Music Lesson

Alexander Hohenlohe Burr's favoured subject matter was everyday scenes from the lives of ordinary people.  He often included children in his paintings.   Along with his brother John, Burr trained in Edinburgh at the Trustees' Academy.  The Trustees' Academy had been set up in 1760 to provide training in craft skills as part of an effort to redress the economic imbalance between Scotland and England.  Over the years its focus shifted to fine art and the Burr brothers attended during what could be described as its golden age under the directorship of Robert Scott Lauder.  Several decades later however, Kirkcudbright artist Hornel found himself frustrated by the very traditional training he received there.   Alexander H. Burr and his brother both settled in London where they pursued their relatively successful careers in painting.