Mackintosh is celebrated for his masterpiece buildings – the Glasgow School of Art, The Hill House and Scotland Street School – embodiments of the creative individuality in form and decoration. In contrast to these structures, Auchinibert seems a relatively humdrum version of a many-gabled Cotswold manor house and has been treated as an aberration outside the Mackintosh canon. The Hunterian – which possesses an unrivalled collection of over 200 architectural drawings by Mackintosh – is seeking to temper these rather cruel appraisals and will strive to reinterpret Auchinibert as a fine example of a different, less creative side of Mackintosh’s output. New research, led by the gallery and boosted by this acquisition will demonstrate how Mackintosh adapted his designs to the wishes of his client, in this case Francis J Shand, manager of the Nobel Explosives Co. of Glasgow, for whom the house was commissioned.

Provenance

Fernando Agnoletti; Braccio Roberto Obermann Tosh Agnoletti; PhillipÂ’s, Glasgow, 2000; Donald Magner.