The Kirkin' of the Incorporated Trades of Kirkcudbright

Archibald Hartrick came from Helensburgh but spent most o fhis career in London working as a graphic artist. In his early career he associated with the Glasgow Boys and paid at least one visit to see E.A. Hornel in Kirkcudbright, which he describes in his book A Painter's Pilgrimage. He also visited Pont-Aven in Brittany where he sketched Paul Gauguin. At this time coastal locations in rural landscapes like Kirkcudbright and Pont-Aven were favoured by city-based artists.   This painting depicts the ceremony where the Deacon-Convenor of the Incorporated Trades is processed through the town's streets to the Parish Church. The group is of particular interest in that it includes three artists who were painting in and around Kirkcudbright at this time. The central figure, with a large moustache, is Hornel's brother-in-law William Mouncey; Hornel himself is immediately to the right of the lamp-post and immediately behind him is the shorter figure of William S. MacGeorge, a fellow student with Hornel at Edinburgh and Antwerp.