redeveloped Museum's Tree of Sponsors!

When making your donation, you must tick the box that says; “I’m happy for Glencoe Folk Museum to keep in touch with me by email” so we can send you the digital adoption pack. Otherwise, we won’t know your contact details.

Please be assured that we will not send you further marketing materials unrelated to your adoption and you can opt out at any time.

The Painting

The painting is powerful and dramatic, depicting a young Highland woman in the aftermath of the Massacre of Glencoe, a dark and shameful event in Scottish history. In the early hours of the morning of 13th February 1692, 38 members of the MacDonalds of Glencoe were murdered in their homes by government soldiers, and countless more perished in the mountains as they tried to escape.

We aren't sure of the painting's origins, or indeed who painted it, but it is a striking piece depicting an emotional scene. Painted in 1881 - nearly 200 years after the event it depicts - it belongs to the Victorian era and reflects a time when national interest in the "romantic wilderness" of the Highlands was increasing, with artists such as Horatio McCulloch and James Hamilton creating similar "costume pieces".

Our goal is to raise £5,000 to restore this painting to its former glory so that it can be hung in the "Our Clans" gallery of the redeveloped Museum, helping to tell the story of the Massacre of Glencoe alongside objects such as a boot said to have belonged to Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon, and a diorama depicting the event.

We have already secured £500 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to have this work carried out and would be very grateful for any further adoptions of the painting.

We are just sharing some sneak-peek photos just now... the full painting will be revealed once it has been restored by Egan, Matthews & Rose next year.

A huge thank you to the Weny family of Luxembourg for donating the painting to us and to Constantine Fine Art Transport for getting it to Ballachulish.

Any funds raised in excess of the cost of restoring the painting, will be used for general purposes at the Museum.