Celebrated for his sensitively rendered interiors, Patrick William Adam was an important artist in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Edinburgh. He exhibited a total of one hundred and sixty-four pictures at the Royal Scottish Academy and was a founding member of the Society of Eight, a group of Scottish painters that aimed to unite Glasgow and Edinburgh artists in producing high-standard exhibitions.

Staircase and Stained Glass is a quintessential example of Adam’s carefully observed domestic interior style. Warm daylight radiates through the landing’s stained-glass window, cascading down the vermillion-red staircase. Adam’s attentive highlighting of the smooth, dark woodwork elevates the picture from its peripheral s...