The Tolbooth Kirkcudbright

This view of Kirkcudbright's Tolbooth is painted from the rear of the building, almost from the same viewpoint as 'Kirkcudbright' by David Gauld. The treatment of the two is notably different. Peploe was one of the Scottish Colourists and in this painting he presents the colouring of the building with exaggerated contrast for decorartive effect, almost as if under Mediterranean lighting, perhaps reflecting the influence of his time painting in France before the First World War.   Samuel J. Peploe and his family were regular visitors to Kirkcudbright from perhaps as early as 1915 to the early 1930s. He came to the town from Edinburgh to visit Jessie M. King and E.A. Taylor, both of whom he had met and befriended when they were teaching in Paris. He also painted around Dalbeattie and New Abbey and in Dumfriesshire