This blog post was initially published several years ago on a previous version of this blog site, but it sank into the swamp. So I built another one.... It's a real shame because there were some very kind and helpful comments attached which have been lost forever, but I think I still have them in email somewhere. Maybe I can publish them as a follow-up blog at some point. Anyway, here is the original posting back in its entirety.
The Painting
This whole thing started with this picture, Nina Miller Davidson’s “Lion and the Lamb”, that has hung in my family’s house since I was a very young kid. I can’t say I paid any attention to it, it’s been part of the wallpaper. About 15 years ago my Dad gave me the picture and so it hangs in my house and I’ve since started to wonder who the artist, Nina Miller Davidson, really is.
My Dad died in 2017, and now I wish I’d written the details down. As much as I know it was gifted to his mother Elma (“Elsa Margaret Pate”, maiden name Smith) by Nina who were good friends. I don’t know if this meant they were life long friends, but they certainly were in the latter part of their lives as they lived close to each other in Eaglesham, on the outskirts of Glasgow.
The painting obviously has religious overtones with the Lion and the Lamb, and this is no surprise given her obvious choice of creating church stained glass windows as her preferred medium. However, I think it’s also a reference to the adage “In like a Lion, out like a Lamb” where in the 19th century it was used as a prediction contingent on a year’s early March weather: If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.
Lastly, I believe this painting was commissioned by a notable Scottish magazine for a front cover. Something along the lines of Country Life (This is what I wish I’d written down from Dad). There is also a rather cryptic inscription on the back made to my Dad, “To Douglas with deepest sympathy from herself”. Even my Dad was perplexed about the message. I’d hazard a guess it might have been a condolence around the time his mother died in 1971 – a guess. The self reference to “herself” hints at a wry sense of humour that makes me like her a lot.
About Nina
Nina Miller Davidson was born in 1895. And seems to have reportedly died in 1957 which I have yet to confirm. My Mum met her long after that date since she was dating my Dad at the time and in 1957 my Mum would have been 12.
I think she studied and possibly taught at the Glasgow School of Art, and apparently studied in Paris and Italy too. Her next door neighbour in Eaglesham was Kathleen Whyte, a fine embroider and also a lecturer there. Nina was married (briefly it seems) to Charles Lamb Davidson (b. 4th July 1897- d. 23rd Jan 1948), also a painter, stained glass designer, interior designer and cartoonist in his own right, attending The Glasgow School of Art from 1914 to 1917.
The son of a monumental sculptor with the same name, he was born in Brechin, Angus Scotland. After serving as a Captain in the Seaforth Highlanders during the First World War, he returned to Scotland and worked as cartoonist for the Glasgow Evening Times while still exhibiting his paintings at the Glasgow Institute and the Royal Scottish Academy.
I have since read that in 1926 he married an art teacher called Janet Frame Miller from Hamilton and died twenty five years later in Thorntonhill, East Kilbride of cardiac failure. Did he divorce from Nina? When was he married to Nina? A little more research required possibly.
She was instrumental in the restoration of the village of Eaglesham in the 1950’s which led to the village becoming recognised as the first place in the country to receive conservation status. Nina lived in the village’s Montgomery Street. She bought the Old Ham Store (No. 54) in 1950 and applied for planning permission to turn it into a dwelling house. It took 18 months for permission to be granted. Today, one of the bridges on the Orry (the village green) is dedicated to her.
Nina’s Artwork
Nina, and her artwork, is really hard to track down. I’m thinking this is going to be the first of few blogs to highlight the work that she has done. Other than my “Lamb and the Lion”, there are just a handful of set pieces I can find, which I think I will post separately once I’ve gathered more information about them. She also seemed to have some success with designing numerous book cover jackets like the “Anne of Ingleside” this example.
The most obvious painting that turns up after a simple Google search is this very art nouveau painting of young women making some sort of offering. Thanks to Hillhouse Antiques for the image, I would love to see this in real life. Approx 21.5″ by 13.5″ inc frame. Visible w/c area approx 14.5″ by 6.75″.
Nina’s Stained Glass Windows
Nina’s artistic career excelled in the creation of stained glass windows in several churches around Scotland. Again, this may be a voyage of discovery as I have since found another church to add to my list. In August 2019, I took a trip with the family to Edinburgh and Glasgow having identified a handful of churches that reportedly had her windows installed. I’ll warn you now, I had limited success but I will list them here in order of our trip.
St Peter’s Church, Morningside – 77 Falcon Avenue, Edinburgh, EH10 4AN
We visited Edinburgh in gorgeous summer heat to attend the last evening of the Tattoo. On Saturday 24 August, 2019 morning we paid a visit to St Peter’s having read that “The towering nave in white-washed brick is lit by six tall windows. Stained glass by Morris and Gertrude A Meredith Williams, Nina Millar Davidson, and Pierre Fourmaintraux”. However, we need to return to this church as we arrived in the middle of “Confession” and right before “Communion” and there were worshippers present that really didn’t need a photographer banging around taking pictures. I’m really not sure which windows were hers. We will return.
