Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
The Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum – formerly The Smith Institute – has played a very special part in the history of Stirling since its foundation in 1874. Established by the bequest of artist Thomas Stuart Smith (1815–1869) on land supplied by the Burgh of Stirling, it is an historic public-private partnership which has continued to the present day. It was founded as a gallery of mainly contemporary art, with museum and library reading room ‘for the benefit of the inhabitants of Stirling, Dunblane and Kinbuck’.
Stirling Smith Art Gallery and Museum
At the opening ceremony, Provost Christie refuted criticism of the location by pointing out that ‘five or ten minutes walk would bring any one to the Institute from the most distant part of the Burgh’ and that the site was chosen on environmental grounds ‘free from the noise and bustle and free from the dirt, dust and smoke, so that the students of art, science and literature could pursue their studies there unmolested and free from annoyance’. It was perhaps thanks to Provost Christie that the organisation came into being at all, for Thomas Stuart Smith’s first thoughts were to leave his money to the Artists’ Benevolent Association.