The Gaberlunzie Man

Details

JOHN BYAM LISTON SHAW (BRITISH, 1873-1919)
The Gaberlunzie Man
signed 'BYAM SHAW' (lower left, in a cartouche).
pencil, watercolour and bodycolour with gum arabic on card
13 ¾ x 9 ¾ in. (35 x 25 cm.)

Provenance

with Dowdeswell & Dowdeswells, London, by 1908.
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 16 February 1925, lot 89 (8 gns to Sutton).

Literature

R. Vicat Cole, The Art & Life of Byam Shaw, London, 1932, p. 214.

Exhibited

London, Dowdeswell & Dowdeswells, Exhibition of Watercolours, Illustrative of Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, May 1908, no. 6.

Conditions of sale

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Lot Essay

A Gaberlunzie is a Scottish term for a licensed beggar who, with his cloak and purse, wandered the Scottish countryside, reciting ballads in exchange for supper and board. The exploits of the Gaberlunzie Man are narrated in a popular Scottish ballad, dating from the early 18th century, which is sometimes said to reflect the adventures of King James IV of Scotland, who traveled the country disguised as the Guidman of Ballengeich to learn how his subjects fared and whose adventures also involved amorous encounters with local women.

Gaberlunzies were also known as King's Bedesmen or blue gouns (the gowns were part of the alms given by the monarch). The term appears in several of Sir Walter Scott's books and he gives an account of the customs and of particular Bedesmen he knew in the introduction to The Antiquary (1816).

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