Howson embarks on artistic pilgrimage with iconic painting of Scottish martyr

He draws his inspiration from God and Michelangelo and hopes one day to have one of his paintings hanging in the Vatican. So a commission from the Roman Catholic Church to paint an altar piece for Glasgow’s St Andrew’s Cathedral may be Peter Howson’s first step to fulfilling his dream. The work, an 8m by 5m painting of the martyrdom of St John Ogilvie, who was hanged at Glasgow Cross in 1615 for high treason, is the largest piece of art to be commissioned by the Church in Scotland since the Reformation. It will be completed next year and represents a huge enterprise for the controversial artist, requiring up to 300 preparatory drawings and “industrial quantities” of paint. Ironically for a man who suffers from Asperger’s Syndrome and does not like crowds, it will feature more than 600 people attending Ogilvie’s execution. Read Article

By Mike Wade