The greatest golfing painting in the world, Charles Lees’s The Golfers - will be the centrepiece of a fascinating new exhibition which opens at the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh this summer.

Charles Lees’s The Golfers, which was painted in 1847 and portrays a match played on the Old Course at St Andrews, will be among the highlights of The Art of Golf: The Story of Scotland’s National Sport.

The exhibition will explore golf as a subject of fascination for artists from the seventeenth century to the present day, bringing together around 60 outstanding paintings, by artists such as Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634), Paul Sandby (1731-1809) and Sir Henry Raeburn (1756-1823).

It will have a particular emphasis on the emergence of the sport in Scotland, and will include a section devoted to John Lavery’s stunning paintings from the early 1920s of North Berwick and its surrounding golf courses.

The Art of Golf will also explore the origins of the game and its importance for the development of golfing tourism in Scotland. Examples of early golf equipment will also be on display.

THE ART OF GOLF: THE STORY OF SCOTLAND’S NATIONAL SPORT

12 July – 26 October 2014 
SCOTTISH NATIONAL GALLERY, The Mound, Edinburgh EH2 2EL 
Admission £8/£6
Switchboard 0131 624 6200 | nationalgalleries.org

The Art of Golf will overlap with two important sporting events in Scotland in 2014: the Commonwealth Games, Glasgow (23 July – 3 August) and the Ryder Cup, Gleneagles (23 – 28 September).