Calling all Mathesons in the Highlands: meet your ancestors
The search is on for descendants of the prominent Inverness Matheson family who would like to meet their ancestors. Inverness Museum and Art Gallery has recently acquired two white marble busts of children, Mary Isabella (1855-1933) and her brother Kenneth James Matheson (1854-1920) and would like to invite any Matheson relatives to the unveiling of the busts on Thursday 30 April to see if they can spot any family similarities.
The Art Fund, the UK’s leading independent art charity, helped Inverness Museum and Art Gallery acquire the busts of six-year-old Mary and seven-year-old Kenneth. The bust of Mary was acquired for £16,445 and Kenneth for £21,500, with the help of grants of £11,090 and £8,500 respectively from The Art Fund. The National Fund for Acquisitions and the Inverness Common Good Fund also supported the acquisition.
Mary and Kenneth’s father was Alexander Matheson, MP, first Baronet of Lochalsh, who owned land throughout the Highlands, including parts of Inverness. He was responsible for the redevelopment of much of the Muirtown area of Inverness, and Alexander Place, Mary Ann Court, May Court and Perceval Street are all named after family members. Kenneth Street is, of course, named after his son Kenneth.
Kenneth and Mary were Alexander Matheson’s children by his second wife, Lavinia Mary Stapleton, who tragically drowned in Loch Duich on her way to church in 1855. They were brought up by their great aunt until their father remarried in 1860.
Dated 1861, the busts are by renowned Inverness artist Alexander Munro (1825-1871), a Pre-Raphaelite sculptor who exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy and was a friend of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, one of the founding members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.
Chairman of The Highland Council’s Inverness City Committee Provost Jimmy Gray said: “I am delighted that the Inverness Common Good Fund has been able to support the return of the Matheson busts to their rightful home and I am excited with the prospect of seeing if any descendents of Mary and Kenneth come forward to meet their ancestors face to face in Inverness Murseum and Art Gallery.”
David Barrie, Director of The Art Fund, said: “Inverness Museum and Art Gallery is the natural home for these lovely sibling busts. Munro was a sensitive and graceful sculptor and The Art Fund is very pleased to have been able to help the museum acquire the Matheson busts.”
Both busts were previously on loan to the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery from 1994 until 2008.
If you are a relative of Mary and Kenneth and would like to attend the official unveiling of the busts then please contact Catharine Niven, curator at the Inverness Museum and Art Gallery on +44(0)1463 237114 e-mail: catharine.niven@highland.gov.uk
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