A view of Balveny Castle

This picture was part of a group of family estate views commissioned by the young James Duff, 2nd Earl of Fife from the English artist William Tomkins. The series commemorates the earl’s succession to the title and his plans to take forward his father’s various improvement schemes. Looking to Dutch and Flemish landscape art of the previous century, it depicts Balvenie House opposite the ruins of the old castle, surrounded by extensive plantations, ornamental gardens and parkland, rigs and pasture.