[SCOTTISH MUSIC].
The Effigie of Patie Birnie.
"THE FAMOUS FIDLER OF KINGHORN"
A characterful half-length portrait of the notorious Scottish fiddler Pattie Birnie.
Birnie is shown in front of a stone wall wearing a cloak over a tightly buttoned jacket with a knotted neck scarf. He holds up a violin in his left hand and with straggly hair and beard gives the viewer a toothy smile. The text below is by Allan Ramsay and describes in Scottish dialect how, “The brown ale Barrel was his Kirn ay”
This anonymous engraving was produced after a painting by William Aikman (1682-31) that now hangs in the National Gallery of Scotland (acquired in 2013).
“Patie Birnie resided at Kinghorn, on the sea coast, about nine miles north of Edinburgh, where he supported himself by his consummate impudence. Not by honest labour, but by intruding upon every person who came to the public house… He then fell into the utmost familiarity… his… exploits [involved] showing a very particular comicalness in his looks and gestures; laughing and groaning at the same time. He played, sung, and broke in with some queer tale twice or thrice e’er he got through the tune; and his beard was no small addition to the diversion.” (A Biographical History of England, ed. Rev J Granger (1806) p.483)