Former Pollockshields West Church – 620 Shields Road, Glasgow, G41 2RD
On Monday 26 August, 2019 having had a lovely Sunday out in central Glasgow we drove out to the Pollockshields area, just south of the River Clyde. According to a now defunct Pollockshields’ History site, Nina had installed a stained glass window in the West Church – “The interior was re-modelled in 1923 and then included stained glass by both Alf Webster, one of Scotland’s finest stained glass artists who died tragically young in the First World War, and Nina Millar Davidson.”
Since then, the building has been converted to a nursing home. Formerly “Nithsdale Lodge Nursing Home”, later “Rowandale Nursing Home” has since closed during the pandemic. I knocked on the front door and the asked the receptionist if he knew of the artwork I was after. Unfortunately, it seems that all the stained glass from the entire church has been replaced with clear glass as part of the renovation.
I’m really hoping that the windows were saved and not discarded into a skip. I think I need to try and find this out. Even if a private individual has purchased them, or if someone has a photograph of them in situ, it would be great to capture what these windows looked like.
Merrylea Parish Church – 78 Merrylee Road, Glasgow G43 2QZ
It was a short drive from Pollockshields to Merrylee, near Muirend. Merrylea Church was closed on arrival. Their own website describes Nina’s window as being “[that little window] based on the famous painting “The Light of the World” by Holman Hunt and depicts Jesus knocking at the door. He is, as is Merrylea, standing on the mound and His “I am the Way” surmounts the picture.”
We walked round the grounds, peering at the windows from the outside trying to ascertain which window it could be, but none seemed to match a figure knocking at a door.<br />We knocked on the caretaker’s door and man answered. Obviously in the middle of decorating, the smell of gloss paint everywhere, he kindly let us into the church to walk around and view all the stained glass that instantly lit up from the darkened indoors. Beautiful windows, that have really ignited an interest in these works of art in general.
We did not find Nina’s Light of the World though. Although there was one odd window in the whole church that was clear glass. Was this her window that my have been damaged beyond repair and replaced with a plain window? I will send a letter to the church and see if they can shed some light (on the world)…
ST. JOACHIM’S RC – 102 Inzievar Terrace, Carmyle, Glasgow G32 8JT
We hit the jackpot on visiting St. Joachims. It’s a fairly modern church nestled in the back of a housing estate in the south east of Glasgow. We buzzed on the gates and Francesca let us into the church. A very helpful woman, she let me through to take pictures of the two windows at the end of the chapel, just above a shallow choir stage that is no longer used. There two windows, one representing St. Joachim and the other St. Anne. Both depict an angel announcing the birth to come. St. Joachim’s window also shows his expulsion from the Temple while St. Anne’s includes a representation of her and her daughter Mary.
This was my first sighting of Nina’s window art. They are a lot more traditional than I had imagined, but I can see a connection in the lines of the artwork with my own “Lion and Lamb”. I took a few pictures and then spent a minute to try and commit them to memory. Very grateful to St. Joachim’s Church for letting me in to take pictures, we had a brief chat with Francesca before leaving to have a walk around Eaglesham.
Eaglesham, Glasgow
In the late forties, Nina Davidson and Kathleen Whyte campaigned to restore the 18th century village. By the fifties, a world-wide appeal was launched for funds towards Eaglesham’s conservation. The former weavers’ cottage in Montgomery Street was the first house to be restored in the village. It was bequeathed to the National Trust for Scotland by Nina.
Our trip on the Monday afternoon was a bit of a let down. The town is beautiful and so is the local tea shop. However, the church was locked and the local library was closed all day. A little more research and preparation on my part for our next visit is required. Ahem…
Next on the list…
I have since found two more churches that have windows of Nina’s. So, another trip to Scotland beckons:
Our Lady of Loretto, Musselburgh – 17 Newbigging, Musselburgh EH21 7AJ
There is a <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/loandbehold_uk/p/Bx0X3P4HASJ/”>window depicting The Baptism of Christ</a> . I will have to include this on our return to St. Peters in Morningside.
Brodick Parish Church, Brodick – 2 Cora Linn Ct, Brodick, Isle of Arran KA27 8A
Apparently, in 1961 Nina has installed two of her windows at <a href=”http://www.brodickchurch.org”>St. Brides Church</a>, based on original sketches made by Douglas Hamilton. This might be part of a wider expedition later on.
The plot thickens…
There are several nagging questions that I need to find out now.
- Nina’s birth and death dates. Many sites state that she died in 1957, but I think this is incorrect.
- The spelling of her name “Miller”. There is some evidence that she was actually a “Millar”, and a walk round Eaglesham church shows a couple of headstones with this surname. I am assuming she was local to Eaglesham throughout her life? However, my “Lion and Lamb” is signed by “herself” as “Nina Miller Davidson”.
- I’d also like to know more about her marriage to Charles. It seems that he married in 1926 to Janet Frame Miller, so one of his marriages didn’t last long presumably.
This ‘aint the last I will write on Nina….