The Redpath Hall: The Portraits

Abstract

The Redpath Library opened in 1893 conformed closely to current notions of appropriate facilties by providing a large open reading room. The donors, Peter and Grace Redpath, conspired closely with the architect, Andrew Taylor, to produce for this purpose a 'Great Hall,' equipped with a lofty timber roof, and adorned with many carvings and much painted galss of unusual quality. When the 1952 extensions provided readers with alternative facilities, the Great Hall was taken over by the University as its aula or Hall of Honour. On its walls the portraits of generous benefactors, influential chancellors and maste@l principals were hung to convey and conserve the University S awareness of its event@l past. Quirks of personality, the fickleness of administrative interest and the subjective nature of artistic judgments, have combined to produce a somewhat fortuitous and uneven collection of paintings, which nevertheless give the Repath Hall its unique character, and confirm its signijkance in the life of the University, if not as the shrine of lares et penates certainly as the grand salon of alma mater.